Burnout: A Legal Heat Novella (9 page)

“Do you have a brother, Ace?” She leaned into him, her face close to his, her stomach churning. “Can you imagine seeing his house like this and not being able to get in touch? Anyone would get emotional. Not just women.”

His jaw tightened, and for a moment she thought he was going to turn away. “Yeah,” he said, finally. “I had a brother. Sam. We were put in foster care when I was three and he was two because my dad lost his shit after my mother died in a bike accident. He’d drink and beat on us. I only have vague memories about it, but the social workers told me about it when I got older. After a couple of years in foster care, things were so bad Sam started running away, trying to find our dad. Eventually they separated us. Sent him to a place where he couldn’t run. Never saw him again. I spent years trying to track him down. So I get how you feel, babe. And I just meant women show their emotions more than men, and that’s sometimes hard for a man to handle.”

For a moment, sympathy overrode her anger. “I’m so sorry about your family.”

Despite his little speech about men not showing emotions, pain flickered across Ace’s face, creased his brow, and darkened his eyes. “No big deal. It happened a long time ago. I eventually found my dad. He was in a care home for Alzheimer’s patients and was dying from cancer. I wanted to know why he never got his shit together and got us out of care, and if he knew anything about Sam, but he didn’t recognize me. Didn’t even remember he had sons.”

“Oh, Ace.” She placed a hand on his chest in sympathy, but he jerked away.

“Don’t need your pity,” he said, his voice rough. “I got over it a long time ago. Life sucks. It isn’t fair. And there’s no limit to the amount of shit you gotta take.”

She winced at the bitterness in his voice. “Maybe I could help. I don’t know what the Riders do to find people, but the police have extensive resources for finding missing people. This is what I do, Ace. I could help you find Sam. And I can find Jason.”

Ace snorted. “Don’t be naive. No one cares about a lost foster kid, and they’re not going to give a damn about Jason. He’s no upstanding citizen. You gotta know that.”

Her throat tightened as her anger reasserted itself. “I need you to respect who I am and what I do and have some faith in the system. When Ryan broke into my house and I called 911, the police were there for me in minutes. Even though they knew I was a police officer and I had a gun. And I was so grateful because when he walked into the house and threatened me with a knife, I couldn’t pull the trigger.”

If he’d been affected at all by the confession of her greatest failing, or even by the words she said, she couldn’t tell. Instead, he just shook his head.

“When did you last see Jason before you moved out here?”

“Probably three years ago.” She walked over to the window and stared out into the night so he couldn’t see the disappointment etched across her face. But what had she expected? Why would he care about a woman he barely knew and a secret she’d shared only with her brother? She was just a woman he’d fucked, and maybe he had his own reasons for finding Jason—reasons that had nothing to do with her.

“I didn’t hear much from him during that time,” she continued. “We’d been pretty close before that and then for three years… nothing. But last year when the whole thing with Ryan blew up, I got in touch with him, and he came to see me. We’ve stayed in touch every week since then. Why?”

“You might want to think about that,” he said.

Finally losing her patience, Sophie folded her arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. “If you have something to say, then say it. I’m not interested in playing games.”

“I gave my word.” His lips tightened. “Games are all I can give you. I’m your best chance at finding Jason, but you have to trust me.”

Sophie swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I like you, Ace. But I don’t trust you. Not with Jason’s life. I barely know you. I’m sorry, but I have to do this my way.” She held up her phone. “I’m calling the police. You might not want to be here when they arrive.”

He gave her a last, lingering look, and then he was gone, leaving her alone in a house she had illegally entered and in the middle of a crime scene she had failed to report.

*     *     *

Not good. Not good at all.

Sophie sat in the police chief’s office and stared at the awards decorating his wall. After only a few days in the department, she didn’t know him well enough to read him, but the fact he’d left her here for almost an hour didn’t bode well. Maybe they didn’t want her on the team tasked with finding Jason. Or maybe they’d already found him and they didn’t know how to break the bad news. Whatever the reason, her stomach was twisted in knots, and she’d bitten her nails to a quick.

“Deputy Chief Constable Skinner wants to see you in the boardroom.” Gary gave her a sympathetic look as she pushed herself out of her chair. “What’s going on? You in some kind of trouble?”

She shook her head. “My brother is missing and someone shot up his house. I called it in and everyone went crazy. I’m not sure why.” But Ace knew. He knew and wouldn’t tell her, leaving her to suffer the embarrassment of feeling like the only person in Vancouver who didn’t know the full truth about her brother.

“Come see me after the meeting.” He gave her arm a tight squeeze. “Let me know if I can help.”

Sophie mustered a smile and then walked through the open-plan space to the meeting room. Tall and dark-haired, with deeply tanned skin and a youthful face that belied his forty years with the VPD, Skinner nodded when she came in, but it wasn’t his thin-lipped smile that chilled her blood but the thick file on the table in front of him.

“Sit down please, Officer Nichols.”

She sat and clasped her hands together under the table. “Can you tell me what’s going on? Do you have information about Jason? Have you been able to find him?”

Skinner cleared his throat. “When you applied for the police service, you filled in a number of forms asking for details of family members and for full disclosure of any criminal records, isn’t that right?”

Sophie swallowed past the lump in her throat and nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

“But it seems you failed to disclose your brother’s name or his lengthy criminal history.”

Sophie frowned, thinking fast. “If I recall correctly, the question asked for details of full-blood relatives. Jason is my mother’s son from her first marriage and not a full-blood relation. And in any event, I’m not aware of any criminal record.”

Skinner slid the file across the table. “That entire file is about your stepbrother, Jason Merida. He has a criminal record several pages long, not including his juvenile record, which we managed to have unsealed.”

Her breath left her in a rush as she opened the file. She recognized the photograph of Jason at once, although the mug shot had been taken a long time ago, well before his face had filled out. She scanned his criminal record, noting it consisted mainly of drugs and weapons offences and resisting arrest. He’d been in jail for the last three years, and his current known associates included some of the biggest arms dealers on the West Coast.

For a long moment, she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. She’d known Jason had been in trouble when they were younger, but it had mostly been small stuff—disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, and petty theft. She had also suspected that his paper factory job was likely a cover for something else, but she’d never imagined anything like this. He had been released last year after serving three years in jail for drugs and weapons offences including possession of over fifty guns, three-point-five kilograms of ecstasy worth four hundred thousand dollars for the purposes of trafficking, nine hundred grams of marijuana, and ten stolen passports. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Now, it appeared he had expanded his arms dealing overseas and into the USA and was associated with some of the world’s most wanted arms traffickers.

“I didn’t know.” She flipped through the file. “He said he worked at a paper company and spent a lot of time traveling.”

Skinner shook his head. “As far as we can tell, he’s never held a regular job and never filed taxes. But we are more concerned about his disappearance so close to your transfer to Vancouver and your failure to disclose any details about your connection to a convicted criminal.”

A chill ran through her, and she gripped the table and met Skinner’s gaze head on. “I was investigated when I first joined the police force in Ontario and again when I applied for the transfer, which was only a few months ago. If you need to conduct further investigations, I’m more than happy to cooperate, but you’ll find my contact with Jason over the last few years has been sporadic at best.” Now she knew why.

“Jason’s case is being handled by the Investigative Division. I can assure you they are looking for Jason, but as a suspect and not as a missing person. Our limited resources are best spent looking for innocent taxpaying citizens who are legitimately missing and not suspected criminals who are likely in hiding.”

Sophie gritted her teeth and fought back a wave of nausea. “Can I be involved in whatever investigation the Investigative Division is running?”

Skinner pursed his lips and sighed. “I’m afraid you’re suspended pending a full internal investigation into your connection with your brother. The situation has sounded all sorts of alarm bells, and we can’t have the police force brought into disrepute. If the investigation is clear, you can return to normal duties, but having you involved in a search for your brother would be a conflict of interest. In the meantime, you’ll have to hand in your gun and your badge.”

Numb inside, Sophie pushed her chair away from the table. “So I have to find him on my own.”

Skinner looked up and shook his head. “I’ll caution you not to interfere with any ongoing investigations or to start asking questions in the circles he frequented. You’re a beat cop and a green one at that. His associates are lifers, hardened criminals who have been in and out of jail since their teens. Gangs without morals or ethics or even a shred of human decency. If they think you’re a threat or you’re getting too close, they won’t hesitate to kill you.”

Sophie bristled. “I wouldn’t be much of a police officer if I were scared of the very criminals I swore to bring to justice.”

“Right now, you aren’t a police officer.” Skinner’s face tightened. “Don’t forget it.”

W
hat the hell
was she doing?

Sophie sat outside the Rogue Riders’ clubhouse, an old armoury near the Burrard Street Bridge, and drummed her thumb on the steering wheel of her Saturn Astra. Finding the clubhouse hadn’t been a problem. Gary had been more than helpful after she told him what had happened yesterday afternoon. Although initially wary, he’d been supportive of her decision to enlist the help of the Rogue Riders MC and had even offered to come with her to the clubhouse. She’d turned him down. Not because of any concern for his safety but because she didn’t know where she stood with Ace.

Still, asking a club of outlaw bikers for help went against everything she believed. Justice and the law were the provenance of the police and the courts, and every citizen in trouble deserved help, even if he walked the wrong side of the line, like Jason. But she was here because the law had let her down. And although she was still angry at Ace for keeping her out of the loop and for walking away and leaving her at Jason’s house, he was her best—maybe only—hope for finding Jason.

A short, stocky man with a shock of black hair and a patch-less vest emerged from the armoury and made a beeline for her car. God, they’d seen her. How embarrassing was that? Heart pounding, she rolled down the window and plastered a smile on her face.

“Hi. What can I do for you?”

“I wanna know how long you’re gonna sit out here, and whether you’re up to no good.” He smirked and her cheeks flamed.

“I…uh…wanted to see Ace. I didn’t have his number.”

His shoulders dropped and he visibly relaxed. “No problem. We always like visits from the ladies.” He opened her door and Sophie slid out of the driver’s seat.

“I’m Mop,” he said. “Prospect, obviously, with a trash road name like that. But I had an incident with a mop and now I’ll never live it down.” He looked back over his shoulder and frowned. “Why didn’t you just come up and ring the bell?”

“I wasn’t sure if anyone was around.”

“There’s always someone around. Can’t leave the clubhouse unguarded.” He gestured her through the barbed wire fence surrounding the property. “We got a lot of enemies.”

“Enemies?”

He chuckled. “Cops, more cops, street gangs, other one-percenter MCs, and… you guessed it, cops.”

“Right. I’ll be sure not to tell any cops where you are.” She followed Mop to the front entrance. He waved at the security camera in the corner. Moments later, Jackie opened the door and smiled.

“Oooh. I love it when the cops come to raid.”

“Shit.” Mop jerked away. “I didn’t know she was a cop. She said she was here to see Ace. I thought she was one of his—”

Jackie’s eyes widened and she cut him off quickly. “Nope. She’s his new sweetie. It seems our Ace has got a kink for law enforcement. Tell Ice to stay out of his way.”

Clearly uncertain about whether Jackie was joking or not, Mop stepped in front of Sophie. “Christ, Jackie. Don’t joke about it. Ryder will kill me if he finds out I let a cop in here.”

Jackie’s smile faded. “Ryder knows about her. I talked to him about Sophie the other day just before he took that new sweet butt with him to Seattle. I can’t remember her name. Was it Tatty or Tarty or maybe Titty?”

Mop snorted. “Her name is Tabby, and you’re letting your jealous streak show.”

“Ryder and I had a thing.” Jackie’s gaze flicked to Sophie and she shrugged. “I still care. I don’t want to see him get hurt by a slutty little sweet butt who only wants him so she can be the president’s old lady.”

“I thought you had a thing with Ace,” Sophie said, bemused.

“She gets around.” Mop quickly stepped away as Jackie reached out to slap him. “She also had a thing with Viking Dan, but he quit the club and went back to Norway to get away from her.”