Page 68 of Vengeance

“Downstairs in the bathroom,” Grayson says.

“That is weird. Assuming there are fire detectors, she wouldn’t be asleep as the fire creeped upstairs. If she collapsed from smoke inhalation or something, she’d probably be in another room, right? Or at least on the floor?”

The former cop nods. “You could be a cop, Lex.”

“And you could accidentally shoot yourself with your own gun,” she says and gives him a fake smile. “Wait, didn’t he live in a neighborhood?”

“Yep.”

“And it burned long enough to burn her beyond recognition?”

Nodding again, he lifts his eyebrows. “Exactly. No one called it in. There were also no attempts to put it out by neighbors, either. It’s like everyone expected it and didn’t say anything. All of the neighbors claim they were asleep and didn’t hear a single thing. But I can hear my neighbor when she’s furiously typing away. I’m pretty damn sure I could hear a fire. If nothing else, I’d hear the smoke detectors.”

Ashley pushes him playfully. “Why would she still be in bed?”

“She was already dead,” Lex suggests. “The fire was a cover-up.”

“The neighbors claiming ignorance doesn’t make sense to me. The houses are far enough apart that they weren’t in much danger of it hopping to their houses, but neighbors are by nature nosy. They typically know when something is out of place, but every one of them had the same story. They were asleep and didn’t hear a thing.”

“Do you think they were part of it? Did they kill her and set her on fire?” Jennings asks.

“What, because they cut their grass at a diagonal instead of horizontal?” Rocco asks.

Lex chuckles. “That’d be ballsy to do to the President of a motorcycle club, but people are nuts.”

Grayson shrugs. “True, but I don’t think they killed her. I do think they know who did, though. And I think whoever did it forced them to lie about it. The evidence needed to be destroyed, and they helped. I just don’t know who or why.”

“Does that help us or hurt us?” Jennings asks.

“Helps us,” Brock says. “Means Dax doesn’t give a fuck, just like Psycho didn’t. Psycho still doesn’t to some extent, but Dax will likely go balls to the wall. And if whoever did it didn’t come back and kill Dax, it’s probably over.”

“Everyone here feel okay with us allowing the Hellraisers to help? Any objections?”

Ty looks around the room as everyone looks one way or the other, but everyone keeps looking at Lex. The woman almost died for the club, and she has a lot at stake considering the target on her back, but she doesn’t say a word.

Shep doesn’t handle her silence for long, and he calls her out. “Lex? Do you have concerns?”

She shrugs and shakes her head. “I’m not making this decision.”

“Does it seem like a good decision or a bad decision?”

“Nope, not playing this game. This is a club decision, and I’m not wearing the leather you guys are. You gotta make this all on your own.”

“Tess said we should work with them when we met them at the Puffy Taco,” Jennings says. “And Lex says she didn’t get a bad vibe from them that night.”

Laughing, Ty nods. He knows what the President did there. Made it known what Lex likely truly feels. Everyone around the room votes yes, including Lex, and Ty knows she knew from the get-go it should be green lighted.

“I’ll reach out to Dax after talking to Psycho,” Jennings says.

Ty pulls out his phone and calls the store. When Alice answers, he tries to keep his voice controlled. “Is Tara there?”

“Who is this?”

“Ty.”

“No, she didn’t show up today. I know she has that kid now, but I’m kind of worried, Ty. Even if something came up, I think she would have called me.”

Screaming from the corner where Lily and Lex stand gets his attention, and he stares, annoyed. “I’ll find her.”

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