I shoot Slasher a stern look and jerk my head for him to follow her. Audrey’s a boss bitch, so I know police presence won’t shake her up, but she’ll probably be concerned I have my hand in some shit that could cause trouble, and it will be a red flag for her and the kids.
I meet the Sheriff outside, arms crossed as I watch him park his fancy new Bronco cruiser, and climb out, fixing his Stetson in the process. He approaches with a nod, “Afternoon, Madman. I see you’ve got the boys all here. Am I interrupting something?”
With a quick glance at the windows on either side of the door, I’m met with various brothers’ faces. My lips nearly twist into an amused smirk at their nosy asses staring out the windows, but I manage to keep my expression bland. “No, just another discussion on ranch work needing to be done.”
“Right, because y’all are just a bunch of men who work the land. Rancher and ranch hands. Excuse me if I don’t quite buy it with all the motorcycles and the many visitors y’all seem to entertain regularly.”
“Is having guests at our home against a law I don’t know about? Last I checked, I own this land.”
His brow raises, a chuckle leaving him. “Nah, no law broken. Yet. Sure is suspicious though.”
With an annoyed huff, I ask, “There a point to this visit, Glen? Are you accusing me of anything?”
“Now, don’t go getting all huffy-puffy on me. I stopped by as a courtesy to the Wilsons. They had an incident on their property, and I was curious if you noticed anything off in the past few days around here as well.”
“What sort of incident?”
“They found a dead woman on the edge of their property.”
“Fuck.” Dead bodies next to our property are the last thing we need around here.
He nods.
“Everything has been business as usual around here. We had some goats get out; that’s the extent of our excitement. Was the woman a local?”
“Still trying to identify her.” He admits. He steps closer until he can speak lowly. “Found another woman walking the street, saying she was one of your club girls.”
My brows scrunch up. “The King’s Road?”
He nods, shifting his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.
“We don’t have club women, as I’m sure you’re already aware of. Did you get an ID on that one?”
“Took her down to the station for indecent exposure. Name’s Maria Lopez.”
I’ve never heard of her before. Damn sure don’t know why she’d be claiming she’s affiliated with the club, and a clubslut no less. Not exactly a glowing position to be bragging about. “No club women here, too much drama with that sort of pussy around.”
He huffs out a chuckle. “Right, because you don’t seem to be short on it with the constant women coming in and out of town.”
Did I mention we live in the middle of nowhere, Texas?
There are small towns around us, but the closest bigger city is forty-five minutes away.
Of course, he’s noticed us using the privately owned airstrip multiple times a month, but rich women prefer convenience, and most opt to fly directly here instead of commercial with everyone else.
We should make our own damn landing strip at this point, ice even more folks out.
Rather than comment on any of it, I remind him how deep our pockets run. “How’s your new campaign coming along, Sheriff? The club is ready to be your biggest donor once again. You know we’re always willing to help with whatever you need around here.”
“Appreciate your support, Madman.” He holds his hand out and I shake it. “You and your brothers. Donations are set up on our website. You let me know if anything strange happens on your property so the department can handle it.”
“Will do.” I lie through my teeth. We take care of our shit privately.
He knows it, and so do I. As long as I keep him in his position, the club doesn’t have to worry about him much.
It’s a win-win for both of us; he does a decent job around here, so we want someone like him in his position of authority.
In the same respect, we keep our problems quiet and don’t shit on the towns around us.
We help keep a lot of the local small businesses afloat with the brothers and our clients shopping with them.
As he drives away, a few brothers file outside, no longer hiding their nosiness.
I meet Reign’s gaze, “Check the perimeter cameras. I want to know if any motherfucker was within twenty feet of the ranch. Someone left a woman on the Wilsons’ property.
Dead. Sheriff is snooping around.” I don’t have to say this is bad for business; he already knows it.
“Christ,” he mutters and follows it up with a nod. Without a second thought, he heads back inside, in pursuit of his laptop to get to work.
“Fucking shit.” Brass grumbles, echoing my thoughts, rubbing his hand through his hair.
Next, I tell King, “Go to the station. They found a woman on King’s street claiming to be a clubslut. One who works here . Find out what the fuck she wants, or knows, and why in the hell she’d claim to be one of ours.”
“The fuck?” He questions, as confused as I was when the Sheriff told me about the female.
“Take War. If you find out anything useful, send War to take care of it.”
“On it, Prez.” He lets out a loud whistle, his arm shooting up to gesture for War to meet him at the bikes.
“What do you need from me, Prez? What can I do?” Tinman asks.
“Head over next door to the Wilsons. You went to school with their daughter, right?”
“Yeah, we were cool back in the day. She got married right out of high school, but last I heard, she’s divorced and has moved home with her folks.”
“Good. Tell them you’re checking in. You’re concerned about the news and want to know if there’s anything you can do to help. See if they’ll tell you where the body was found and any other details we can use.”
“No problem. They’ll tell me, her father always liked me.”
I nod and we watch as he heads for one of the Mules, sliding into the ATV and driving off towards the Wilsons’ property.
“We have to get ahead of this before it turns into a giant shitshow. Brass, tell Kilo to keep his ear to the ground. I want to know of any rumblings that could have an impact on us. This is coming at the wrong fucking time.”
My kids are here.
Audrey is here.
And now a dead woman popping up?
The last thing I need.