Savior let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head because he didn’t have any answers either. “Fuck if I know. I wanted to believe Reed was involved because the coincidence is too strong, but it had to be dumb fucking luck. He probably met her on all those trips up here to set up the deal with Reed.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.” It would’ve been easier if Reed was involved but Jag had done more than enough digging and found nothing. Less than fucking nothing. I let out a long breath and looked at the cement steps, stained with gum, graffiti and piss. This was a place people went when they had nothing else to do. Nowhere else to go. “He’s got all that money and he keeps his girl here?” This place wouldn’t see repairs unless they were absolutely necessary.
Savior shrugged his shoulders and dropped them with a weary sigh. “We going up or do we need hazmat suits first?”
“We’re going up.” There was no point in delaying the inevitable, but the lack of police cars and yellow tape gave me hope.
“Lead the way, Prez.” His tone sounded about as hopeful as I felt which is to say, not very.
The painted green doors were chipped all over and, in some places, a number or two was missing and hadn’t been replaced. “This place is a fucking dump.” But we were here now and we needed to find Stitch and Gunnar so I put my hand on the door and Savior stopped me. “What?”
“Be careful.” He nodded in the direction of the door, closed but the shitty lock gave way with a flick of his hand.
“Fuck!” I pushed it open without thinking and froze at the sight of the shitty little apartment. “What the fuck?” The blue-gray carpet looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned since the seventies and the cheap coffee table was broken in shards, like someone had fallen on it. Or been thrown.
“Something went down here.”
“Yeah, looks like it.” He was right but as I looked around at all the evidence of the struggle that had taken place here, my hope began to fade. A large pool of blood was already dry in one corner of the living room. Too much blood to belong to someone who was still breathing. “Shit. I hope to God that blood doesn’t belong to one of ours.”
Savior nodded grimly and bent down behind the sofa. “Check this out.” He rose with a bloody knife in his hand. A familiar blade with a gold and pearl handle, given to Gunnar by his old man before he split. He carried that damn thing with him everywhere, from the small blue collar town he grew up in to the deserts of the Middle East and back. “At least we know they were here.”
“You think this was a setup?” It didn’t make any fucking sense. A guy with billions of dollars putting his side piece up in this shithole.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Savior didn’t elaborate and I didn’t need him to because it didn’t matter. He’d heard the same info I did from Vivi’s mouth and knew this Carlito asshole was dangerous and crazy, a lethal combination for sure.
“We need to figure out where they are first and then what the fuck this asshole wants, because if he wanted them dead, I figure we’d have found their bodies already.” It was a gruesome thought but one I hadn’t stopped thinking about since I got Reed’s call.
“Fuck,” Savior sighed. “You’re right.”
“I know Vivi and Jag are on this but I’m gonna talk to Dodds.”
“The cop?” Savior said it like the man hadn’t saved Moon from his crooked partner which I could never forget. “You must be more worried than you look.”
“Goddamn right I am. Did you not hear the deadliest cartel on the planet part of what Vivi said? Because I can’t stop thinking about it. And they’ve got my men.” I let out a long breath. I knew Dodds was just doing his job but that didn’t mean I wasn’t appreciative. “Dodds has to have some information that could be useful.”
Skepticism was written all over Savior’s face but I didn’t give a damn. If the Salinas Cartel had Gunnar and Stitch, I’d use all the resources at my disposal. I would fucking destroy them. “So who called to put that frown on your face?”
“Gabe, Prez for Sons of Sin MC. I reached out to see if they had any dealings with Salinas.”
“And? Don’t leave me in fucking suspense, man.” Savior continued looking around the tiny shitty apartment.
“And all he had to say was he’d gone up against a few lackeys in the Salinas Cartel when they were trying to find Ripcord’s sister and lost a few brothers before it was all over. Long story short, these guys are bad fucking news.”
Savior sighed, the sound was as exhausted as I felt. “Fuck man, I was really hoping for a holiday filled with peace and quiet, Mandy’s sweet treats and her sexy little body.”
“Yeah, no fucking kidding.” I’d hoped for a quiet holiday with Moon and Beau, but this was our life. Chaos and death and imminent fucking war at all times.
We finished looking around the little apartment, noting that Marisol was nowhere to be found but the closet and drawers were still filled with her clothes, shoes and toiletries. Everything said she’d planned to come back at some point. If she left of her own free will. “Stay here a few hours and see if she returns.”
He nodded even though he was unhappy with the assignment. “And what are you gonna do?”
“Talk to Dodds and then see if Vivi and Jag came up with anything else we could use.” I didn’t know shit about the cartel up here in Reno, but I would reach out to every fucking person I knew to find out more. “Wait a few hours and if she doesn’t show, get back to Mayhem.”
“Be careful and don’t tell that cop too much.”
“Thanks, man.” We both walked back to the parking lot. I got on my bike while Savior moved his to a spot in the back so he could watch the apartment without being seen. “Later.”
I hauled ass on the seven-hour ride home, eager to hook up with Dodds. When I was close to Mayhem, I pulled over to a gas station and gave him a call before it got too late. Asked him to meet me somewhere away from prying eyes. Forty minutes later he pulled up in his unmarked burgundy Crown Vic and parked beside my bike. I chose a spot at the east end of town away from all the shops and restaurants just to make sure we could speak in private. “Detective.”