Page 98 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“Nice to see you made an effort to dress up just to come into my cafe, Jay,” Ryder said.
His friend wore worn cutoffs with one leg longer than the other because it was ripped. His T-shirt had a stain down the front, and his hair was a mess and unbrushed.
“I have to dress nice to come in here?”
“I mean, just a bit of effort would be good so you don’t scare away the customers,” Ryder said. “You and Sawyer need JD’s style help.”
“I could wear a sack, and women would still love me,” Jay said.
Dan looked at Leah, who was smiling at something her uncle was saying.But just once, I want to be first in someone’s life.Those words hit him hard because while he’d had tough times in his life, people had always loved him. But not Leah. She didn’t feel like anyone but Cassie really loved her.
“Back to my question. Who did you know before, Ryder?” Jay asked.
“That would be telling,” he said, tapping his nose.
At least that was one thing about the members of his family: They never spilled secrets if they were important. Dan’s eyes went back to Leah, and he wondered what to do about her. He had to do something, that much he knew, because she was important to him and he wanted her in his life. He just wasn’t sure how to convince her of that.
Chapter 27
“Red just called. He said two of the Bandits were just in the Rollaway and then went to the bathroom. Dee saw them walk out the back door,” Uncle Asher said from the doorway.
Dan was sitting at his desk, trying to focus on work and not Leah, so he was happy for the distraction. He got up off his chair, grabbed his hat, and followed his uncle out the door, along with another deputy, Kevin.
Uncle Asher drove them to the Rollaway and saw the two motorcycles.
“Would they be that stupid to do this in the daylight?” Dan asked his uncle.
“I spoke to Red, and he said they often come in and then out the back. He’d thought they were just heading out there to smoke now that he’s got a no-smoking policy in the bar.”
“Locals aren’t happy about that,” Kevin said.
“They’ll be happy when their lungs don’t give out on them from secondhand smoke,” Dan said. “If the Bandits have been selling cocaine in this town, which we now believe they have, we’re throwing everything at them.”
“We are,” Uncle Asher agreed. “And then working out how it was we didn’t notice. We’ll head around the back of the Rollaway,” he added. “I’ll go through the bar, Dan, you go left around the building, and, Kevin, you take the right. Be ready if they run. Of course they could just be smoking, but something tells me they’re not.”
They’d had instances lately of teenagers high on drugs and had been trying to work out where they’d got them. Dan now believed this was how. If the Bandits were involved in moving cocaine, they were no doubt involved in selling it.
He thought of Ally and how she was at the age of wanting to be cool. Would she take drugs if someone offered them? He’d like to think the answer was no but couldn’t be sure. Uncle Dan would have a talk with her soon.
They got out. Dan went left as his uncle headed into the Rollaway, and Kevin went right. He didn’t encounter anyone as he reached the end of the building. But as soon as he turned, Dan saw Sam Hackett and Blanchard Kit. The kids were, from memory, eighteen years old. They were talking to two Bandits.
“No one move,” Dan said, pulling out his gun as Kevin arrived from the right.
There were two types of people. Those who panicked when you told them not to move, and those who became statues. The boys were the latter, but the bikers the former. They ran. One went straight ahead, which would take him to a fence, and beyond that, the more residential part of Lyntacky. The other ran directly into Uncle Asher, who dropped him with one flip.
“Kev, watch those two!” Dan roared.
He ran, but the biker wasn’t slow and had a head start on him.
“Stop! We know who you are and have your friend!”
He didn’t stop. In full panic mode now, the man ran at the fence. He grabbed the top. Dan leapt too and got a handful of his jacket, then pulled him back down to the ground.
The biker swung a fist and caught Dan in the face, but it was the only one he got in. Dan grabbed his arm and forced him to the floor in a move he’d learned as a rookie. He had the man cuffed in seconds.
“Thank fuck!”
Dan looked up and saw JD and Sawyer.
