Betrayed (11 page)

Chapter Fourteen

As the meeting came to order, Merlin asked if they should wait for their VP Connor.

“No,” Justin answered. “We’re here to talk about Connor.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Trigger asked.

Justin explained to the club members what happened earlier that day, visiting the place in the Forestry where Amy was found, discovering the cigarette butts, and speaking with Detective Winters about why they released MacGregor. The club members looked stunned as they too realized that a member had killed one of their own. They knew Connor smoked those damn cigarettes, even bragged how the shop special ordered them just for him. Who else in this town would smoke those idiot blue sticks?

They took a vote and it was unanimous. At that point, Ginger walked into the clubhouse with Lily. The members looked shocked to see her as they filed out of the meeting room surrounded by an eerie silence.

“Did you have a church meeting without Connor?” Lily asked with surprise on her face.

The club avoided her, not sure what to say. “What’s going on?” She asked looking from one member to the next.

Justin walked out of the meeting room and up to Lily. Ginger went to the bar where Aaron was playing pinball and shut the door.

“I have to tell you something, and I need you to sit down and listen.”

Lily had been around the club long enough to know this was important shit. She sat down at one of the tables.

“You’re scaring me, Justin.”

“I don’t mean to Lily, but this has to happen tonight.”

“What has to happen?” Lily started to shake.

Justin squatted down beside her chair and took her hand. “Nothing’s going to happen to you, Lily, but Connor…” His voice trailed off as he cast his eyes to the floor.

“What about Connor?” Lily exclaimed with fear in her voice.

Justin looked up at Lily pausing a moment before he spoke. “He killed Amy.”

Lily jerked her hand away from Justin. “What! You’re crazy! There’s no way he’d ever harm Amy.”

“We have proof, Lily.”

“What kind of proof? Did you take it to the police?”

“Yes, I did, but they couldn’t get any DNA off of it.”

“Well, then,” Lily stammered. “How can you have proof without any DNA? What the hell were they testing?”

“I found his cigarettes at the crime scene in the Forestry, Lily, right where Amy’s car was found.”

Lily’s face turned pale. She knew he was the only person in town who smoked those cigarettes. And to find them at the crime scene was too much of a coincidence.

“He never went there after we found Amy because I told the police not to tell anyone the scene had been released.”

Lily’s world was crumbling around her. She knew what Justin was saying was true, but she didn’t want to believe it. Yet, certain things were starting to make sense. He was very angry with Amy when Lily told him about their conversations and how Amy wanted her to break it off with Connor. But could he actually kill her? Surely she would have known. How could she not? Lily cried, her sobs reverberating throughout the clubhouse. Ginger could hear her back in the office and was glad Aaron was wearing headphones while he played his game.

At that instant Connor walked into the clubhouse. He immediately saw Lily sitting at a table crying. Then he saw Justin looking straight at him. He turned to flee but three club members caught him and wrestled him to the ground.

“Whatever they’ve told you, Lily, it isn’t true!” Connor yelled.

Lily rose from her chair and walked over to where Connor lay pinned.

“And just what do you think they’ve told me?” Lily asked as tears streamed down her face.

“I…I don’t know…but from the way you’re crying it has to be bad,” Connor said as he tried to lift his head from the floor to look at Lily.

“Yeah, it’s bad,” Lily said right before she launched herself at him screaming and clawing at his face. Justin ran up and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away.

“How could you? How could you kill my best friend? Justin’s sister? You monster! I hate you! I hate you!” Lily screamed and then collapsed in Justin’s arms. He motioned Merlin over to take her to the bar with Ginger and Aaron and close the door.

Once they were gone, he turned his attention to Connor.

Trigger, Trick, and other club members pulled Connor from the floor, but kept holding his arms.

Connor looked at Justin and said, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s wrong. I didn’t do anything to Amy. I loved her.”

“Bring him to the auto body shop,” Justin said to the club members holding Connor. “I don’t want Aaron or the girls to hear any of this.”

They pulled Connor to the new building and dragged a folding chair from the waiting area through the shop and into the carwash area. Trigger tied Connor’s hands behind the chair to prevent him from moving and wrapped the long rope around his torso and legs to hold him tightly to the chair. Justin dragged a chair over and parked it in front of Connor while Trick poured a five-gallon pail of used motor oil around and under Connor’s chair.

“What’s that for?” Connor asked, trembling with fear now.

Justin pulled a blue cigarette from Connor’s shirt pocket, lit it, and then sat down calmly. “That’s so your blood won’t soak into the concrete floor.”

Connor gulped and all the blood drained from is face. Beads of cold sweat emanated from his forehead.

Justin blew smoke in Connor’s face. “This tastes like shit.” He threw the cigarette to the floor and leaned forward, clasping his hands between his knees. “I found your cigarette butts at the crime scene.”

A look of surprise came over Connor’s face. He forgot about smoking near Amy’s car in the Forestry as he thought about how he’d cover up the scene. He was so careful with wiping down the vehicle, even remembering to wipe any prints off the rear view mirror. He walked quite a ways away from the car when he smoked and tossed the butts. He never thought anyone would find them in all the leaves so many yards away from the scene. Hell, he thought the wind that day would deposit them miles away. But it hadn’t.

“How do you know those are mine?” Connor managed to squeak out.

“Because you’ve told all of us for the last three years how the tobacco shop orders these fucking cigs from Italy just for you. Were you lying?” Justin bored holes into Connor with his eyes.

“No…I mean yes! Fuck!” Connor blurted.

“Don’t worry. I sent one of the prospects down to the tobacco shop to make sure only one guy purchases these cigarettes, and they confirmed it.”

Connor felt like a caged animal. It was all Amy’s fault. If only she had backed off, but no, she had to keep pestering Lily about calling off the wedding. Lily was the only good thing in Connor’s life, or that’s what he believed. But actually she was only a possession he could show off. It didn’t matter if it was Amy or Justin or anyone else. Connor would kill anyone who came between him and Lily.

“Why?” Justin asked in a calm voice. “Why did you do it? If you tell me the truth I might let you live.”

Connor looked from Justin to Merlin and Trigger who stood behind Justin. He’d been around these men long enough to know they meant business. Although the club was legit, it didn’t mean they didn’t live by a biker code. He knew if they voted and it was unanimous, he could die. If Justin was offering him a deal, he’d be stupid not to take it.

“You promise you won’t kill me if I tell the truth?” Connor asked.

Justin leaned back in his chair. “Yes.”

Connor proceeded to tell Justin and the club how Amy was harassing Lily about calling off the wedding. “I couldn’t understand it…why would Amy be doing this?” Connor wondered to the group.

“Lily was getting upset about Amy’s insistence to cancel the wedding, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went to her house that morning. I waited until Aaron left for school then I knocked on the door. We got into an argument. I tried to talk to Amy calmly about how her behavior was upsetting Lily but she’d have none of it. She started screaming at me. I can’t even remember what it was she was screaming…only that she became belligerent.”

Justin wanted to bash his head in right then, but he remained sitting in his chair listening.

“She grabbed a knife out of the butcher block of knives sitting on the counter and swung it at me. I tried to calm her down and take the knife from her but she got me a few times with it. I finally wrestled the knife out of her hand, but she went back to the kitchen drawer and drew out another knife. She was so angry and crazy. I fought for my life!”

Justin didn’t know how much more of this trash he could take.

“After she cut me a few times I just lost it and started swinging the knife. Before I knew what was happening she was on the floor motionless. I accidentally cut the artery in her neck, and I knew it was too late. Blood gushed out of the wound on her neck. I panicked and just wrapped her up and put her in the car and drove out to the Forestry. I’m so sorry, Justin. It was an accident, I swear. I never wanted to hurt Amy; she was like a sister to me! But I had to protect myself. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you, but like I said, I was scared and wasn’t thinking.”

Justin stood up from his chair. Connor looked at him pleadingly. Connor had been like a brother to him. They’d grown up together with Connor spending most of his time at the Taylor house. His family, especially Big Red, welcomed him into their home. Justin didn’t understand how Connor could have done this. Maybe weird wiring in his brain or perhaps an evil lurking below the surface that eventually unearthed itself. It didn’t matter. Maybe even watching Big Red kill his mother when he was at such a tender age desensitized him somehow. Connor was dealt his cards in life and he decided to play them a certain way. Now he’d have to pay for that choice.

Justin took the .38 out of his back pocket.

Ginger opened the door from the bar and stepped into the tense clubhouse. Justin made no effort to hide the gun in his hand. Ginger had intended to go outside through the main entrance a few steps away; instead she looked away and went back into the barroom with the others.

“You said if I told the truth I’d live!” Connor pleaded.

“But you didn’t tell the truth,” Justin said in an unusually calm voice.

“Yes, I did. You don’t know…you weren’t there,” Connor blurted as he struggled against the rope holding him fast.

“No, I wasn’t there,” Justin replied. “But I know my sister, and what you claim happened is pure fabrication. Now it’s your turn to squirm and face the certainty of death, the way Amy did as you kept plunging that knife into her.”

Just nearly boiled out of control, but managed to keep his cool. “Maybe you’ve invented this story in order to live with what you did, or maybe you don’t give a shit about anything but yourself, and you came up with it on the fly, thinking it would save your ass. Whatever the case, I know my sister, and she would never pull a knife on you or attempt to harm anyone. In fact, I believe she was trying to help Lily and keep her from harm. Amy could read people, and she had your number. I don’t know what it was she knew, but she believed in it so much she sacrificed losing a good friend like Lily over it. Then she ultimately died to protect Lily from you.”

Connor looked at the floor, then back up at Justin with tears running down his cheeks.

“Please don’t do this, brother.”

Justin cringed at the word coming out of Connor’s mouth.

“Go get one of those extra large garbage bags we use for useless shit,” Justin said to Merlin, who complied right away.

Connor’s face turned completely white now as he struggled against the ropes that bound him to the chair. “No, Justin! Please!”

But his plea fell on deaf ears. Justin took the barrel of the gun and placed it on Connor’s forehead.

“You can’t do this!” Connor cried. “You have to take a vote.”

“We already did,” Justin said, and he pulled the trigger. A large chunk of Connor’s skull flew to the back wall of the auto shop. Connor slumped in the chair, the ropes holding him upright. Justin placed his gun back into his pocket.

“Bag him up before he bleeds too much. Take an axe and a can of gasoline. You know what to do.” Justin carried out the Warrior’s code without emotion, the way he had seen Red do it one time long ago. “Trigger…Merlin, one of you take the SUV and the other take Connor’s bike. Sell it to the chop shop in Beekersville and bring the money back for Lily. When Detective Winters comes snooping around, just tell him Connor got cold feet before his wedding and headed out of town to parts unknown.” Then he left to collect Ginger, Aaron, and Lily.

Trick and Cincinnati Joe threw Connor’s body in the back of the pickup truck. They would take it deep into the Forestry where they would burn it to ashes. There wasn’t much blood from the execution, but the men squeegeed up the oily mess and burned it out back. Then they power-washed the floor with solvent and bleach.

Justin went outside and headed for the old building to get Ginger and the others.

“Justin Taylor?”