“How long is that gonna take?” Viper’s voice boomed from behind us.
We all immediately turned to find Viper charging towards us with Menace and Widow by his side. As expected, our president didn’t look pleased to see cops in the club. The officer gave Viper a disparaging look as he replied, “Anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks.”
“That’s not going to work for me,” Viper clipped. “We need this dealt with now.”
The words had barely left his mouth when one of the firemen stepped into what used to be our janitorial closet. He made a point to make a lot of noise, drawing all of our attention as he reached down and started sifting through the debris. Within seconds, he lifted a busted-up metal box with a couple of frayed wires dangling from it and announced, “I think we’ve found the culprit.”
The lead cop’s brows furrowed as he leaned in for a closer look. “What the fuck is that?”
“Daniels will have to check it out to be sure, but it looks like some faulty wiring caught fire next to the janitor’s closet.”
“The janitor’s closet? You’re telling me fucking cleaning supplies caused an explosion like this?” the cop asked, sounding surprised.
I had to admit I was just as surprised. I’d never seen any electrical fire blow out an entire fucking wall, much less three fucking rooms. I couldn’t help but wonder if Viper had pulled a fast one and had the fire department in his pocket.
I glanced over at my prez and then back to the fireman. I knew by the guy’s tone that something was up when he said, “Happens more than you might think. Turnpike Joe’s lost their entire dining area last month because of the same damn thing.”
“Is that right?” The cop gave him a skeptical look, then shrugged. “I need to get a little more information for my report, but I don’t see any point in dragging this out any longer than we already have.”
“No problem.” Viper motioned his hand towards the front door as he suggested, “Why don’t we take it outside where we can get some fresh air?”
“Sounds good.”
We all turned and followed Viper through the bar and out the front door. Three cop cars and the fire truck were parked right by the front door with their lights flashing, so it was no surprise that we’d drawn the attention of numerous nosy pedestrians. Country and Menace tried their best to run them off while Viper finished his conversation with the badges.
Widow and I were keeping an eye on the front door when something drew my attention over to one of the cop cars. It was parked just a few yards away under a security light, and I noticed someone moving inside.
Hoping for a better look, I casually leaned to the side and immediately spotted two young women locked away in the back. It was dark and a little difficult to see, but I could tell by looking at them that the two weren’t typical convicts.
The one closest to the window was a brunette and the other was a blonde. They both appeared to be in their mid-to-late twenties, and from what I could tell, they were relatively attractive—especially the brunette.
Neither of them came across as smashed or the least bit belligerent. In fact, they both seemed perfectly calm as they bantered back and forth with one another in the back seat—which made me wonder what they’d done to get arrested.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I nudged Widow with my elbow. “What do you think those two got into tonight?”
“Who?”
“The chicks in the back of that cop car.”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Widow was older and wasn’t one to deal with any nonsense. He’d been through hell and back before he found his ol’ lady, Frankie, and since they’d gotten together, he’d been a bit more bearable—but he was still a hard-ass. His tone was unforgiving when he said, “As far as I’m concerned, they’ve got no business being here. Cops should’ve taken them straight to the station instead of leaving them in the back of that damn car all night.”
“I can’t disagree with you there. No telling how long they’ll be stuck here.” I thought for a moment, then leaned over to him and said, “Maybe they got caught up in some fight at a frat party, or one of their boyfriends was cheating, and they trashed his place.”
“Or maybe they were streaking through the Titans’ stadium.”
“Was there a game tonight?”
“I have no idea.” Widow huffed, then added, “I already told ya. I don’t give a shit what those girls did. I’ve got other things on my mind—you know, like the fact, there’s a huge fucking hole in Stilettos’ wall, and we have no idea how it got there. Something you should be thinking about, too.”