Sinners & Scarecrows Read online

  “This proves Ace’s innocence, too,” said Trigger. He wouldn’t need a bug, having first-hand information.”

  “I appreciate that,” Ace replied.

  “So who does that leave?” said Blaze.

  Trigger cocked his head and looked at Blaze with raised eyebrows.

  “What?” Blaze demanded.

  “You fucking know what,” he replied.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” Ace asked.

  “I think you hit the nail on the head in the workshop, Ace,” Trigger replied.

  “How do you mean?”

  “You said it yourself: The rat could be one of the girls.”

  “Do be fucking ridiculous!” Ace exclaimed. “I only suggested the girls because you had my nose an inch away from that fucking grindstone!”

  “Well, I already know it’s not Ellie,” Blaze said definitively.

  “How do you know that?” Ace asked.

  “She seems a bit...well, you know…”

  “Simple?” Trigger chuckled.

  “No, not simple, but, maybe a bit of a bimbo if you get my drift. She’s fallen hard for Danny so she’s sticking around. But to be honest, I don’t think this is her scene.”

  “All be part of the ruse, perhaps?” Ace suggested.

  “I don’t think so. She’s had no contact with the MC until the night of the party. And I know for a fact the commissioner has been receiving intel on us for quite some time. So I think it’s safe to rule her out.”

  “Okay, so that leaves Zoe and Charlotte,” Trigger said cautiously.

  “I refuse to believe it’s Zoe,” said Blaze.

  “You’re just playing favourites,” Ace ruthlessly pointed out.

  “Maybe...but I’ll play fair, and I won’t rule her out until I’m sure.”

  “What about Charlotte?” Trigger said. “She always comes and goes as she pleases. And she’s been with Spider for almost a year now.”

  “That’s a long time to pretend to love someone,” said Ace.

  “Any half-decent agent could pull that off,” said Blaze.

  “So how are you going to find out? You want me to follow them?” Trigger asked.

  “No,” Blaze replied. “We keep this under wraps. We’ll wait for the opportune moment, then strike while the iron’s hot.”

  Chapter 39

  Ryan and Sandra arrived back to the Bowmans’ house after canvassing the entire cul-de-sac. They had got no answers; only more questions. No one knew anything, and the occupants of the house directly across the road from the Bowmans’ were nowhere to be found.

  “That’s strange,” said Ryan. I thought the commissioner said there was a witness? Yet no one seems to know anything.”

  “Maybe the witness wanted to remain anonymous and pleaded ignorance when we questioned them.”

  “Or there’s another possibility...”

  Sandra picked up on his mysterious tone. “You think someone got to them?”

  “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a witness has been threatened into silence.” He paused. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  He immediately called the commissioner. When he picked up, Ryan said, “I need to interview witness X on the Bowmans’ murder case.”

  “I’m afraid that’s impossible,” he replied.

  “What do you mean, impossible? I’m trying to solve a bloody double homicide on top of the nine Jane Does! Help me out for a bloody change, will you!”

  “Calm down, detective,” he said curtly. “The reason you can’t interview the witness is because he or she has gone into witness protection after expressing a strong desire to remain anonymous until the case goes to trial.”

  Ryan sighed with frustration. “Then how on earth am I supposed to get all the facts if I’m unable to question the witness?”

  “I have already given you the eyewitness’ account. Bobby Blaise was seen entering and exiting the Bowmans’ residence around the approximate time of death.”

  “But, sir —”

  “Look, I’m up to my neck in paperwork. Do whatever you have to do to get a conviction, detective.” He clicked off.

  Ryan cursed.

  “I take it you didn’t get the answer you wanted?” Sandra asked him.

  “No.” He explained the commissioner’s response.

  “Well, let’s wait for the DNA results to come back and see if we have enough to press charges.”

  Ryan stared across the road to the house where no one was home. He wandered over and stood in the front yard. He looked back at the Bowmans’. If anyone had a clear view of what had happened, it would likely have been from right here. Is this the home of witness X? he thought.

  Chapter 40

  “The trap has been set,” Sanchez relayed to Archer over the phone. “We have a delivery scheduled for tonight.”

  “Excellent. We shall see if the authorities show up. Then we will know if the MC is responsible for the leak.”

  Sanchez clicked off the call, and dialled Blaze.

  Blaze picked up. Sanchez said, “There’s an urgent shipment coming in tonight. Rally your boys and saddle up.”

  “When and where?” Blaze asked.

  Sanchez gave him the details.

  “We’ll be there,” Blaze confirmed, then clicked off.

  Ace asked Blaze, “We working tonight?”

  “Yeah...” Blaze replied with a blank expression.

  “You don’t look happy about it?” said Trigger.

  “Didn’t Spider say that deliveries were on hold?”

  “Yeah, he did.”

  “So how come the sudden change?”

  “I don’t know; do you think it’s a trap?”

  “It could be. Which means they still don’t trust me. Even after I covered our tracks so well.” He paused. “But that also means we can use that bug to our advantage.”

  “Strike while the iron’s hot.” Trigger grinned.

  Blaze called Spider. “Brother, we need to talk. Get everyone down to the clubhouse.”

  “Chapel?” Spider replied.

  “Chapel,” Blaze confirmed.

  Thirty minutes later, Blaze had informed the SAS when and where the delivery was taking place. He didn’t reveal the true nature of the meeting. Only Trigger and Ace were in the loop.

  Everyone left the clubhouse except for Spider. Blaze asked him to stay for a quiet drink.

  “I thought Francois said we had a few days off,” Spider complained. “I actually had plans with Charlotte tonight.”

  “Well, you’ll have to cancel them,” he said, and slowly sipped his whisky. “Tell her you’ve got an extra-special delivery to make in the western suburbs tonight, and that you can’t get out of it.”

  Spider was confused. “Hang on; in the meeting you said we were going to the warehouse on the east-side?”

  “Did I?” Blaze said innocently. “Shit, my mistake. We’re definitely heading west,” he lied.

  Spider sighed. “Charlotte’s gonna bust my balls over this.” He shook his head.

  “Fucking soft cock,” Blaze chuckled.

  “Come on, man; Zoe owns your balls the same as Charlotte owns mine.”

  Blaze tried to keep a serious face as he grimly stared at Spider. They broke out in a fit of laughter.

  “Just blame me, all right?” Blaze said. “And be sure to tell her we’re heading west, too. We might need someone on standby for an urgent pick up in case someone gets hurt. We have to assume that Archer’s laying a trap for us.”

  “Oh, you know I’ll blame your sorry ass,” Spider replied.

  They downed their tumblers of whisky, then went their separate ways.

  Chapter 41

  Sandra clicked off her phone and covered her eyes as the afternoon sun beamed through the windshield as Ryan drove them back to Brighton. “That was forensics,” she said to Ryan. “The DNA results are back from the lab.”

  “Jeez, that was quick,” he replied. “That can only mean one thing.”

&
nbsp; “You’re right,” she said. “A perfect match; Blaze’s fingerprints all over the handle of the meat cleaver and his DNA on the coffee mug.”

  “Shit,” Ryan muttered under his breath. “What the hell was he thinking—killing the Bowmans in cold blood like that?”

  “Maybe they had a disagreement and he snapped? You said it yourself; Blaze is capable of anything.”

  “Look, I know he’s a bloody loose cannon, but I think I know him better than that. It doesn’t feel like something he would do.”

  “But the evidence suggests otherwise.”

  “I know, I know, but —”

  “But you have to arrest that asshole and make him answer for his crimes. This is serious, Cameron,” she said tersely. “Think about your career.”

  Ryan didn’t know what to do. Something about this case felt strange to him.

  They rounded a bend in the road and entered a small, country town on the main highway. Ryan spotted a public toilet. “I need to go to the bathroom,” he said as he pulled over to the kerb. “Won’t be long.”

  Ryan went inside the small brown brick building with his cell phone. He dialled Blaze’s number. He had to get to the bottom of this.

  Blaze picked up on the third ring. “Thank God I got hold of you,” said Ryan. “You’re in some serious shit.”

  “Oh, do you mean about the fire at the Worthington airbase?” he replied. “There’s nothing to suggest I had anything to do with that.”

  “I’m not talking about the bloody fire!” he said curtly. “And I’m quite sure that was you. It had your name written all over it!”

  “Fine, whatever you say,” he mugged him off. “What are you talking about, then?”

  Ryan sighed. “Did you, or did you not pay a visit to the residence of a Laurie and Marilyn Bowman two days ago?”

  “Yeah I did. Wait; how did you know that? And why do you care?”

  “Because they were murdered on the same day you visited them. And subsequently, I was put on the case because a biker matching your description was witnessed leaving the crime scene.”

  “What the fuck! You seriously think I did it?”

  “Blaze, they were hung from a support beam in their living room and butchered. I want to believe you had nothing to do with it, but the evidence suggests otherwise.”

  “I don’t give a shit what the evidence fucking says!” Blaze screamed into the phone. “I went there to see if I could track down my father!”

  “That may be so, but a witness saw you leaving the house around the approximate time of death.”

  “It’s all coincidental. I didn’t fucking do it!”

  “Then who did?”

  “I don’t fucking know!”

  “The timing is quite remarkable, though, don’t you think? It all seems connected to you somehow.”

  “Then I’m being set up! You have to believe me!”

  “All right, all right, I believe you. Just tell me what happened while you were there.”

  Blaze recounted the afternoon. “When I arrived, I explained who I was, then we went inside to the kitchen and had coffee. After I explained why I was there, they told me that they weren’t interested in helping me, then I left. That’s it.”

  “What about the phone number?”

  “What phone number?”

  “Your phone number; Detective Gibson found it written on a crumpled piece of paper outside in the garden.”

  “Oh, that,” he replied. “Laurie and I had a slight disagreement after he wouldn’t take my number to call me just in case my father ever showed up. And I may have over-reacted by screwing it up and tossing it in the garden.”

  “Are you sure that’s all you did when you ‘over-reacted’?”

  “Oh, come on, man; you know I wouldn’t hurt a couple of old cronies…”

  Ryan sighed, then said, “Blaze, as much as I believe you, I have to bring you in—even if it’s just to take your statement and lay charges. But if you’re sure you’re telling the truth, I promise I’ll work out a deal, so you can at least make bail.”

  “Fuck off, man. I’ve got my own shit to deal with.”

  “I’m sorry, but this can’t wait. If you agree to come in, I’ll call in a favour and make sure you are released by tonight.”

  “That ain’t gonna happen, Ryan,” he said defiantly.

  “Blaze, this isn’t going away. They will hunt you down until you’re safely in custody, or alternatively, a corpse in the Brighton City Morgue. Either way you’re the most wanted man in New Zealand as of now. Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

  Blaze paused. “Do you honestly think I did it?” he asked him bluntly.

  Ryan hesitated. “Honestly, all the evidence points towards you, but something tells me there’s something more to this, which leads me to think you may be innocent,” he replied. “And I’m willing to help you. But I can’t clear your name unless we go through the proper channels. “Just come in and I’ll sort everything out, all right?”

  Blaze finally gave in; he understood there was no getting away from this. He exhaled heavily through his nose, then replied. “Fine; I’ll do it.”

  “Good. And, Blaze.”

  “What?”

  “You’ll need money if you wanna make bail. Lots and lots of money.”

  Chapter 42

  Luther Sutherland pressed the buzzer next to the green steel door down the alleyway behind The Underground Nightclub.

  Francois checked the security camera and let him in. He respectfully asked him to wait in the corridor while he limped up the stairs and summoned Archer.

  Francois waited patiently outside Archer’s office while he dealt with one of his security guards who had given him some lip about working a double shift. Francois heard the dull thudding followed by sickening groans as Archer’s brass knuckles pounded the guard’s kidneys. I wonder why the governor’s in such a shitty mood today? Francois thought.

  When Archer was done, he accompanied Francois down the stairs to the corridor where Luther was waiting.

  “Sorry for the delay,” Archer apologised.

  Luther held out his arm and shook his hand. “May I offer my thanks for handling the tight situation I was in recently,” he said.

  “It was my pleasure. You are a highly valued client,” Archer replied.

  Archer took a master key from his suit pants and removed the padlock from a door directly behind Luther. “After you,” Archer moved aside and ushered Luther through the doorway and down a staircase.

  Luther used the handrail to steady his rotund physique as he clambered down the steps. He smelled the dampness in the air as he passed beneath ground level.

  He came to a plain white door when he reached the bottom of the stairwell. His heart rate accelerated as he turned the handle and gave it a nudge. It opened smoothly. As he peered into the room, he saw both side walls lined with five feet high cages, forged from solid steel. Inside each cage was a young foreign girl, cold, hungry, and much too frightened to speak.

  “Does anything take your fancy?” Archer enquired after Luther perused the merchandise.

  “Let’s have a looksee,” Luther replied.

  He put his hand between the bars of the first cage. The girl’s black hair brushed over his chubby forearm as she turned her head away. He retracted his hand and moved on to the next cage. The next girl was Russian, pretty, with large, prominent green eyes. Her skin was pale; she scowled at him. He put his hand inside to touch her face. She snatched it and bit his thumb.

  “You little bitch!” he shouted, and impulsively retracted his hand. “I’ll take this one,” he said to Archer, chuckling, impressed with her feisty spirit.

  Luther offered to pay double the rate in return for Archer springing him from a likely long term prison sentence.

  Archer refused. “You just tell your friends about what I have to offer,” he said.

  Luther happily agreed.

  Archer unlocked the girl’s cage. Luther reached in
to haul her out.

  She kicked and squirmed, and spat in his face. “Otpusti menya, svin’ya!” she shouted.

  Luther laughed. “I think she likes me,” he said, then brutally slapped her across the face. Her tiny frame flung to the floor.

  Luther straightened his light blue shirt collar, and said to Archer, “I’ll have to teach the little bitch some manners; I can’t make heads or tails of what she’s saying.”

  “I believe she politely asked you to let her go,” he replied.

  “Is that all?” Luther asked with a wry grin.

  “And she may have called you a pig,” he chuckled.

  Luther stood over the young girl. He smirked as he said, “I'll show you just how much of a pig I can be once I get you home.”

  Chapter 43

  Agent Watson stood nervously in the elevator as it neared the top floor of Brighton’s police headquarters. Watson stepped out into the foyer, then greeted Commissioner Stuart’s receptionist. “He’s ready for you,” the receptionist confirmed.

  Commissioner Stuart seemed much happier than the last time they’d spoken on the phone. He offered Watson a seat. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “I have some big news.”

  “Can I say something first?” Watson replied.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Well, I’d like to make amends for what happened in Worthington. I feel so guilty that we couldn’t even make an arrest. Blaze had assumed all along that Seth Archer would disarm the SAS for the sit-down meeting—meaning they didn’t actually fire a weapon.”

  “What about the explosions?”

  “Well, they could have been responsible for those, but it could just as easily have been a stray bullet that ignited a fuel tank on one of the vehicles. I wasn’t inside the building at the time, so I can’t be sure...basically it’s my word against the MC; I’ve got nothing.”