Ride with the Wind [The Ghost Riders 1] (8 page)

Everyone nodded and mumbled their agreement. He stood up, and they all followed suit.

“Let’s go.”

They followed him through the door and back into the den. The women were all sitting around as they emerged. Irish had the shades down on the windows, and the door to the office was closed and locked from the inside.

“We’ll let you know when we’re on our way back.” Dominic clapped Irish on the shoulder.

They walked through the back door, knowing Irish would lock up behind them. There were ten men standing outside the now-closed garage doors. They waved and began finding places to sit and relax out of the sun. They would keep watch on the outside while the rest of them were gone.

The trip to town took about fifteen minutes. They circled the streets for several minutes to see where everyone was situated before pulling into the empty spaces next to the sheriff’s SUV. The office door opened, and Sheriff Platt walked out with his hands on his hips. It didn’t elude Dominic that this put his hand closer to his gun. They had all come unarmed. He hoped the majority of Tussler’s men were as well.

“Sheriff. Rhodes is here as requested to answer some questions.” He stood by his bike and waited.

The man sighed. “Well come on in. Only two of you with Rhodes. There isn’t enough room for everyone and his fucking mother in here. I’m letting you in with him since I’m not making this official yet.” He turned and walked back through the door.

Dominic, Reece, and Rhodes looked at each other and shrugged before they followed the man inside. They walked through the front office back to the interrogation room. It was a small room with a table that would seat maybe four people around it comfortably.

“Have a seat, gentlemen. I hope this can be cleared up without a fuss.” The sheriff took the seat nearest the door with his back to it. He obviously felt safe doing that.

Dominic took the seat to the right of Platt with Reece taking the opposite one. This left Rhodes sitting directly across from Platt. The sheriff sighed and opened a folder. He pulled out a piece of paper and pushed it across the table to Rhodes.

“Here’s her statement. She signed it at the bottom.”

Dominic watched Rhodes read through it with no change in his expression. When he finished, he shifted it over toward Dominic. Without looking at it, he stared at Rhodes.

“Does it look like her signature?”

“It’s hers. Looks a little shaky, but it’s hers.”

“Sheriff, did she sign this here at the station, or was she at home?”

“She gave her statement to the deputy at the hospital, and once it was typed up, he took it back there for her to sign.”

Rhodes jumped up. “She’s in the fucking hospital and you only now thought to say anything?”

“Sit down, Rhodes. Now!” Dominic stared up at the other man.

“Well, it is assumed you would know that is where she would be after being beaten.”

Dominic cursed. So much for keeping this civilized. There was no way they were going to keep Rhodes from going to see her, and when Vernon found out, fuck.

“How bad is she?” Rhodes was still standing, leaning over the table with his hands planted flat on the surface. “Did you check Ray’s fists to see if they were bruised?”

He picked up his hands and held them out to Platt. “Mine aren’t. I didn’t hurt her. I would never hurt her.”

“Sit down, Rhodes.” Reece sighed.

The other man sank back into his chair with a furious expression boiling across his features. This was not going to turn out well. Dominic quickly read through the sketchy statement. Not once had she said that Rhodes was the one who attacked her. It wasn’t until the end, when the deputy kept asking her was it Rhodes over and over, that she said yes. But she never actually said Rhodes’s name.

“Platt, you know this is a coerced statement of what happened to her. She never volunteered that he was the one who hurt her. She only answered yes to their continued demands.”

“Be that as it may, I have to investigate the situation. Rhodes is helping his case by cooperating. That’s good. Now tell me where you were last night between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?”

“I was at the trailer with the gang. Everyone there will vouch for me. I went to bed about 1:00 a.m.”

The sheriff nodded and recorded this in his notes before looking back up.

“I’m going to do a lineup and have her pick out the man who attacked her.”

“That’s a start.” Rhodes nodded. “She knows I didn’t do it. How soon can you have it ready?”

“She gets out of the hospital tomorrow morning. We’ll do it on her way home so she doesn’t have to get back out again. I figure it will be about noon, but you need to be flexible. It will depend on when they finish her discharge paperwork and she can get here.”

“I’ll plan on being here about eleven and wait. I didn’t lay a finger on her yesterday or last night, much less beat her and rape her.”

“I know, Rhodes. I know. Don’t be late tomorrow.” He stood up and gathered his papers together. “You’re free to go, but don’t leave town until this is cleared up.”

The three of them stood up and filed out of the room without saying anything. When they walked outside, it was to find their guys facing off with eight of Satan’s Sons out on the street. Dominic wanted to pull out a gun and fire it in the air to get their attention. Instead, he walked through the middle and stopped to stare at the unruly bunch.

“Show’s over. Go back to your holes and settle down.” Dominic pushed through the group.

“The hell it is. He’s still walking around. He should be in jail for what he did to Jessie,” one of the group said, stepping up through the crowd.

“What did he do? He was with us when that took place. Our surveillance cameras will show that he didn’t leave the area that night.”

“Yeah, tapes can be doctored.”

“Come on, guys, let’s head back.” Dominic climbed on his bike and started it.

“I’m going to see about Jessie.” Rhodes started his bike.

“You show your face there, you’re asking for trouble, Rhodes.” Reece stared at him.

“Hospital?” Vernon looked over at Rhodes. “We won’t cause any trouble.”

“Hell, we’ll all go then.” Dominic pulled out of the parking spot and headed toward the hospital.

Maybe with a show of force they could get in and out without bloodshed. He sure as hell hoped so. The hospital wasn’t somewhere he wanted to start a fight.

When they walked into the front entrance, one of Satan’s Sons was standing there waiting for them.

“You might as well turn your fruity asses around and leave. You’re not coming in.”

“Step aside. We’re here to see Jessie, and we’re not leaving until we do.” Vernon and Rhodes stepped into the other guy’s space and looked down on him.

The other man kept his hands out by his sides, as if wanting to pull a gun. Finally he stepped out of the way.

“Tussler ain’t going to let you see his sister.”

“That’s our problem. Not yours.” Vernon led the way, with Rhodes on his heels.

They walked to the end of the hall and hooked a left to stop at the nurse’s desk to get a room number.

“There’s already too many in there now. I can’t let you in.”

“Don’t worry, they’re leaving when we get there,” Rhodes assured her.

She shook her head and followed them as they made their way to Jessie’s room. They looked like a mini parade as they walked down the hall. Dominic was glad they hadn’t been put on her
no visitor
list. Evidently no one had thought to do it.

Sure enough, there were two of Satan’s Sons standing outside the door. They immediately stepped in front of the door.

“You might as well move aside. We’re going in whether you’re still around to see it or not.”

Dominic winced at Rhodes’s words. Threatening them wasn’t the smart thing to do. It didn’t work anyway. They remained where they were.

“I’m going in to check my patient. Let me by.” The nurse looked up at the two men and frowned at them. They stepped aside for her to push through the door but moved right back after she had passed through.

There was a commotion on the other side and a lot of yelling. It was obvious that Jessie wanted to see Vernon and Rhodes. She and Tussler were arguing. Dominic winced when he heard the nurse threaten to call security. Yep, it was going to turn into a clusterfuck for sure. Then the nurse emerged, followed by two men.

“You can go in for a few minutes to see her. If you upset her, I will make sure you don’t get to see her again.”

Rhodes and Vernon pushed past the guards and walked in, leaving Dominic and the others outside in the hall. There were a few shouted words, but they settled down, and nothing more could be heard. Dominic hoped that Ray wasn’t in there. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to control himself if the man had been the reason for someone he cared about being in the hospital.

He thought about Raven’s arm, and his blood pressure rose again. There had been no reason to bruise her. It had all been in retaliation to Rhodes and Vernon seeing Jessie. Even though they had already set in motion the rape charge, they had still harassed her. He really needed to think of a way to get them out of the area. Satan’s Sons were bad news for everyone. Unfortunately, getting rid of them might mean breaking the law, and his crew were good men.

He continued to think about Raven and keeping her safe until Vernon and Rhodes emerged from the hospital room looking a little worse for wear. Neither man appeared relieved. That was not a good sign.

“Ready to ride?” he asked them.

“Ready,” Vernon said without hesitation.

They walked back down the hall, nodded at the nurse at the desk, and then continued along the long hallway to the front door. They walked outside and over to their bikes. Both men were bursting at the seams to talk. It would be much easier to talk here and now without the women hanging around.

“Is she okay?” Dominic started out the conversation.

It went downhill from there.

Raven heard the bikes when they pulled up at nearly six that evening. She waited along with the others in the den for them to come inside. Everyone was anxious as to what happened. Although she didn’t know any of the other men that well, she couldn’t believe that any of them would commit rape. They all seemed too respectful of women.

Several minutes went by before they knocked on the door and Irish let them in. She could tell by their expressions that it was bad.

“Where’s Turk?” Dominic asked as soon as he walked in the door.

“I’ll get him.” Irish jogged out of the room.

“Did you get everything cleared up?” Jugs walked over to where Rhodes and Walker were at the bar getting a beer.

“For now.” Rhodes took a swig of the beer.

Turk walked in the room, earplugs hanging around his neck from his MP3 player.

“Duplicate last night’s surveillance tape from the front gate. Make sure Sheriff Platt gets a copy.”

Turk nodded and walked out of the room. Reece walked over to Raven and dropped his hand to her waist. His expression lightened some when he looked into her eyes.

“Your arm okay? Have you tried to write with it?”

“I’m fine, Reece. I’ll be sore for a day or two, then it will be gone.”

“Come on. I could use something to drink.” He pulled her along beside him with his hand at her waist.

She looked over toward the bar, but he shook his head and directed her through the kitchen and down the hall to his bedroom. When they walked in, he dropped his hand.

“Well, hell. You’ve cleaned up some.”

“I didn’t go through anything. I just changed the bed sheets and took out the trash.”

“Looks good.” He walked over to the bedside table and pulled open the bottom drawer, where he withdrew a bottle of whiskey.

He sat on the edge of the bed and cocked his head at her. Raven sat next to him and waited for him to say something. She could tell he wanted to talk. Reece opened the bottle and took a drink before offering it to her. She shook her head. He shrugged and took another drink before setting the opened bottle on the table next to the bed. He scooted back until he could lean against the wall behind the bed.

“Come on up here, babe.” He patted the bed beside him.

She crawled up to sit next to him and smothered a smile when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and settled her there against his chest.

“They’ll harass Rhodes, but they don’t have any proof, and Jessie is already saying she was forced to sign that complaint.”

“That’s good.”

“Thing is, Vernon and Rhodes aren’t going to give up on Jessie. She’s important to them, and seeing that her brother is allowing Ray to abuse her, well, we’re going to back them.”

“You should. How old is she anyway?”

“Rhodes said she’s twenty-four. She’s been trying to get away from her brother and Satan’s Sons for several years now. Evidently Ray wants her, and Tussler is fine with that. Jessie, however, is not.”

“If they are holding her against her will, isn’t that wrongful imprisonment? Can’t the sheriff’s department help her?”

Reece sighed and leaned over her to reach the whiskey again. He turned it up then sat it between his legs.

“The problem is that Tussler is holding something over her and she’s scared to leave. The guys don’t know what it is, but it has to be something major, or she wouldn’t stick around for the abuse.”

“I feel for her. She’s got to be scared to death. She’s caught between a rock and a hard place.”

“You can say that again. I’m worried about Vernon and Rhodes. They aren’t handling her being hurt very well. Not that I can blame them. It pissed me off to see that bruise on your arm.”

“Don’t worry about me. You’ve got plenty going on as it is.” Raven could hear Reece’s heart beating in his chest. It was slow and steady, belying the obvious anxiety he was feeling over the rape accusation.

“Things are likely going to get rough here for a while, baby. You’ve got your own issues going on, so I’d appreciate it if you’d stick to the house for now. If you need anything, someone goes with you to town.”

“I see. So I’m a prisoner just as surely as Jessie is.”