Buried Biker (27 page)

I tried to get back to my main concern. “You think you know happened to Razorback?”

He raised his bushy eyebrows and stroked his braided beard. “Oh, I
know
what happened to Razorback.”

“Yeah?”

“And I didn’t have nothing to do with it. Mind you, if I’d had a chance, I might have.”

“And?”

“Come to find out, you didn’t have nothing to do with it, either. I thought maybe you did—I see the way you handle yourself with Funky Joe when he’s getting a bit too big for his britches. And they say the first killing’s the hardest one. You got that one under your belt. So you might think knocking off Razorback would be more of a ‘could-you-get-away-with-it’ kind of thing.”

“But I didn’t.”

“I know. It was Black Rose.”

“Really? I thought she might be involved somehow, but why’d she want to off her old man? I mean, it didn’t bother her that much that he had the hots for Kelly, did it?”

“Nah. That was no big deal. But when he realized Kelly was in the hospital and there was probably no way he was gonna avoid street charges, he decided to take off.”

“I know Kelly was plenty mad, but I’m not at all sure she’d testify against him. Might just let you take care of it.”

“You know, they got those domestic abuse laws now, look into it even if the victim says she doesn’t want to prosecute. And they didn’t know who it was attacked her at first. Thought it might be you. So they took the swabs, ran the tests.”

“And got a match with a registered sex offender.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, now there’s nothing for anybody to do about it. Nothing anybody
can
do about it. He’s dead.” He nodded. “Taken care of for me. For Kelly, too. And you.”

I’d heard about the money angle, but that didn’t seem like reason enough to make her so mad she’d
kill
him. “So why’d Black Rose get so bent out of shape that she did him in?”

Old Buckles leaned back. “Remember he decided to take off, without her. And to finance it, he decided to take all their money out of the bank. Black Rose had worked hard for that money. She wasn’t about to let it go for something stupid. So when she confronted him and he wouldn’t give it back to her, she killed him.”

“How’d she do that?”

“Knocked him out with a crowbar and then ran him over with the backhoe. He’s got tread-marks on his head and ass.”

“Then she buried him at the construction site?”

“Yeah. Stupid bitch. She had the backhoe, so it wasn’t that hard. But she didn’t know about how fussy they were about the slopes and the hills and all that stuff.”

“Is that why the inspector said they had to fix the drainage?”

“Yeah. When the TCI came and took a look, she knew there was something wrong. Even I could tell the silt snakes weren’t in the right place. She made the foreman get to work fixing it before we could get to work.”

“That can’t have gone over well.”

“Nope. Most of us couldn’t work until they got it fixed. And then when they found out what happened, most of us lost our jobs. Go figure.”

“So what happens now?”

Old Buckles reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with a few keys dangling from it. He held it up and then tossed in my direction.

“Here. Go by the house and take care of the cats. Kelly’s in the rehab place. She’ll be pissed if she finds out anything happened to the damn things.”

I caught it. “Where are you gonna be?”

He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Out riding somewhere. Until they pick me up.”

“The cops?”

“I’m sure there’s gonna be a retake warrant for parole violation.”

“I thought you stayed away from the chop shop. And the meth lab.”

“Yeah. But there was a party last night, in that roadhouse out by where the bridge is being built. I should have stayed away.”

“You get drunk and do something?”

“You might say. There was a fight. A good old-fashioned brawl. That stupid bitch of yours from the newspaper took lots of pictures. Gonna put me right in the middle of the mix.”

“Bitch of
mine
?”

“Yeah, well, maybe not yours. But if you hadn’t gotten her out of the clubhouse, she wouldn’t have been in any shape to take pictures at that bar.”

“If I hadn’t and you’d gone up there, you and a bunch of the Predators might have been looking at some pretty serious charges instead of a retake warrant.”

“Sometimes it’s worth it.”

“Not if it means you’re gonna spend the next few decades locked up.”

He flipped his beard with his fingers. “You know, if you hadn’t stepped in, there’s a very good chance nobody would ever have found that bitch. Or figured out what happened to her.”

“Too many people knew she was looking to go to the clubhouse. Including one guy none of you guys were smart enough to figure out is a snitch.”

“Yeah? Who’s that?”

“I ain’t giving no names. But if anybody thinks about it, it ought to be pretty obvious.”

Old Buckles nodded. “Yeah. I think I know who you mean.”

“Where you gonna go?”

“Don’t matter much. See what I can see before I get locked up again.”

I found that plan—or lack thereof—to be a chilling thought. “That what you really want to do?”

He nodded. “Just make sure them cats get fed or whatever. I promised Kelly I’d make sure they wasn’t forgot. If she gets mad at me, she won’t come visit. Or send any money in or anything else. She’s the only one I can really count on.”

“Nobody left at the house now?”

“Shouldn’t be. Now that the chop shop operation’s out of the clubhouse, I imagine everybody’s moved back there. I don’t know how long I got here, but I’m gonna make the most of it.”

“I’ll go take care of the cats. But I need to be gone before Kelly gets there.”

He shifted his weight from one massive leg to the other and looked past me. “Maybe you could clean up some, too. She’s not gonna like what she sees. I think she just went to that rehab place today. Not drug rehab, for her shoulder. Ought to be a few days at least.”

I sighed. “How bad a mess is it?”

“Not too bad. Not much furniture broken up or anything. You ought to go see Kelly again, anyhow. In the rehab place.”

“She don’t want to see me.”

“I think she knows by now that you didn’t screw Black Rose. Or tell Razorback he could screw her. So even if she’s still a little mad at you, she’ll get over it.”

I wasn’t so sure. The sharp pain that I’d been getting whenever I thought about her had turned into a pretty constant dull ache. Even if she did get over it, I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to trust her again. What kind of a relationship could I have with someone I couldn’t trust?

We walked out into the garage. The door was wide open now. A few of the bikers hung around, smoking those Roll-Rites that smelled of tobacco and marijuana.

Funky Joe was gone. So was his bike.

Old Buckles climbed on his trike. It sank a few inches under his weight.

“I’m going on a
run
,” he announced to the others. “Ain’t been on a proper run in years. Anybody coming with me?”

One of the bikers flicked the end of his smoke across the room and headed for his bike. “Where to?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. As long and as far as I can go. Until they catch up with me.” He revved his engine and turned back to me. “Tell Kelly she’ll probably have to arrange to have my trike picked up from where ever. Don’t want it sitting in an impound lot out in the weather. And racking up fees I can’t pay. She can store it in her garage again for me. Tell her thanks.”

I didn’t tell him I doubted I’d be seeing Kelly again, except maybe at work. No way to avoid that. But I could leave her a note.

“You want a ride over to the house?” he asked me.

“No thanks. I’ll walk.” It was a hike, but breathing the fresh air would do me some good. And let me think about things a little.

He raised his feet to the footrests, gunned the engine and took off, skidding through the open door and down the alley. A few of the bikers followed him.

I watched him go. I wondered if all he was worried about was parole violation from a rowdy party at a bar. Despite what he said, he might be looking at something more serious. Like having a hand in Razorback’s death. I pocketed the keychain and set out toward Kelly’s house across town.

As I emerged from the alley, I saw the puke-green car parked on the street. I turned to go the other way. Too late. Carissa and her camera had caught me. Probably along with Funky Joe when he left. And Old Buckles. Once again, she’d caught me where I shouldn’t be.

“Hey, Jesse,” she said, lowering the camera. She’d regained her spunk and didn’t seem much the worse for wear. Makeup did a good job of covering the bruises on her face. If I hadn’t known they were there, I wouldn’t have noticed them.

“I’m still working on my feature article about the Predators,” she said. “I wanted to ask you, why don’t you wear a jacket with a patch and ride a motorcycle like the rest of them?”

“Because I’m not a member,” I reminded her. “And I don’t
want
to be a member.” I also don’t have a driver’s license and wasn’t about to waste money on a bike, even if I could afford it, but I didn’t go into all that.

“You really expect me to believe that? All the time you hang around with them?”

“They’re nobody to be hanging around, Carissa. I try to avoid them when I can. After the problems you’ve had with them, don’t you think you should be, too?”

She tossed her once-again perfectly coifed blond hair and laughed. “I’ve got a new boyfriend,” she said. “He’ll make sure I don’t have any more problems.”

The passenger side door of the hybrid opened. Belkins lumbered out. “He giving you a hard time, pumpkin?” he said to Carissa.

Chapter 16

C
OLD
R
AIN
B
EGAN
T
O
S
LASH
at me as I walked. I shoved my hands in my pockets and wondered what I should do. Take the mother cat and her two kittens back to my place? That’d be a hell of a lot easier than walking to Kelly’s house a couple of times a day to check on them, put out food and clean the litter box.

Kelly was in the physical rehab place, but I had no idea for how long. She’d hate staying there. Since it was just her shoulder, she could probably get around okay, and once they showed her the exercises or whatever she was supposed to do, she’d be chomping at the bit to come home and reclaim her house and kids.

How were the kids doing? Aunt Louise would make sure they were well cared for, but they were scared and worried about their mom. With good reason.

And aside from the fact that I’d agreed to take care of the cats, how was this any of my business?

The house was dark when I got there. At least there were no bikes in the driveway or on the lawn. It wasn’t an expensive neighborhood, but it was quiet and well-kept, so I imagined the neighbors would be relieved if the bikers didn’t come around anymore.

I went up on the porch and fit the key in the lock. As soon as the door swung open, I could smell the cat litter pan. And stale beer. With a faint undertone of marijuana.

At least the cats still seemed to be there. And alive.

The living room was a mess. Beer bottles, empty pizza boxes, all kinds of trash was strewn all over the furniture and the floor.

Stepping over everything, I went to the kitchen where the big bag of cat food had been propped in a corner next to the refrigerator. Sure enough, it was spilled out over the floor. So at least they hadn’t starved.

The kitchen wasn’t in any better shape than the living room. Dirty dishes and glasses filled the sink and the table. Unwashed pots were stacked on the stovetop.

Taking two cans of cat food from the pantry shelf, I looked around for the feeding bowls. They were nowhere to be seen. I looked up in the cabinet where Kelly kept bowls for soup and cereal. Empty.

Kelly shouldn’t have to come home to this mess. Especially with a bad shoulder.

So why should I care? It didn’t look like Kelly and I had much of a future. But much as tried to convince myself I really didn’t care, my gut told me I did. It wouldn’t change anything between us if I cleaned up some, but it wouldn’t hurt. And it would make things a little easier on Kelly when she got back.

With a sigh, I went to the sink and started sorting out the dishes. When I’d filled the dishwasher to the brim and started it, I still had piles more to wash. I washed some more and put as many as would fit in the dish drainer. Then I took some bowls I’d cleaned and emptied the cat food into them.

Where were the cats hiding? I hoped they hadn’t gotten out and run away. Or that I was wrong about them hiding out and surviving.