Page 14 of Deception
“Or are still alive,” Brock says. “The late nineties weren’t a great time for guys named Phillip. Of the three we found, one was murdered, one was in a car accident, and one took a header off a tall building.”
Nodding, he sighs. He and Brock head into the Chapel where Black Valley sits with the rest of the club while Grayson heads home. As much as he’d like Grayson in the room for another setof eyes to gauge reactions, he knows he can’t have him in here for this.
“What’s going on?” Psycho asks. “Why couldn’t we do this over the phone?”
Rather than sit, Colt stands behind his seat with Brock beside him. Between the two of them, they can hopefully take in the reactions of the room.
When the Drifters patched over Black Valley years ago, they had some of Griffin’s Beach men move out there. They needed men with reputations of kicking ass and not caring when it came to protecting their turf. Including Psycho, one of Lex’s best friends.
“Brock and I got a call to head to the prison to talk with Gerard Buchanan, the De-Identifier. We put in the call to take him out now that all the victims have been identified. He claimed to have information we’d want to hear before we decide to kill him,” Colt says.
“He says he’s not the one who killed all the women. Says he was just the fall guy, and the real killer hired him to hurt Marnie and create a distraction for us. The only thing he knew about the real killer is that he hates a veteran member,” Brock says.
Narrowing his eyes, Psycho shakes his head. “Wait, are you saying the guy knew that Undertaker had a connection to the last victim?”
“Even if he did, how did he know Undertaker would be able to identify her? He got his nickname for a reason,” Shep says. “He de-identified every one of those poor women.”
“The guy apparently had a type. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Sound familiar to anyone?” Brock asks.
Eyes widen, and the air changes. Colt knows they understand exactly what this means. “All we know is the guy’s name is Phillip. Now, we went ahead and looked into the Original Ten because that’s where we were told to look, but we’ve expanded itout to all the veterans to see if we could find that name tied to anyone.”
“We came up empty, which means one of two things. Either, Phillip flies under the radar and can’t be found,” Brock says, “or Gerard is lying to save his own ass.”
“You looked into us without our knowledge?” Jennings asks.
It was a worry Brock had, but Colt knew it was necessary. “Yeah, we did. My decision, and I stand by it. We’ve had too many issues with people trying to hurt Lex, and I wanted to get ahead of it, if possible.”
“Does anyone know someone named Phillip who would hate them enough to want to hurt women who look like… Lex?”
Everyone looks around at each other as they think, and Colt appreciates the lack of upheaval at their pasts being dug into without being told. In fact, they all seem to genuinely think about anyone with that name to help identify someone who might want to hurt Lex.
“My dad’s name was Phillip, but he died before I even graduated high school,” Doc says. “Car accident.”
“Saw that one,” Brock says. “Doubt it’s related.”
Nodding, Colt agrees. “Anyone else?”
“I bullied a kid named Phillip in school,” Chips says. “Guy tried to kill me, but he’s overseas and married to a guy named Artie. Coincidentally, Artie looks like he could be a clone of me, minus the leather. It’s creepy, but I doubt he’d kill blonde women.”
He chuckles. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nah,” he says and pulls out his phone. “He found my email about a year ago and sent me an update. Told me I was the love of his life, and if I ever changed my mind, Artie’s just a stand-in.”
The phone gets passed around, and there was no lie in Chips’ assessment. Whether it’s simply a coincidence or intentional, it’s unsettling.
“I don’t think it’s him, but I’ll look to make sure,” Brock says as he tries to hide his smirk.
“I think he’s probably cleared,” Colt says. “Anyone else?”
A few speak up, and Brock nods to acknowledge they’ve already been looked into. The two of them watch everyone else as they deny knowing anyone by that name. And no one looks suspicious. No one seems to be hiding anything, even though there are potentially two secrets being kept at the moment.
“I think he may just be trying to save his ass,” Brock says. “Sent us on a mission to find a ghost.”
Undertaker raises his hand, and it looks comical for such a large man acting as though he’s in a classroom setting. “I heard a door shutting in the warehouse when we got there.”
“It could have been an accomplice,” VP says. “Doesn’t mean he’s not the mastermind.”
“That’s true. He could have had help, and that guy took off rather than get caught with him,” Brock says.
