Page 2 of Deception
“I’ve seen that a few too many times,” Grayson says with a sad frown. “When a child feels their life is in total chaos, they cling to what they can control. Like food. Poor girl. Is she okay now?”
He shrugs and sighs. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her, but she’s out of the treatment center. Lex has been checking on her every day, so she must be doing better.”
The way his family has spiraled out of control frustrates Colt. And it all centers around his father-in-law. The former Vice President can’t accept fault in anything he does, and he’d ratherturn a blind eye than admit he isn’t doing a decent job of something.
“How’s the new baby?” Grayson asks, changing topics. “Getting much sleep?”
Brock smirks. “She’s amazing. We’re finally getting into a better sleep habit, and Marie loves her little sister.”
“Enough to keep her occupied while you love their mother?” Colt asks with a wink.
“No one prepared me for the little cockblocks we created,” he says with a laugh.
“Oh, I remember those days.”
As soon as he utters the words, he looks down at the front of the desk. By now, pretty much everyone knows about Colt’s mistakes. How he almost lost his family when his daughter was barely a year old because of his spiral.
“What’d you name her again?” Grayson asks.
“Morgan. Marie calls her Mo Mo, which I can’t decide if I like or not. It’s really close to Moo Moo, you know? And Summer’s gone as far as dressing Morgan in cow print onesies just to piss me off.”
They all laugh, and Grayson reaches into his drawer to retrieve a key before unlocking another drawer on the right of his desk. He pulls out a folder and sets it on the desk. “Should we get started?”
“Did you find anything?” Brock asks, his joking tone completely gone.
Colt’s stomach jumps as Grayson shakes his head. “Sorry, guys. I can’t find anyone named Phillip tied to any of the Original Ten. I went back to grandparents, distant cousins, and even cellmates. Nothing.”
“Is it possible that Rush had another illegitimate child like Daren? Could there be someone out there who doesn’t have his name on their birth certificate?” Colt asks.
“I looked into everyone. Everyone I could trace to him, which was a shocking amount for such an unpleasant man. It’s not surprising none of them wanted to admit to being with the creep, but they all confirmed they never had his kids. I even looked into the birth records of their kids. No one has a first or middle name of Phillip.”
Rush Gable, an Original Ten, was killed many years ago by the club after having an affair with Colt’s mom and being the one to kill his little brother, Noah. His son, Daren, came into the picture out of the blue as a child Rush never knew he had, and he was the definition of the apple not falling far from the tree. He also died, but his death was at the hands of Lex after he kidnapped her.
“We’re positive Daren’s dead?” Brock asks.
“Lex shot him when he tried to kill her, and Psycho cut him into pieces before burying them in different spots. Unless we’ve suddenly entered some type of fantasy movie, there’s no coming back from that.”
This type of conversation wouldn’t normally happen in front of Grayson, but he’s accepted the club lives in a gray area. There is no black and white in their life when it comes to most things, and he’s not obligated to arrest them for having knowledge of anything.
“Are you positive it’s one of the Original Ten?”
“No, we’re not,” Brock says. “I have major doubts that this Phillip guy even exists. Gerard could just be desperate enough to try whatever he needs to keep himself alive. He wants us to believe he’s not the De-Identifier, but I don’t really buy it.”
“There haven’t been any more bodies found of women unable to be identified,” Grayson says. “So, that doesn’t sound great for this Gerard Buchanan guy.”
Leaning back, Colt rubs his face. His gut tells him there’s truth to what the prisoner says. It’s not just a ploy to keep his life, buthe has no proof of it. “But if this Phillip guy really does exist and is after Lex, I can’t just ignore it. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to her because I threw in the towel.”
“Okay, here’s a thought,” Brock says. “What if it’s not an Original Ten, but it is a veteran member? Working under the assumption Phillip is real, maybe he’s going off of who was in the club at the time he met whoever it is he hates, and he assumes they were an original.”
“That opens up the possibility of more people,” he sighs. “Brock, can you go through the list of members before we patched over Black Valley and identify who may tied to Lex? Like Shep and Psycho.”
“You don’t want to be part of this?”
Shaking his head, Colt says, “I gotta take a step back. Going down this rabbit hole won’t help me keep my head on straight, and once I start looking at everyone with suspicion, it’s game over. We’ll never see the forest through the trees.”
“Guess that patch really is working for you,” Grayson says. “Colt, can I talk to you alone?”
Brock lifts an eyebrow, but he stands. “I’ll pull the list of members together and come back.”
