Betrayed (15 page)

*****

The next morning Ginger, Justin, and Aaron headed to the WWMC clubhouse prior to taking Aaron to school. They planned to drop him off then visit the principal’s office to talk about the bullying situation. However, Justin needed to pick up some items from the auto shop first. Since it was early they stopped by the clubhouse where Trick, Trig, Merlin, and others in the club congregated for their morning brew.

“How’s it going Aaron? You’re trying to make an old man out of me,” Merlin said slapping the kid on the back.

“Too late,” Aaron said with a grin.

“Smartass kid,” Merlin replied as he sat down at one of the tables with his cup of coffee. “Just see if I go looking for your ass anymore,” he said with a smile.

“So what’s the plan?” Trig asked.

“We’re talking to the principal after we drop Aaron off,” Ginger answered. “If he can’t do anything then we’ll have to go to the police.”

“Someone just pulled into the parking lot,” Trick said as he stared out the window. “And they don’t look like customers for the auto shop.”

Trick opened the door as the men approached the front entrance.

“Hello, how can we help you?” Trick asked.

The men were dressed in suits with black overcoats. Both pulled out their detective badges. “Are Justin and Aaron Taylor here?” The man asking the question had dark brown hair and friendly eyes. Justin estimated him to be in his early 30’s. The other detective was older, with white hair and a white goatee.

“Right here,” Justin called to the men. The men walked over to the table and introduced themselves.

“I’m Detective Daniel Evans,” he said reaching out his hand to shake Justin’s. “And this is Detective John Mallory.” Mallory shook Justin’s hand as well.

“I knew a Detective Winters,” Justin said as he shook the men’s hands. “Is he still there?”

“No,” Detective Mallory answered, “he retired six months ago.”

“Oh, okay. Well, how can I help you gentlemen?” Justin asked.

“Do you know a Jacob Reynolds?” Detective Mallory asked.

At that moment, Lily walked into the clubhouse. She walked over to the table to listen in on the conversation.

“As a matter of fact we do,” Justin answered. “His boy’s been bullying my nephew here. This is Aaron Taylor.” Aaron stood up to join Justin. “As you can see, he’s healing from a beat down the kid gave him a few days ago.”

The detectives took note of the boy’s bruises.

“We’re talking about the boy, Mr Taylor. Have you not seen the news this morning?” Detective Evans asked.

“No,” Ginger answered.

“This is my wife, Ginger Taylor,” Justin said.

“I did,” Lily interjected.

Detective Evans turned to the pretty woman with the striking blond hair and angelic face.

“So you know why we’re here?” He asked.

“Yes, but Aaron is also a victim,” Lily said defiantly. Detective Evans liked her already.

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Justin was becoming exasperated.
Please don’t lose your temper,
Ginger thought.
Not in front of these guys
. She knew whatever news they had wasn’t good.

“The body of Jacob Reynolds, Jr. was found yesterday evening by some hikers in Paint Creek State Forestry,” Detective Evans stated.

Justin winced at hearing Paint Creek Forestry, where his sister’s body was found.

“Good Lord,” Ginger gasped. “What happened?”

“He was bludgeoned to death,” answered Detective Mallory.

“I’m sorry this happened,” Justin replied, “but what does this have to do with us?”

“Motive,” The man said with steely eyes. “When we told Jacob’s parents about finding their son, the father mentioned that you and your club had a vendetta to settle with the boy.”

“That’s bullshit,” Justin exclaimed. “Our problem was the kid using my nephew as a punching bag.” Justin’s flare was rising and Merlin could tell if he didn’t jump in the WWMC president could make things worse for himself.

“Sirs, if I may,” Merlin interjected. “Justin and some of the boys went to talk to Mr. Reynolds about his boy bullying Aaron to see if there was some way to rectify the situation. Isn’t that right Justin?”

“Yes,” Justin said trying to calm himself down. “We didn’t go as a show of force or anything like that. We simply wanted to talk to the guy and see if he could control his son. Unfortunately, the guy was drunk at the time and there was no talking to him. You must have seen his wife – how battered she was.”

“Yes, we talked to both parents,” Detective Evans stated. “Right now we want to talk to everyone that saw or spoke to Jacob in the last few days. Aaron, did you see Jacob yesterday?”

“No, sir,” Aaron answered. “I try to avoid him.”

“And why is that?” Detective Mallory asked.

“I told you,” Justin interjected. “He bullies my nephew. The kid almost broke his nose the other day.”

“So it’s safe to say that you and Aaron did not have a good relationship with the deceased, correct?” Mallory asked.

“Okay,” Lily interrupted. “Are you saying they’re suspects?”

“No ma’am,” Detective Evans said. “And you are…?”

“My name is Lily Gordon, and I’m a friend of the club. It seems like your questioning is becoming accusatory.”

“We didn’t mean to come across that way, Ms. Gordon,” Detective Evans stated. “We’re simply running a murder investigation to the best of our ability.”

“I can see that, but I don’t want my friends railroaded either, just because they wear leather jackets and ride motorcycles. These guys would give their right arm to help a friend.”

Justin and the club looked at Lily with surprise and admiration. Ginger wasn’t surprised. She knew Lily was a strong woman who didn’t like her friends taken advantage of.

“We didn’t mean to offend anyone, but we may need to have you and Aaron come down for questioning later on,” Detective Mallory said to Justin. “Would you be willing to give us a DNA sample?”

“I’m not sure,” Justin said. “I may want to consult a lawyer first.”

“That’s fine. Just don’t leave town without telling us,” Mallory said as he and Evans walked towards the door. Evans looked back at Lily and tipped his head. She was watching the good-looking detective and smiled despite not wanting too. He was cute, but this wasn’t the time for distracting thoughts. There were more pressing matters to contend with now.

After the detectives left the building, Trig looked at the group. “What the fuck?”

“Guess you won’t have to worry about Jacob anymore, kid,” Trick said to Aaron.

“Enough,” Justin said. “You guys make some calls. I want a church meeting in an hour.”

The club walked over to the bar to make their calls.

“Who would kill Jacob?” Aaron asked still in shock by the news. “Do they think I did it?”

“No,” Ginger answered. “The detectives’ need all the information they can gather ,and that includes anyone he knew or came in contact with the last few days. You are not a suspect.”

“Ginger’s right,” Lily said. “Don’t worry about that.”

“Time to get you to school,” Ginger said as she rose from her chair.

She kissed Justin goodbye. “I work four hours today.”

“Okay, babe. I’ll see you later.”

“Stay out of trouble.”

During the church meeting, the members talked about the murder of the Reynolds boy and how it could come back on the club.

“I’m sorry the kid’s dead, but I don’t want the cops thinking we had anything to do with it,” Justin said as he sat at the head of the table.

“Yeah, the timing sucks with us going over to the kid’s house the other day,” Trig snorted. “I’m sure the father is pointing the finger at us.”

“I wouldn’t doubt if he did it himself,” Trick spouted. “The way his wife looked, I’m sure he took some of that anger out on the boy too.”

“Did anyone see the morning news about it?” Justin asked shifting in his chair.

“Yeah, I brought it up on the internet as we were waiting for the church meeting,” Merlin spoke up. “The boy was found on one of the hiking trails near a stream. Said he had blunt force trauma to the head. Hikers found him between 4:00 and 5:00 yesterday afternoon. He was in school until noon, so it happened in the space of those few hours.”

“Aaron skipped the last class and said he went to the video arcade. The arcade has security cameras, so that should exclude him,” Justin replied. “If the police start asking about club members…we were here at the clubhouse or auto shop. We have each other’s backs, right?”

Everyone agreed, nodding their heads.

“Okay, I wanted everyone on the same page.”

At that moment, yelling could be heard within the clubhouse. The members jumped from their seats to find out what was going on. As they exited the meeting room into the clubhouse, they saw Mr. Jacob Reynolds, Sr. in the middle of the room yelling to see the WWMC. Lily stood off to the side as the club surrounded him.

“You killed my boy!” Reynolds screamed to the room. “I’ll have you all put in jail!”

“I think you better calm down, Mr. Reynolds.” Merlin attempted to placate the man, but he was having none of it.

“You were pissed because he was hurting your boy, and you killed him!”

“I’m calling the police,” Lily whispered to Justin who nodded his head.

“I’m sorry about your boy, but we didn’t have anything to do with it,” Justin said in a calm voice as he walked slowly towards the man. “I can only imagine what you’re going through, but taking it out on us won’t help. Let the police find out who did this.”

“The police are a bunch of dickheads,” Reynolds replied. “Your club and that boy are the only ones that had a beef with him.” Reynolds was weak, likely from booze and being up all night.

“Here, sit down before you fall down,” Trig said as he pulled up a chair for the man to sit in. He fell into the chair then put his head in his hands.

“I know I wasn’t the best father, but why would someone kill my boy?” He asked wiping tears from his eyes. He was a wretched sight, and Justin and the club had difficulty finding sympathy for the man who abused his wife so savagely and likely the son he proclaimed to grieve over. The club wasn’t so sure that Reynolds hadn’t killed the boy.

Merlin brought him a cup of coffee. Maybe it would sober him up some before the police arrived. Reynolds sipped on the coffee and muttered to himself. The club decided to give him a wide berth.

“What do you make of this?” Merlin asked Justin.

“He’s either trying to shift blame from himself onto us, or he didn’t do it and he wants retribution. Hard to tell with this asshole,” Justin answered.

After five minutes, a police car showed up along with a car driven by one of the detectives. Detective Evans heard the call on the scanner and decided to investigate the disturbance as well.

“Detective, I didn’t know this warranted a return visit,” Justin said as he walked up to Evans.

“I heard it over the scanner and thought I’d make sure everything was all right.”

“Well, Mr. Reynolds decided to come by and give us a piece of his mind. Since he was belligerent Lily thought it best to call the cops and let them take care of him.”

“She’s a smart lady,” Evans said looking around the clubhouse for her. “Is she still here?”

“Yes, detective, I’m here,” Lily said as she came out of the kitchen.

“Well, I’ll go see how the cops are making out with Mr. Reynolds,” Justin said as he walked away. He could see the gleam in Lily’s eyes when she looked at Evans. He hadn’t seen it since Connor.

“Would you like a cup of coffee Detective?” Lily asked.

“Call me Daniel, and I’d love one,” Evans replied.

Lily poured herself a cup as well and invited the detective to sit at the counter in the kitchen with her. They talked, mainly about how Daniel became a detective in the first place. His father and grandfather were both cops, but Daniel set his sights on something other than walking a beat or policing neighborhoods. He liked mysteries, so detective work was right up his alley. Lily told him how much the club meant to her…they were her family. She didn’t speak of Connor or Amy. It was too personal, and she was just getting to know this man.

“Would you like to have dinner tonight? I know of a great Italian place over in Jackson city,” Daniel said.

“That sounds nice,” Lily answered.

“I’ll pick you up at seven if that’s okay.”

“Sounds good.” Lily gave him her address, and Daniel thanked her for the coffee. As they walked out of the kitchen, the police had put Reynolds in the back of their police car. They told Detective Evans they were taking him home. Reynolds sat with his head down in the backseat. He looked defeated, but Justin knew his poor wife would likely be on the receiving end of his wrath.

*****

That evening Lily and Daniel spent their dinner enjoying clams in white sauce and a bottle of Merlot. Lily felt comfortable with Daniel. His easy rapport and gentle voice had a soothing effect on her. His amicable nature made her feel at ease, and his good looks were an added benefit.