Page 8 of Creed (Satan’s Fury MC- Little Rock #6)

CREED

“ H ey, Shep.”

“Hey, brother.” He didn’t look away from the monitor, but I saw the flick of his eyes in the reflection. “How goes it?”

“Can’t complain.” I didn’t mention the fact that I’d gotten a blast from the past the night before, and I was still trying to rebound.

Nor did I mention that I hadn’t gotten a wink of fucking sleep.

He didn’t need to know that shit, so I got straight to the point.

“I got someone I need you to look into.”

“This someone got a name?”

“Devin Maddox.”

“Alright.” He started tapping away as he asked, “She from around here?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t give him any more than that. “I want everything. Where she’s been. Where she works. If she’s still married. Hell, I want to know what she’s had for breakfast the last ten years. You got me?”

That got his attention.

He turned slowly in his chair, eyebrow arched. “Something going on with this chick?”

“Just get it done.”

He gave me a slow nod, then turned back to his screen. “I’ll start pulling what I can.”

I was about to respond when my burner started buzzing. I pulled it from my back pocket and saw Skid’s name flashing. “Yeah?”

“We got a problem.”

“Talk to me.”

“I’m at the Vault.” His voice was low and clipped as he announced, “Some cops just showed up here, and they’re asking questions about the girl.”

“What girl?”

“The one from the other night.” My back stiffened the second he said, “The one the two assholes tried to get a hold of.”

“What about her?”

“They wanted to know if we’d seen or heard anything. When I told him no, he asked about checking our surveillance.”

“Damn.”

“He said it’s routine, but I don’t know, brother. The asshole’s pretty pushy. Got that ‘I-know-I’m-not-welcome-but-don’t-care’ energy.”

“Got it.” I ground my teeth. “He got a warrant?”

“No.”

“Then don’t show them shit. Tell him the system’s down. Tell him the manager isn’t here. Hell, I don’t care what the fuck you tell him. Just stall until I get there.”

“You got it.”

I ended the call and turned my attention to Shep.

“Clear the footage at the Vault from that night,” I said, turning for the door.

He gave me a nod. “Already on it.”

I didn’t wait for him to tell me it was done. I had a pissed-off cop to deal with, and the last thing we needed was him sniffing into our dealings at the club. I had to make sure that shit stayed under wraps, or we were all fucked.

As soon as I was out to my bike, I swung my leg over the seat, slipped on my helmet, and fired it up. I eased through the gate and sped towards the Vault. That tight, gnawing feeling in my gut hadn’t let up, and I had a bad fucking feeling it wasn’t going to anytime soon.

When I got to the Vault, I rolled up slow and scanned the lot before I killed the engine. There were two men standing out front. One was in full uniform, while the other was in jeans and a navy sports coat, but the jeans didn’t make him look any less like a prick.

He was older, broad-shouldered, and sharp-eyed. He had his hand near his belt, no doubt close to his weapon, and he was watching me like a fucking hawk.

I parked, kicked the stand down, and stepped off the bike, moving in a way that showed I wasn’t in any rush. Skid was standing off to the side and pretending to talk on his phone. He gave me a brief nod, and there was no missing the relief in his eyes as he shoved his phone in his back pocket.

I approached the two officers and kept my voice low and steady as I asked, “Can I help you gentlemen with something?”

The guy in the sports coat stepped forward and tilted his head like he was trying to place me. “You work here?”

“I do.”

“You got a name?”

“Creed.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Gonna need your official name.”

I didn’t respond right away.

I just stood there glaring at him. His face was familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Eventually, I told him, “Jameson Jones. And your official name?”

“Detective Brian Maddox.”

The name hit like a punch to the ribs.

I don’t know how I missed it.

The shape of the jaw. The eyes. The scar on his left cheek.

Devin’s husband.

She’d started dating him just a few months after she walked out. They were married less than a year after that. It was tough to stomach. Hell, I couldn’t even touch another woman without thinking about her, and she had his ring on her finger.

As I stood there looking at him, I couldn’t understand why she’d done it. He looked like a real douchebag. I did my best to keep my expression neutral as I asked, “What do you need?”

“We’re following up on a report of an attempted abduction.” He glanced toward the front door of the Vault, then back to me. “Happened the night of the sixteenth.”

“That so?”

He cocked his brow. “That’s so.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Maddox kept his eyes trained on mine. “You strike me as the kind of guy who knows exactly what goes down at his club. Every brawl. Every spilled drink. Every move that’s made. So, why don’t you save us both the trouble and just tell me what you know?”

He was right.

I knew everything that went down at the Vault.

It was my job to know. I knew the two assholes who had tried to take the girl were up to no good.

It’s why I sent them to Grim. He had special skills in the field of information extraction, and I had no doubt that he’d find out exactly what they were up to.

And he had.

They’d confessed to drugging her and trying to take her.

He’d even called me the night before and had me to come in, so I could hear it for myself. We both could tell there was more to the story, so we decided to hold onto them and see if they stuck to their story.

But I didn’t want Detective Maddox thinking I was keeping anything from him, so I told him, “Like I said, I don’t know anything about it.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time.” He stepped in a little closer. “I’m gonna need to see the security footage from that night.”

My voice stayed calm but stern. “You got a warrant, Detective?”

I could tell by his expression that he didn’t like that answer, and I couldn’t have cared less. Maddox squared up and looked me dead in the eye like he thought he could intimidate me. “No. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.”

“I understand.” I could feel the anger rising in my chest, but I didn’t let it show. Just gave him a slow blink and said, “We take privacy real serious around here. Especially when it comes to our girls.”

“We just want to take a quick look at the security footage from that night. You might’ve caught something that can help us find the guys who did this.”

He was saying the right things, but it was the way he said it and the way he was looking at me that got under my skin.

There was something up with this guy. I wanted to punch him square in the face, and it wasn’t just the fact that he was Devin’s husband.

There was something going on here. I just didn’t know what it was.

I wasn’t taking any chances, so I stuck with my response.

“Yeah, well, unless you’ve got something official, this conversation’s done. ”

The younger officer shifted uncomfortably, but Maddox didn’t budge. He just stood there, stiff and clearly irritated. And I stared right back at him, and I didn’t flinch when he announced,“I’ll be back with the warrant.”

I gave him a slight smile. “Looking forward to it.”

He grumbled something under his breath, then turned and walked off like I hadn’t just rattled his cage. I wouldn’t ever let him know, but he’d rattled mine. If he wanted to dig, he could try, and it wouldn’t be long before the dirt swallowed him whole.

As soon as they got in the car, Skid came over to me, and he looked to be sweating bullets. “You think he’ll be back?”

“Possibly, but we aren’t gonna make it easy for him.” I grabbed my phone and called Preacher. As soon as he answered, I told him, “We had a couple of cops sniffing around at the Vault.”

“Let me guess. It has something to do with our guests?”

“Afraid so.”

“Damn. I don’t need this bullshit today.”

“Yeah, I know. I tried to put ‘em off, but the detective was pretty adamant about getting his hands on our surveillance footage.”

“You take care of it?”

“I told ‘em they’d need a warrant. Not that it’ll matter. I’ve already had Shep wipe it clean.”

“Good. I’ll do what I can to make sure they don’t get that fucking warrant.”

Preacher and I had made connections over the years.

Judges, politicians, and some of the richest men in the state were in our pockets.

He’d have to call in some big favors, but if anyone could put an end to that warrant, it would be him.

He paused for a moment before asking, “So, you think the girl reported it?”

“My gut says no. She was young, too young, and was somewhere she had no business being. But I’m about to head over to her place and see what I can find out.”

“Good. Let me know what she has to say.”

“Will do.”

I ended the call, and after telling Skid where I was headed, I made my way back out to my bike.

I left the Vault with Maddox’s face still burned into the back of my mind.

The man had the look of someone who’d made a career out of rubbing people the wrong way.

I didn’t trust him, and I certainly didn’t like him.

And knowing he was connected to Devin only made me dislike him even more. But right now, I didn’t have time to think about my distaste for Detective Maddox. Right now, I needed to focus on the girl. I needed to find out what she’d told the police and why she’d gone to them instead of me.

It took me a minute to remember the address.

I’d only been there the one time, but luckily, it was enough.

It wasn’t in the best neighborhood, but I’d seen worse.

Her apartment complex wasn’t the best. It was one of those older brick buildings that looked like it hadn’t been cared for since the '80s, and the numbers on the front were barely hanging on.

I walked up to the door and knocked twice. After a moment, it creaked open, and the roommate appeared. She stood behind the door with one hand braced against it like she wasn’t sure whether to shut it in my face or let me in. “Umm, hey.”

“Hey. You remember me?”

“Yeah, you were the one who brought Gabby home that night.” Her eyes narrowed. “Is that why you’re here?”

“It is.” I gave her a moment, hoping she’d see that I wasn’t a threat, before asking, “Mind if I come in?”

She hesitated for a second longer, then opened the door. “Okay, but I’ve gotta leave for work in a few minutes.”

“This won’t take long.”

“Okay.”

The apartment was small and cluttered. There were a couple of takeout boxes on the counter and various clothes and blankets tossed over the back of the couch.

The girl looked to be in her early twenties but acted older.

She was cute but tough. It was an odd mix. It was clear she’d been through things.

“Is she home?”

“Gabby?” She shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen her since Monday.”

That was two days ago. “Any idea where she might be?”

“No.”

“And you aren’t worried about her?”

“Yes and no.” She sat on the arm of the sofa and crossed her arms. “It’s not like this is the first time she’s gone off on me.

Sometimes, it’s just for the night and sometimes longer.

She meets some guy, lets him fill her head with all kinds of BS, and then he ghosts her. She comes back like nothing happened.”

“So, I take it you haven’t filed a missing person’s report?”

“Why? She always turns back up at some point.”

“And you don’t think she’s with family or something?”

“Oh, God, no. She hasn’t talked to any of them in over two years. They were always fighting over something, and she got out as soon as she got the chance.” Her brows furrowed. “What’s this all about? Why are you so interested in Gabby?”

“The cops came to the club today about Gabby and those two guys who tried to take her.” She immediately gasped, “No shit?”

“No. Shit.” I let out a breath before asking, “You think she’s the one who went to the cops?”

“No fucking way.” She shook her head. “I get what happened was bad and all but she’d never go to the police. They did her dirty with her folks. Always took their side and left her there to fend for herself.”

“Sounds like she had a rough go of it.”

“Yeah, she did.”

Something about this wasn’t sitting right. Her disappearance had to be more than just some dumb coincidence, but I had no way to prove it. “Is Gabby her real name?”

“Yeah… Well, it’s a nickname. Her full name is Gabriel Sanchez.”

“Alright. You still got my card?” She nodded, and I told her, “If you hear from her, you call me.”

“I will.”

I paused at the door. “And if anyone else comes around asking questions… the cops or some assholes you don’t recognize, I want to know. Understand?”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “I got it.”

I gave her a final nod and stepped out. My head was all over the place as I made my way back out to my bike. The girl, the two assholes who’d tried to take her, Detective Maddox, the club, and Devin.

Damn.

I couldn’t catch a fucking break.