Page 32 of Beast

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.”

“Sounds like someone did us all a favor,” I say as Lars joins us.

Sheriff Coulter nods. “I’d like to thank him, whoever he is. One less asshole in the world.” He puts on his hat. “I’ll keep you boys posted.”

He walks away, and I turn to Lars and point to CCTV cameras across the road from the alleyway. “I want the footage from those cameras. I want to see when the girl came in here and if she was with anyone.”

“I’ll get Bram onto it when we get back to the clubhouse.”

Leaving the scene behind us, we walk toward our bikes.

“Wanna tell me about the other girl?” Lars says.

“What other girl?”

“The one screaming bloody murder at you in the clubhouse last night.”

“You heard that?”

“Yes, because I have ears.” He gives me a sideways glance. “She was pissed at you. Is she the reason you’ve been disappearing lately?”

“Something like that.”

“You found yourself a woman? Why is this the first I’ve heard about it?”

“There was nothing to tell,” I say, removing my keys from the breast pocket of my cut.

“Last night sounded like there was plenty to tell. Who is she?” His eyes gleam with mischief and the filthy smile he gets when he sees something he likes slides across his face. “She sounds like a screamer.”

I lift an eyebrow. “That’s my fiancée you’re talking about.”

He stops walking. “Fiancée? What the fuck? You telling me you’re?—”

“Yes, I’m getting married.”

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