Page 54 of Legends Luke

“Spit it out,” English said. “You know who the leader might be?”

“Blake Drummond.”

“The guy we saw today?” Easton asked.

“He fits the profile I’ve been looking into. I helped Melody out today with her boss’s daughter. Mel told me the girl has been getting into trouble lately, and her boss has been trying to be stricter with the girl to get her in line. The girl has been stealing. First from a classmate then from a couple of boutiques. The last time, the store pressed charges, and the girl was supposed to be completing community service. She skipped out today, and we tracked the car to Blake Drummond’s house. He’s in his early twenties, but he has a record of theft and other things. When we were at the house, someother kid answered the door. We asked to talk to the girl, and she refused to leave until Drummond stepped outside and told her to go. All the fight went out of her. The girl acted like it was the end of the world.”

“Sounds like a cult,” Reagan said as Jax started to whimper. “Oh, little man is waking up. It must be feeding time.”

She stood as Jax let out a wail, and she moved to the back bedroom to nurse her son.

“Ray’s right. It does sound strange,” Jackson said.

“It was creepy.” Easton leaned forward to rest his arms against his thighs. “The girl is fifteen, sixteen, and this guy is in his twenties, acting like he owns her or something. Makes sense that he might be the leader of the crew.”

“But he let you take the girl?” English asked.

“Didn’t put up a fight,” Luke responded. “He acted like he was disappointed that she did something to bring us to his doorstep.”

English rubbed a hand over his face, smoothing his white beard. “So, you think the girl started stealing to prove she deserves to be in the crew?”

“Maybe,” Luke said.

“You’re right. It’s not enough to take to Tater,” Jackson agreed. “But I think we need to look into this some more.”

English nodded. “If this asshole is messing with kids, I think we have to. I have a contact who might know something. What’s his name again?”

“Blake Drummond. He lives over on Piper Drive in a white,one-story. He’s twenty-four. He grew up in Valley. His record includes assault, breaking and entering, grand theft, and DUI. According to police records, he’s always acted alone. So why work with a crew now?” Luke mused as English drifted out of the room to make a call.

“We still haven’t connected him to the crew, though,” Jackson pointed out. “We’re going on hunches. The fact that you caught him with teenagers at his house tells me he’s up to something, so if it’s not the robbery crew, it’s something else I don’t even want to think about.”

“Do you think Melody can get the girl to talk to us? If we tell her what we know of Drummond, it might scare her enough to open up,” Easton said.

Luke shook his head. “Erin won’t talk. She’s got a chip on her shoulder and is mad at the world. Even if she knows the truth, I think she’ll keep her mouth shut out of spite.”

“I can go tomorrow and talk to some of his neighbors on Piper Drive,” Ben offered. “They can probably tell me if he’s got a lot of teenagers coming in and out of his house and what he’s doing with his days. You know, if he has a job, a family, a girlfriend, or a boyfriend. I can pretend I’m doing some type of sale or promotion at the hardware store or something.”

Jackson turned his attention to Easton. “Didn’t you used to date someone at the high school?”

“Yeah, Kate. She dumped me to get back together with her ex.”

“Think it’d be weird if you reached out to her and asked about Erin?”

Easton shrugged. “Yeah, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. I don’t think she’ll talk about a student even if we were still friends, but it couldn’t hurt to reach out.”

Luke nodded. “I’ll dig deeper into Drummond’s background and his financials. There’s likely something there to help us figure out what’s going on.”

“Well.” English was back and stood among the circle his sons had formed while they were talking. “My friend said Drummond’s name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t remember why. He’s going to check some things and get back to me. The fact that Drummond’s name registered with him probably means whatever he remembers about the guy won’t be good.”

“While we’re waiting to hear back from him, I’m going to drive over to Valley tomorrow and talk with some of the robbery victims there. If I show them Drummond’s picture, they may recognize him and be able to provide intel they didn’t realize was relevant,” Jackson said.

English nodded. “Let’s regroup tomorrow night. Easton, get someone to watch the bar for you. Luke, ask Chum to cover the garage tomorrow, so you can do your computer thing. Ben, the hardware store should be good while you’re gone, but just in case, call in the high school girl who started working for you. She’s bossy as hell, but she’ll make sure shit gets done.”

They all agreed and dispersed. Luke glanced at the clock over the bar and noted the time. He had a stop he wanted to make, but he needed to wait another couple of hours first, giving him plenty of time to dig deeper into Blake Drummond’s life.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Melody propped her feet on the coffee table and rested her head back against the couch. She closed her eyes, allowing the quiet to wash over her. Her afternoon left her emotionally drained, and if she attempted to do anything more than what she was doing, her body might shut down in protest.

---