Bucking Tradition (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 5)

Chapter Five

Ransom

“This is all that you have?”

I nodded and leaned back in my chair. “Now you can see why this case is impossible for me to figure out. This guy leaves no evidence at all and there have been zero glimpses of him until yesterday.”

“Except you can’t find the van he was in or him.” Bear tossed the file on my desk and sighed. “Pretty soon, the club is going to be roasting me for not being able to solve this case.”

I scoffed. “I’m sure they already are roasting you for just knowing me.”

Bear chuckled. “Only you would be the guy to try to join an MC, get kicked to the curb by the prez, and then become a cop who has to deal with the MC.”

Yeah, that was as much of a shitshow as it sounded.

That shitshow was my life.

“Yeah, yuck it up. Now you’re about to help me deal with that MC while I try to find a serial killer.”

“And you moved to Rockton because you wanted to get away from the big city crime.” Bear pointed to the file on my desk. “This shit is something that would have crossed your desk everyday five years ago.”

“Yeah, but all of those cases I was able to solve within a week because those dumbasses left clues and evidence.” I laid my hand on the desk. “The only evidence I have right now is whatever Luna can tell me.”

“Luna, Luna,” Bear drawled. “You really not gonna tell me the history between you two?”

“There is no history between Luna and me.”

Bear let out a loud laugh. “I may not be a cop anymore, Ran, but I could tell you two have some history before she opened her mouth.”

“Well, if we do, it’s history, and last I checked, history stays just that, history.”

“And you just confirmed the history.” Bear shook his head. “I bet you decided to tangle with Luna when you thought you were going to be in the club and then shit went sideways and she showed you the door.”

I shook my head. “Not even close.” I tapped my fingers. “Why don’t you use those problem-solving skills you have on this case, and stop worrying about what may or may not be between Luna and me.”

“Take me to the first murder scene. I need to start from square one if I have any chance of figuring out what this guy is thinking and what his next move maybe.”

“His next move is going to be Luna.”

Bear tipped his head to the side. “He’s going to go after her again because he failed the first time.” Bear quirked an eyebrow. “Or he’s not going to go after her again because she was able to escape him.”

“But he’s embarrassed by that. He’s been successful five times, methodically killing these women. He might realize he can’t best her and move on.”

Anything was possible. It was hard to understand what these killers were thinking. They obviously had a skewed grasp on reality, so it was always hard to predict their next move.

“Let’s take this back to one, Ran. We work it like we used to and see where it takes us.”

I sighed and shrugged. “Let’s fucking do it, then. To the trailer in the woods.”

Bear grunted. “I was hoping one was going to be something better than a trailer in the woods.”

I laughed and reached for my phone. “I’m just glad the first place isn’t the clubhouse because I’m not up for the ribbing I’m sure to get when we go there later.”

Bear shifted his fingers through his beard and laughed. “I can’t wait for that.”

“You do know that you’re supposed to be here to help me, right? Not here to relish the torture these guys like to in inflict on me.”

Bear shrugged. “Hey, I’m here to help, but you can’t be mad at me for sitting back and enjoying the show.”

“Solve this case and I’ll tell you all about that history you were asking about.”

Bear jumped up from his chair and clapped his hands loudly. “Let’s go!” he shouted.

Of course, he would be motivated by wanting to know what was going on between Luna and me. Bear’s looks lived up to his name. He was tall, bearded, and intimidating. He was a bear of a man, but he was a sucker for gossip.

“But until we solve this case, not a word about Luna.”

“Come on,” Bear scoffed. “As if we’re not going to talk about Luna when you know we’re going to wind up being the ones to keep an eye on her.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

I led the way from my office and out of the police station.

“You really think she is going to choose her brother or the clubhouse over you and me keeping an eye on her?” Bear asked.

I really didn’t know. Luna was a wild card I could never figure out.

I was pretty sure that was something she enjoyed immensely. She loved being a mystery to everyone and lived for doing things her way.

I slid into the driver’s seat of my cruiser, and Bear got in beside me.

“No clue what she is going to do, but I can tell you that no one is going to tell her what to do.” I started the car. “At least, she isn’t going to listen to them.” I knew the best thing to do with Luna was to let her make her own decisions, but sometimes, those decisions were not the best.

We drove through town to the trailer. “You ever think it could be someone from the club?”

I glanced over at Bear. “I know you’re from out of town and just spit balling right now, but I can tell you with one hundred percent that you are completely wrong.”

“And that is why you called me in because I don’t have a biased eye like you do. As much as the club gives you hell, you have a somewhat personal relationship with them. You can’t see one of them being the killer, because that’s not what you want.”

I turned down the dirt road toward the trailer. “You’re right, but I can tell you I will turn in my badge if it ends up being a club member.”

Bear held out his hand to me. “If it’s one of the club members you quit and come work with me.”

I put my hand in his and shook. “I will take you up on that bet because I know I’m not going to lose. But,” I drawled, “if I win, you have to move to Rockton.”

“You back on this bullshit?” Bear laughed.

I shrugged. “You travel all over the states looking for guys. Why not make Rockton your home base?”

“Because my home base is in Colorado. No reason for me to pick up and move to Rockton just so I can keep traveling.”

I pulled up in front of the trailer and killed the engine. “How many days were you even home last month?”

Bear shrugged and looked at the trailer through the windshield. “Probably seven.”

“And so, you could have spent those seven days in Rockton with your best friend instead of with no one in Colorado.”

“I’m gonna need something more in this town than just you, Ran. We were partners in the past on the force, but neither of us like to swing into the other kind of partners.”

I got out of the car and pushed my sunglasses on top of my head. “Well, there are plenty of women in Rockton. I mean, as long as this psycho doesn’t kill all of them before we figure out who he is.”

“I think the key to that is finding a woman who isn’t connected to the Devil’s Knights.” Bear leveled his gaze on me. “You picked the fucking head of the strippers.”

I flipped him off and slid my sunglasses over my eyes. “I think maybe you have a thing for Luna because you keep bringing her up.”

Bear shook his head. “Bros before hoes, brother. I would never go for a girl you have the hots for.”

“I don’t have the hots for Luna.” What the hell? Were we in sixth grade suddenly?

“Right,” Bear drawled.

“I don’t, Bear.”

Bear folded his arms over his chest and smirked. “Well, in that case, maybe I will throw my hat in the ring with Luna. I mean, she’s got some major sass going on, but you have to admit, it’s kind of hot.”

“Go for it.” Bear wouldn’t last more than one date with Luna. He was just seeing the surface. The thing that she wanted to people to see. It wasn’t that Bear wanted easy when it came to a woman, but he sure as hell didn’t want to be scaling wall after wall to get close to someone.

I was working on scaling wall seventy-three with Luna. I was too far gone to turn back now. Only I didn’t even know if I would ever make it past all of her walls.

“I mean, I know she’s going to pick for you and me to keep an eye on her, so I’ll have plenty of time to get to know her.”

I nodded. “Yup, you can try to get to know her.” I moved to the trailer that was taped off with caution tape. “You think you can focus for a second?”

Bear moved behind me. “You know I am the king of focusing.”

He could have fooled me. “Victim was Bunny. Electrical box was ripped from the ground and there isn’t a neighbor around for a mile. A couple of the Knights and Luna found her in the bedroom sprawled out on the bed with her jaw almost ripped off and covered in blood.”

“Charming,” Bear mumbled. Bear ducked under the caution tape and climbed the rickety steps. He took a pair of gloves from his pocket and pulled them on. “How long was she dead before she was found.”

“Almost two days. We’re assuming she was attacked in her sleep a couple of hours after she got off of work. She missed two nights of work before she was found.” I also pulled on gloves and followed him up the steps. The crime scene had been processed, but you could never be too careful. Bear was here to see if he could find anything I missed.

Bear opened the door and stepped inside. “I have never understood why you would want to live in the middle of nowhere. I’m not saying you need to be living on top of your neighbor but having a neighbor within earshot is a good thing.” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Most of the time.”

“Can we ever go into a crime scene without you bringing your sex life into it?” We moved into the living room, and I looked around. “Nothing seemed to be disturbed until you got to the bedroom.”

Bear picked up a magazine and paged through it. “What is a stripper doing with a subscription to Popular Mechanics?”

I shrugged. “Maybe Bunny had a thing for tinkering with things.”

Bear dropped the magazine on the table. “With a name like Bunny, I find that hard to believe.”

“Are you profiling the victim?” I laughed.

Bear glared at me. “As if you weren’t thinking the same damn thing.”

“We can talk to Luna later about it. She seemed to know all of the girls pretty well.”

We moved into the kitchen, and we both looked at the fridge.

“Don’t even fucking think about it,” I growled. Bear was an ass and always took the opportunity to open a rancid fridge. The power had been cut to the trailer for over a month, and whatever Bunny had in there was more than likely growing legs to make a run for it.

Bear held up his hands. “Fine, fine. I won’t.”

I didn’t believe Bear farther than I could throw him. “There is zero fucking evidence in that fridge. Keep it fucking moving.”

Bear chuckled and moved down the hallway where he did a quick look into the bathroom and small office. “Does anyone ever really use their home treadmill for more than a couple of weeks before it becomes a clothes hanger?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “It would seem that is a hard lesson for people to learn.”

Bear moved into the doorway of the bedroom where Bunny had been found. “You would think after all of these years that crime scenes wouldn’t affect me, but it’s the first time each time.” He approached the bed and looked down at the outline of where Bunny’s body had been. “There doesn’t seem to be much of a struggle,” he observed.

I nodded and stood at the foot of the bed. “The sheets are a bit disturbed and most of her nails were broke from either clawing or hitting her assailant.”

Bear looked up at me. “But I’m assuming there wasn’t any DNA under her nails.”

I shook my head. “Just remnants of leather. We’re assuming the killer was clothed from head to toe and was wearing gloves. All of the prints that we were able to pull up came back to Bunny or her ex-boyfriend.”

“He came back clean?” Bear asked.

I nodded. “He doesn’t even live in the state anymore. He has an iron clad alibi. He was working the night of the murder seven hours away from here. No way it could have been him.”

Bear hummed. “That would have been too easy, anyway.” Bear turned in a slow circle, looking around the room. “Why did he cut the power if he was going to kill her when she was sleeping?”

“I’m assuming he didn’t really know what he was going to walk into so having the power cut would help him.” I shrugged. “I think the bigger question is why the hell did he even kill her? The only connection we have with all of the girls is that they work for the club, and I know there are some Bible thumpers around here, but I don’t think they would start killing strippers and waitresses.”

“There are some strange people in the world, Ran. You should know that firsthand. And half of those wacked people think they can use their faith as their excuse for pretty much anything.”

“I hear you, but I can’t find anyone around here who would do that.”

Bear crouched down and pulled back the rug by her bed. “That’s because he doesn’t want you to find him yet.”

And that was what was making this so hard. Most murderers eventually want people to know what they’ve done. They become proud of it, especially when they can get away with it. “But he messed up yesterday,” I pointed out. “Maybe he is getting comfortable with the fact that we can’t find him, and he’s getting lazy.”

“More than likely,” Bear muttered. “Though after yesterday, his guard is going to go way up. At least, you would think.

That was what I was beating myself up over. I had the guy twenty feet away from me, and I let him get away. My first instinct was to check on Luna and make sure she was okay. She obviously wasn’t, and everything else faded away yesterday. “Yeah, I know.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Ran. You did what anyone else would have done. From where I’m standing, there were a shit-ton of other people in traffic who could have helped tackle the asshole.” Bear dropped the corner of the carpet.

“A doctor came to help. I should have left Luna with her and took off after the guy.”

“Hindsight. You can’t go back and change it, but you can do everything you can right now.” Bear looked over at me. “Don’t have a fucking pity party, brother. You did what you could. Luna is still alive, and this guy is likely running scared.”

“Much rather the psycho be dead,” I mumbled.

Bear stood and nodded to the window to the right. “That always been open?” he asked.

“We’re assuming that is how the killer came in and out. There was no forced entry on any of the doors, and you saw that the rest of the trailer doesn’t look disturbed at all.”

Bear moved to the window and looked out. “And no one decided to shut it after the investigation?”

I shrugged. “I can’t tell you if I shut it or not.” I swung my arm around the room. “Not like anyone is living here or will again.”

“I’m assuming you looked for footprints outside.”

I nodded. “All we found was prints from the ladder. The guy must have used to get in the window. The ladder was thrown over on the other side of the house.”

Bear nodded. “All right. Let’s head over to the next crime scene.”

“You got any thoughts on where we should be headed?” I asked.

Bear shook his head. “Not a fucking clue, brother. We’ll figure it out, though.”

I knew he was right, but I just hoped we figured it out before this guy killed again.