Page 53 of The Kings of Kearny

Chapter Thirteen

Ifollowed Katherineout of the police station, fighting back the urge to shiver. It was like an icebox in there. As if facing down cops wasn’t bad enough without the bonus discomfort of being covered head to toe in goose bumps.

I paused just outside the door and let the Texas heat wrap around me like a blanket. The sun sat low on the horizon, but even as it set, it burned with an intensity that drove away my lingering chill. I closed my eyes and turned toward its warmth, rejoicing in the fact that I wasn’t behind bars. Engines revved at a nearby stoplight. A gentle breeze brushed past me, carrying the scent of freshly cut grass.

I took a deep breath of freedom and turned to face my savior. “High five?”

Katherine lifted her hand. “High five.”

We smacked our palms together and then headed down the front steps. Movement caught the corner of my eye. I turned to see Jakob push up from a park bench beneath a nearby stand of trees. Instead of his Kings jacket, he wore a loose, sleeveless leather vest over his black T-shirt, the MC logo emblazoned on the right breast. I felt like a fool for not seeing the similarities between the Kings and the Specters patches sooner. Where the skull in the Specters patch wore a skullcap helmet, the one in the Kings had a broken crown perched on its head. Otherwise, they were exactly alike.

Jakob emerged from the shadows of the trees out into the burnished gold of the dying day. I swear the darkness clung to him for a heartbeat too long, like it didn’t want to let him go. He paced toward us with that particular gait that was all Jakob, long legs eating up the pavement, his focus lasered in on Katherine and me.

“How’d it go?” he asked when he reached us.

“As good as can be expected,” Katherine said.

“She’s being modest,” I told him. “She destroyed Officer Sanders.”

“Poor guy,” Jakob said, but I could tell from the slight lift of his lips that he wanted to smile.

Katherine checked her watch. “Okay, I need to get going.” She turned to me. “If anyone from Kearny PD contacts you, direct them to me.”

“Can do,” I said. “Thank you so much again.”

She smiled and squeezed my arm. “You’re welcome. We’ll talk soon.”

We said goodbye and watched her climb into her vehicle. A few minutes later, she waved as she pulled out of the parking lot. I’d vacillated between including her in the conversation I needed to have with Jakob or not including her. Ultimately I decided against her inclusion. She might need plausible deniability if the Kings did anything with the information I had. Well, thought I had.

I turned to Jakob. “You remember that guy you stared down when we were checking into Magnolia?”

He nodded.

I thumbed toward the front door. “He was inside. I’m pretty sure he’s the one pushing for charges against me, and the more I think about it, the more I’m sure he’s involved in all this.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“For starters, he has to know that guard is fake. Who else besides a manager would have the power to bring in gang members and cover everything up from the inside? And pressing charges against me is kind of a genius move, as much as I hate to admit it. It might throw any testimonial or accusations against them into question.” I waved my hands in the air and let a little insanity slip into my eyes. “That crazy chick is just making shit up to get out of assault charges. What grand conspiracy, Officer?”

Jakob turned toward the police station. If he had superpowers, the intensity of his gaze would have set it on fire. “Did you get his name?”

I dropped my hands. “No. I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that I recognized him. Do you know him?”

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