Page 43 of Her Biker Daddy

Tate

Islow the car down as we approach the gate, spying a vehicle parked at an angle facing it on the road that leads only to it. When the school was built, there was nothing else out in this area. They constructed the road just to run to the school and since we purchased all of the land, were able to make the road private which leaves us able to drive on it however we want, but it’s also a double-lane heading in so I pull up to the gate on the other side of it and stop.

The words State Police are scrolled across the side of it, and I give Everly’s hand a little squeeze, before rolling down the window as a man gets out of the vehicle. “Afternoon,” he calls out, slowly approaching us.

“Can I help you with something?” I ask calmly, leaving my hand on the steering wheel while my other is holding Everly’s up between us on the console. It’s a move to help show I’m not a threat since he likely knows whoever is coming down this road is part of the club.

“I’m Sgt. Ericson with the State Police. I was told this is where I could find Miss Everly Roberts. Would that be you, miss?” he adds, glancing into the car to see Everly easier.

“Yes,” she answers, her tone soft and tired and I press a kiss to her hand before looking back at the man.

“Sergeant, you’ve caught us just as we’re coming home from a doctor’s appointment in the city. My fiancée is tired. I’m sure whatever you’re needing from her can wait a day, right?” I add and the man’s eyes slide over Everly once more. Her hair is pushed back away from her face and the bruise from where she was hit is noticeable. “She had a bad fall late last week and the ob wanted to do a risk assessment ultrasound to make sure everything with the pregnancy is okay.”

“Yes, we can make arrangements to do an interview later,” the man says, and I nod, pulling out a business card that has Law’s contact info on it.

“This is our attorney. I figure this is about whatever happened with Adam Jackson and the rest of his family,” I add when his brow lifts. “Everly has a legal case against him, so when we heard they were killed in a fire, we were expecting to hear from someone sooner or later. We haven’t heard anything from anyone on their side yet, but the inheritance claim against her biological grandparents’ estate is currently being processed, since the child support case contained conclusive DNA results showing that he was her biological father. Until that’s settled, anything dealing with the man needs to have our attorney present.”

“I understand, honestly, family disputes are some of the worst cases I have to deal with. It’s much easier to just chase down some bad guys,” he replies, taking the card before giving Everly a nod. “I hope you get better quickly, ma’am.”

“Thankfully, it’s just some soreness and nothing seems to be broken from the fall. It was the first time I’d been out without Tate since we learnt we were expecting, and I didn’t anticipate the morning sickness and dizziness to hit. We were lucky,” Everly says giving me an adoring smile and the man’s chin lifts a hint before he heads back to his towards his vehicle.

“Pretty impressive security gate you all have around here. Didn’t know there were any gated communities in the area,” he says, and I chuckle as the sound of a motorcycle heading our way can be heard.

“It’s private property but we’ve got several homes on the place. We bought what was supposed to be the school at an auction when the funds for it disappeared and turned it into a housing unit for our club. We don’t like trouble so we try to keep it out,” I offer, positive he already knows all of that, but I can play nice when it means keeping Everly safe.

He gives us another nod of acknowledgement before he gets in his car, and I wait to open the gate until he’s turned around in the loop we had built, heading back towards town. I drop a kiss onto Everly’s lips then head up to the clubhouse, moving us inside before shooting a message to Law to expect a call.

He and Cash meet us at the top of the stairs, and Cash eyes Everly closely asking, “Everything go okay with the doctor?”

“Perfect,” she tells them, pulling out the ultrasound photos, showing them off. “Nine weeks and five days which aligns with what we expected. She doesn’t think anything’s broken but we didn’t want to do x-rays even if they claim there’s less risk than if we were even a week or two earlier. If the soreness doesn’t get better then we’ll see about finding somewhere that does extremely low dose imaging. I just don’t want to take any chances. Not after everything that’s happened up to now.”

“No, that makes total sense,” Cash says, before dropping a kiss onto her cheek. “You look exhausted, beautiful—but tired. Go on and get some rest.”

“Thanks, the doctor said it was normal to feel exhausted during the first trimester so I’m going to do as she and daddy suggested and take it very easy for the next few weeks,” she promises me and I give her a soft kiss leading her down to our place to ensure she does just that.

Law texts me later saying he set up the meeting for ten a.m. tomorrow, but if that doesn’t work for Everly, just to let him know and he’ll reschedule. I know the sooner we talk with the State Police, the sooner we can get things behind us, so I make sure that she sleeps in, which has her good to head into town with me. The meeting was scheduled at the city council’s office, which is a bit surprising, but when we get there, it’s clear that something big has already come about. The office is empty beyond men wearing State Police uniforms and what appear to be assistants that are carrying things in and out, setting up desks.

“Thank you for coming in and sorry about the mess,” Sgt. Ericson says coming out to greet us. “We’ve only been here since Monday but with what we found, things happened fast.”

“It looks like the State Police are taking over everything,” Law states as we move into a quiet conference room and I settle Everly into a chair.

“In a way for the moment, we are,” Ericson replies. “It is likely to hit the news soon and with your now confirmed connection to the Jackson family, I believe you should be prepared for what you may see in the news. The state’s attorney’s office is now investigating all of the workings of not only Mayor’s office, but also the city council, as well as the police department. It seems there was a widespread system of corruption that is staggering. If Adam Jackson was still alive, he’d be facing some major felony crimes. As will the chief of police, Thatcher Reed.

“I want to start this off by telling you that you are in no way a suspect in the deaths and fire at the Jackson Manor,” he adds to Everly. “We have evidence that points to Thatcher Reed as the murderer.”

“I thought they died in the fire,” Everly says, her eyes and tone displaying innocent shock so well that if I didn’t know the truth, didn’t know her, I would buy it.

“No, that is one of the things that is likely to come out in the news. Our forensic experts have performed preliminary autopsies on each of the Jacksons and none of them had any traces of ash or smoke inhalation from the fire in their lungs. The only way for that to happen is if they were dead before the fire started,” Ericson explains at Everly’s confused look. “The local sheriff’s office called us in Saturday night as soon as the fire was put out. While firefighters were battling the blaze, they discovered the four bodies in the basement but were unable to reach them until the fire was out. They determined the fire started in the basement and was deliberately set.

“Our forensic teams went over the entire house and discovered a knife near the front porch which was protected from both the fire and the water used to put it out, as the fire hadn’t reached that part of the house. The basement was only under the back portion of the home, the front of it sat on just a concrete slab. The knife was recovered, and testing shows that there are three different blood types on the knife, which we believe to be that of the four family members. Medical records we obtained show that the twins shared a blood type that was different from their mother and…father,” he adds slowly which pulls Law’s attention onto him.

“Is there something about the blood types we should made aware of in relation to our claim on the Jackson’s estate?” Law asks him.

“There will be DNA typed on all of the samples found on the knife but from what the lab techs said, Adam Jackson couldn’t be the twins’ biological father. His DNA is already on record with the state lab, because of your suit, which will make it easier to compare to that on the knife, but if it is his, something happened at the fertility clinic that wasn’t ever reported.”

“Interesting,” Law says looking to us with a grin, “if they aren’t his blood relation, it explains why he fought so hard to not have to provide a DNA sample. He knew it would come back to you but not them. So even if they tried to fight the wording in court, they’d lose if we demanded a DNA test to prove that the ‘legitimate’ child was a blood relation.”

“And based on what we’ve found, Jackson was using the money that came to him from the company to pay off a lot of people to look the other way on things. Including the chief of police. Which is where some of our questions for you come in Everly,” Ericson says.

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