Page 22 of Splintered Security (Aspen & Evergreen #2)
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Ren
Ma has left, and Anni is soaking in the bathtub with a glass of red and enough bubbles for three lifetimes.
Me: Matt Morris gave me your number. He said you can help with research on assets I need backgrounds on. I need the info in less than forty-eight hours. I’m willing to pay. Can you help?
Marissa: Sure, but your money’s no good here. Matt’s referral is enough. Simply return the favor when needed.
Me: Done.
Marissa: Names?
Me: Heath Giltenhouse, Troy Smith, and Jerry “Junior” Conyers. All in Pueblo, Colorado. They should all be between twenty-nine and thirty-five years old. I can get more if you need it.
Marissa: I should be fine. I’ll let you know if I need more.
I set my phone down and let my hands drop to my sides in exhaustion.
The one thing I can’t wrap my mind around is the Rosen-Smith connection.
More specifically, why, with his history, Rosen would accept anything from Smith.
His family’s comment about trying to outrun a ghost seems eerily spot on.
I’d think it was dumb luck that he just happened to be in my bar on my watch, but I don’t believe in luck, so there’s more to it than meets the eye.
The same could be said of Anni being in my bar. Yeah, she came looking for me, but on the same night two people affiliated with the Lost Mountain Rebels were there as well.
The same night a bomb went off.
It’s way too fucking convenient. It makes me itchy. It’s the same feeling I had in the Middle East when shit was about to pop off.
Rosen can’t answer my questions.
Smith surely won’t.
But my wife… she might.
Besides, she’s mere feet away.
I shut down the house, grab the wine bottle, and head for the woman who’s wet and naked in my bathroom.
“Ren?” Her surprise is evident when I plant myself on the edge of the tub and lift the bottle in invitation .
She extends her glass with one hand while readjusting bubbles with the other. “Just a little, please. It’s delicious.”
“How’s your bath?”
“Best thing I’ve done all day and exactly what I needed. Your mom thawed a bit, but I don’t think she was happy.”
“Yeah, but like I told you the other night, she’ll get over it.”
“That’s callous,” she says quietly. “And you’re not callous.”
“That’s factual. She doesn’t control me and she doesn’t control you. Our decisions are ours alone. Her approval isn’t required for any of them. I love her. I honor her. But I don’t make decisions based on her whims.”
“You make that sound easy.”
“It is if you think about yourself. Or you think about me. You’ll never please everyone, Anni, and you’ll tie yourself in painful knots trying.”
She nods and takes a deep pull of her wine.
“I’m trying to figure something out and I need your help brainstorming.”
“Okay.”
“Tell me what you know about David Rosen. He was a member of the Lost Mountain Rebels apparently.”
She scrunches her brow. “How do you know Rose?”
“Rose?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll tell you, but first give me the lay of the land. ”
She tilts her head like she’s thinking and takes another sip, draining her wine.
“More?” I ask.
She shakes her head, and I take the glass, setting it on the counter and returning to the tub, propping myself again on the ledge.
“I don’t want to get him in trouble. He’s a decent guy.”
“Nothing you can say will change his situation.” It’s the understatement of the day.
“Rose is a good enough guy. He fits in, but he doesn’t. I mean, he isn’t cut from the same cloth, but he manages to make it work. He’s not a poser, but he’s not a guy who would naturally be a part of the Rebels. Does that make sense?”
I nod, but only so I don’t interrupt and keep her talking.
“I think they used to be suspicious of him, like he was a narc. But they have enough on him that he couldn’t be, or there was evidence that won’t let him go back to his old life.
There’s photo and video evidence on everyone.
No one backs out once they’re in… Too much to be exposed if you try.
” She swishes water in the tub, breaking eyesight, perhaps considering what they have on her.
“Anyway, he’s never been as angry or as violent.
He’s not happy exactly, but he doesn’t have a bone to pick with life in general.
The lieutenants were suspicious, but never could pin anything on him.
And then one day, he vanished. That was it.
He was there and then he was gone. There are rumors he’s in Denver. ”
“Know of any dealings in particular he had with Conyers, Smith, or Giltenhouse?”
“Not really. I am not anyone’s confidant, nor do I want to be. Club business didn’t leak out much, unless it was planted.”
“Did you have any dealings with him?”
“No.” Her eyes slice to slits. “Why?”
“None?”
“He was nice to me. More so than just because of Heath. I can’t explain the distinction, except to say it wasn’t because he feared Heath—it was despite that.
But he doesn’t know me any more than I know him.
Now that you mention it, I haven’t heard anyone mention him in a while. Maybe a year and a half. Nothing.”
“And they called him Rose?”
“Yeah. He was never Dave, always David or Rose. You said you’d tell me how you know him if I told you what I know. What’s going on, Ren?”
“Smith and Rose met up on Wednesday night.”
“What?”
“At Queen City.”
Her gasp echoes off the tile walls.
“This is confidential, but the best we can tell Smith gave David Rosen the bomb that leveled the building.”
“No. That’s not something Rose would do.”
“I don’t think he knew that’s what it was. He worked for me, Anni. And he died in the blast. ”
She stares, dumbfounded, before eventually finding her words. “You think the MC blew up the bar?”
“I’ve seen video of the handoff, and the DPD knows where the blast initiated. Rosen brought the explosives into the building and almost babysat them. That’s not in his character from what I knew of him. It doesn’t sound like what you knew of him either. So either he was the target…”
Her bubble-covered hand comes to her mouth, but she whispers through her fingers, “Or I was.”
“Right.” I should pause, but I don’t. “But I don’t think that’s the case.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t. I’m working to piece things together from what you know and what I’ve seen, and it doesn’t add up.”
“What if it was for me?” A shiver runs through her body, making the water vibrate.
“Baby.”
She drops her head into her hands and speaks to the tub. “But what if it was?”
I shuck off my clothes, but leave my boxers on, and step into the tub behind her. “Move up a bit.”
She does so I can fit, and I slide her onto my lap, leaning her back onto my chest and wrapping an arm around her trim waist.
“Baby, when did you decide to come find me?”
“Wednesday. ”
“So sometime on Wednesday you had the idea and you acted on it the moment you thought of it?”
Her head rubs back and forth against my shoulder.
“No.” Her voice goes so quiet I have to strain to hear her speak. “I’ve thought about it for a long time. Thought about you for a long time. But I didn’t want to bring trouble to you.”
She leans to the side, trying to look at me, but I hold her in place because she’s finally talking and I need her bravery. She can’t lose her nerve now when I’m so close to piecing together this puzzle.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No one. Not a single soul. I couldn’t tip anyone off to my plan. Nor would I have risked you more than I have.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah, good. I don’t think the bomb had anything to do with you, but the timing is shit. Smith at Queen City the night that you’re there and handing off a bomb is more than just a coincidence.”
“So Rose was in Denver and Troy knew the whole time? That’s really odd. That doesn’t jive with how the club works. If Heath knew that Troy knew, that would be ugly.”
“Which is more likely—that Giltenhouse knew and set up Rosen or that Giltenhouse knew and is setting up Smith? Or that Heath didn’t know at all? ”
“I don’t know. Probably number one. I can’t imagine Heath keeping Troy as close as he does, with the access he has, just to double-cross him later. Too much risk, too little reward.”
“Then let’s go with Smith and Giltenhouse were working together to take down Rosen more than a year after he fled Pueblo. Why wait? Why not make an example out of him early on?”
She shrugs. “None of this adds up.”
“Agree. But you get why I think it’s less likely that the bomb was for you. And you know it was called in, right? We knew in advance, so it was a message… Think it was a two birds one stone situation? If he knew you were there, they could scare you and, at the same time, eradicate Rosen.”
I don’t say what really gets me. They couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t be the opposite—a warning to him and an elimination of her.