Menace’s eyes widened as he listened to Diego on the other end of the line. After several moments, he said, “Let them look around outside, but tell them it’s after hours, and if they wanna come inside, they need to have a warrant.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Just do what you can to stall them. I’ll be there in ten.”
When he hung up, Viper asked, “What the fuck was that?”
“Two patrol cops just showed up at Stilettos. An anonymous call said they saw some guys toss a body into our dumpster.”
Without any further explanation, Menace bolted towards the front door with Viper, Hawk, and me following close behind. Viper and Hawk got on their bikes. Since I’d left mine at the strip club, I rode back over with Menace. When we pulled up, there was a cop car parked out front with its lights on, but no one was in sight. We parked and immediately headed around back. As soon as we turned the corner, Diego was talking to two officers. They were both in uniform and had their flashlights out surveying the dark alley. If Diego’s expression was any indication, he was completely freaked out and struggling to keep it together. He quickly stepped away from the cops and rushed over to us. “They’ve already checked the dumpsters and stuff, but thankfully, they didn’t find nothing.”
“Then, what the fuck are they still doing here?” Wasting no time, Viper walked past Diego and over to the two officers. “How’s it going, boys?”
“It’s going,” one of the answered.
“What brings you out tonight?” Viper stopped as he got closer, and a mix of surprise and relief crossed his face while studying one of the officers. “Tate? Little Tate Morgan? I’ll be damned. Is that really you?”
“Yes, sir. It is.” Morgan reached out and shook Viper’s hand. “It’s been a long time.”
“I’ll say. Last time I saw you, you were just about to start high school.”
“That was about ten years ago, sir.”
“Damn. Where has the time gone?” Viper chuckled. “How’s your dad been making it?”
“You know Pop. He’s always into something.” Morgan shook his head and smiled. “Driving Mom nuts with all his projects around the house.”
“Sounds about right.” Viper took a quick glance around the alley. “You find what you were looking for?”
“No, sir. Didn’t find anything suspicious, so I’d say the anonymous caller had it wrong.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“Just that they saw someone dump a body in one of your dumpsters, and that we needed to come check it out.” Morgan shook his head. “Probably some asshole trying to cause y’all some trouble, but I don’t see any reason to waste any more of your time or mine. We’ll get out of your hair and let you get back to your night.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“It was good to see you, Viper. You should stop by and see Pop sometime. I know he’d enjoy seeing ya.”
“I’ll do that.”
We all followed them back around front and waited as they got back in their patrol car. Before Morgan closed his door, he said, “You guys have a good rest of the night, and just give me a call if you come across anything we should know about.”
“Will do.”
Once the cops pulled out of the parking lot, Viper looked over to us and said, “Something isn’t adding up.”
“I can’t disagree with you there.” Hawk ran his hand over his face with a grumble. “Somebody dumped the girl here for a fucking reason, and we gotta find out what it is.”
Viper let out a deep breath. “I’m gonna need you to check out the surveillance footage from tonight and see if you can find out anything.”
“You got it, Prez. I’ll get right on it.”
Viper turned his attention to me. “I want you with the girl. As soon as she comes around, I want her talking. I need to know anything and everything she can tell us about what went down tonight.”
“Understood,” I answered with no complaint.
Even though I was the enforcer and not a fucking babysitter, there was something about this girl that had me wanting to keep an eye on her. So much so, I was already itching to get back. As Viper started walking over to his bike, he called out to Menace, “Let me know if you find anything.”
“You know I will.”
Hawk and I got on our Harleys and followed Viper back to the clubhouse. I didn’t want to look too eager, but I couldn’t help myself from speeding ahead of the others. I wanted to get back and see how the girl was doing. She was in pretty bad shape when we left her with Doc, and there was a good chance she wouldn’t pull through. While death was something I’d become accustomed to, the thought of this chick dying didn’t sit too well with me. Actually, a lot about this whole situation didn’t sit well with me, but there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it.