“He’d kill her.”
Shannon stared at him. “I hope that’s an exaggeration.”
“I hope so, too.”
“You’re unbelievable. The whole lot of you.”
“I won’t argue. Like I told you before, cheating happens everywhere. But that ain’t me, babe.”
“Right.”
“Seems we had this conversation once already.”
“I believe we did.”
“So let it go.”
She folded her arms.
The corner of his mouth pulled up. She was damn cute when she was all righteous and shit.
“What are you smiling at?”
He threw the gate open. “Just you. You’re fuckin’ cute.”
“I thought you were mad at me,” she reminded him, following him off the elevator.
“Was. Past tense. Now I think you’re cute.”
*****
Nicklaus Ralston leaned back in his chair staring at the man sitting across his desk. His private investigator had dug up everything he could about Cole Austin. In addition to the detailed report now sitting on his desk, there were also several surveillance photos of him and his ‘gang’. Nicklaus huffed out a breath. Evil Dead. How bloody absurd.
What in the world was the connection between a woman like Shannon Taylor and a man like Cole Austin? He couldn’t make sense of it. “Mr. Abbott, I see a lot of information here regarding this, what did you call it? MC? But I’ve yet to see where you found any reason why Shannon would have transferred such a substantial amount of money to the Vice President of this…this…Evil Dead gang, as you calle
d them. Have you been able to find any connection between this group and Shannon?”
Abbott pulled one last photo from his file folder and slid it across the desk. “That was taken last night at the Evil Dead clubhouse.”
Nicklaus picked it up and studied it. It was a photograph of a motorcycle pulling out of the Evil Dead property. There were two people on the bike. A man and a woman. At first glance he wasn’t even sure why he was being shown this photo. He looked up at Abbott. “And?”
“Does she look at all familiar?” Abbott asked him.
Nicklaus’s eyes dropped back to the photo. It had been taken at night, but as the bike passed under a streetlamp. The woman on the back of the bike was blonde, but he didn’t see any other resemblance to Shannon. Nicklaus looked up at Abbott with a laugh, “Are you telling me you think this little chippy in her skimpy leather halter top with her belly showing is my Shannon? You can’t be serious.”
“Take a closer look.” Abbott nodded at the photo. “Didn’t you tell me Ms. Taylor always wore the charm bracelet given to her by her father? You said the only charm on it was her initial.”
Nicklaus leaned forward in his chair looking carefully at the photo
“I had that portion of the photo blown up.” Abbott slid another photo across the desk.
Nicklaus picked it up. It was an enlargement of the woman’s hand resting on the man’s hip. Encircling her wrist was a silver link bracelet, and dangling from it was a single charm. The letter S. His eyes connected with Abbott over the top of the photograph. “Where is she?”
“I wasn’t even sure that was her until I got back to my office and reviewed all the photos I’d taken of every single member going in and out of the club. When I saw that one,” he nodded to the picture in Nicklaus’s hand. “I compared it with the photos you’d given me of Shannon Taylor. And then of course when I spotted the bracelet...”
Nicklaus studied the photo again. “The man on this motorcycle doesn’t look like the photos you have of Mr. Austin. So, who is he?”
“Trying to get a lock on the guy. Lost him last night. So many bikes pulled out at once.”