Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Feeling frustrated, I take a sip of coffee. I don’t know what to do about my uncle or how I’m going to get us out of this mess.
But one thing is for sure, I’m not hanging around to be dragged down the aisle to marry a stranger.
CHAPTER 12
BEAST
The girl is dead and cold on the wet cobblestones. She’s slumped against the dumpster. Her eyes are half-open, an odd crystal blue color, and staring lifelessly out at nothing. On her lap is a baggie of powder with our damn logo printed on the side.
I feel the rage unfurl inside me.
The piss-colored powder tells me it’s the synthetic phantasia that’s made its way onto our streets.
Crouching beside the dead girl, the medical examiner, Dr. Beaver, is checking her body temperature.
Lars and I stand with the sheriff, a look passing between us. Another dead body. Another baggie of fake phantasia.
“Who found her?” I ask the sheriff.
“Garbage truck. About an hour ago,” he says. “Came to empty the dumpster and found her.”
I look at her. Jesus, she looks barely out of her teens. “Do we know how long she’s been here?”
“She’s been dead about six hours,” Beaver says, rising to his feet. “Looks like acute drug intoxication.”
“Fucking fake phantasia,” I mutter.
I cast an eye around the alleyway. The stench of piss and puke is heavy in the air.
“Looks that way. I’ll have a more conclusive answer once we get her back to the morgue and run some tests.”
“Let me know. And send me a sample of whatever the fuck is in that bag.”
“Take the bag. I’ve got enough material around her nose and mouth for testing, and I’ve already taken a small sample from the bag just for comparison.” He looks down at the slumped girl, pity written all over his face.
Giving me the evidence is breaking protocol. But the Knights, the Sheriff’s Department, and the Medical Examiner’s Office have a unique relationship. One that lets us handle things a lot faster than protocol ever could.
Beaver gives me a remorseful nod and walks away to talk with one of his site technicians. They’ll finish their forensic examination of the scene before taking the girl away.
Sheriff Coulter bends down and picks up the bag of dope from her lap and hands it to me. “What are you planning to do with it?”
I’m going to have Opie test it against the last bag to see if it’s the same thing. I want to know what has made its way onto our streets.
“I want to see what the fuck we’re dealing with,” I say, a cold unease churning in my gut.
We know Beaver will run his tests. But Opie is quicker than any government department.
Sheriff Coulter removes his hat. “I’m not going to beat about the bush here, Beast. I need your help. I don’t want this fake phantasia getting out of control. The General had two overdoses admitted last night.” The General is the St. Boniface General Hospital. “And a deceased male was brought into the Medical Examiner’s Office this morning. Beaver confirmed it was a drug overdose. Whatever this shit is, it’s getting worse. We need to get on top of it. As sure as the sun rises, Mayor Boney will be breathing down my neck when he hears about it, and that means it won’t be long before he’s breathing down yours. He will blame you for this.”
“Let him come for us.”
“You guys don’t need to give him another reason for him to keep turning this town against you.”
He’s right. Mayor Boney has a hard-on for trying to run the Knights out of St. Boniface. So far he’s been unsuccessful. But he’s a determined fucker, and he’ll take advantage of this and use it against us somehow.
“Don’t you worry about the mayor. I can handle him.” I think about Belle waiting for me back at the clubhouse. I nod at the dead girl. “The Knights will do what we can, you have my word.”
I have a good relationship with Sheriff Coulter. I let him do his job and he lets me get the fuck on with doing mine. Which is fixing what’s broken in this town by any means I see fit.
We both look up when Lars pulls into the alleyway and climbs off his bike.
Before I can walk away, Sheriff Coulter stops me, turning his back on the scene so no one can hear him. “I found a low-life piece of shit in one of the tunnels two nights back. Neck broken. Had the words NOT IN SB carved into his guts. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
I give him a blank look. “Not a clue.”
“Beaver says someone broke his neck manually. Said it must’ve been someone strong. With big hands.”
“Still no clue what you’re talking about.”
Sheriff doesn’t look convinced but doesn’t press for more. “Turns out he was bottom feeder who liked to traffic little girls.”