Prodigal Son (25 page)

Joker hurried to my side. “Are you okay, honey?”

Sable put a hand on his arm. “At least she’s not in jail,” she pointed out. “Are you going to straighten this mess out?” she asked me.

“I’ve already told the cops everything, that he came in and saved my life.”

Sable looked at me, and I stepped back, stunned by the anger I saw in her eyes. “If that’s the case, then why are you out here, while he’s locked up?”

The police officer stepped in between us, and faced me. “Ma’am, if you’ll come with us, I have some people who want to talk to you.” She took my arm and ignored Sable, who stood still and glared at me.

I could hear the confusion of voices behind me as I walked down the hallway with the cop, and in addition to being confused and worried about Luke, I also started to feel a little light-headed. I stopped walking abruptly, and the cop came to halt beside me.

“Krystal. You okay?” she asked, looking at me with obvious concern. “Good grief, honey, I know you’ve been through a lot. I’m gonna find you a place to sit down, and we’ll get you something to drink, okay?”

I nodded and clung to her arm, realizing that I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since the fruit and coffee that morning. The Ritz seemed like a lifetime ago.

I finished the last of the orange juice in the styrofoam cup and set it on the table in front of me. The peanut butter crackers and juice that the cop had brought me had leveled out my blood sugar and made me feel much better, physically, anyway. Looking around the room, I wondered how long the police planned to keep me, and I wondered when I’d be able to see Luke.

The door opened and a man and a woman entered the room. I hadn’t met either of them, and they were both dressed in suits, rather than police uniforms.

“Krystal, I’m Special Agent Kate Tanner with the FBI,” the woman said, as she sat down across from me. “Sounds like you’ve had quite a day.” She smiled at me sympathetically, and I instinctively felt like she was a person I could trust.

“I’m Mark Singer, DEA,” the man said as he set a cup of coffee in front of me, along with packets of sugar and creamer. “I know you’ve answered a lot of questions, but we have a few more for you, if you feel up to it.”

I shook my head, confused. “Where’s Luke?”

“We have him here, and we have some folks talking to him. There are some questions we need answers to, and we think he can give us a hand with that.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “I’ve told the police everything I know. Why are the FBI and the DEA here, too?”

Kate leaned forward. “Krystal, I know you’ve been through a lot, but if you will help us out, we’ll get you out of here as quick as we can.”

I was frustrated, and I sighed. “If I answer your questions, can I see Luke?”

“Absolutely,” she answered.

I felt like we spent four hours in that bleak room, but it was probably closer to one hour. They took turns asking me a whole bunch of questions about how long Luke had been in town, what he’d done for a living in Arizona, how he’d gotten hooked up with the Savage Sons, and what his plans for the future were. They also asked a bunch of questions about how well I’d known Moses and if I’d ever traveled to Mexico with him. The questions came in what felt like a completely random order, and I could only answer about half of them, but I was completely honest. I didn’t see any reason not to be. The weird thing was that most of the questions didn’t have anything to do with any kind of criminal activity, and not a one of them had anything to do with Bug’s death.

By the time we were wrapping up, I’d decided that I liked and trusted Kate, but I wasn’t at all sure that I would trust Mark as far as I could throw him. I looked at Kate as she reviewed her notes. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” she answered, with an expression that said she’d be completely open with me.

“What does all of this have to do with Bug’s death?”

She looked over at Mark and back at me. “Krystal, I’m going to be completely honest with you. Probably nothing.”

“Then why…”

She held her hand up to stop me. “There’s not a lot I can tell you, but it’s possible that Luke may have some information we need with regard to some other, probably unrelated investigations. We’ve found that the best way to get that information is to ask lots of questions, even if we’re not sure how — or even if — someone’s involved.”

I was starting to feel frustrated. “Well, that tells me a whole lot of nothing.”

Mark stood up. “We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.” He walked to the door and waited for Kate.

She put her hand over mine. “Krystal, I’ll go see what I can do about getting you in to see Luke.”

B
y the time the door opened and Krystal rushed into the room, I’d been at the police station for nearly eight hours. Eight hours of incessant questions, threats, and a whole lot of confusion on my part.

Krystal didn’t even seem to notice the other person in the room as she crossed the room and threw her arms around me. “Luke, my God it’s so good to see you. Are you okay?”

I held her face in my hands. “Am I okay? I can’t even believe you’re asking that. The last time I saw you, you were covered in blood and on a stretcher. Tell me how you’re doing.”

“I’ll be fine. No stitches, and they don’t even think the scarring will be bad as long as I’m careful.” Krystal finally realized that there was someone else in the room with us, and she looked at me, questions in her eyes.

“Krystal, this is Bryan Boyd, my attorney.”

Bryan held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Wish it were under better circumstances.”

Krystal shook her head. “Luke, what’s going on? Joker said something about a murder charge, and I’ve just spent the last hour with the FBI and DEA.”

Bryan gestured at the table. “Let’s sit down, and I’ll try to explain my understanding of what’s going on here.”

I sat down and pulled a chair close for Krystal. I put my hand on her thigh, and she leaned in toward me as we looked at Bryan.

“It appears to me that there’s more than just a simple investigation into Bug’s death going on here. Based on what Luke has told me, if that’s all this were, he’d be home right now. Now, I don’t know if the prosecutor has evidence that points to some other version of what happened that completely contradicts Luke’s story, but the fact that the feds are involved means that this isn’t necessarily going to be an open and shut case.”

“But how can that be?” Krystal asked. “The agents I just talked to asked more questions about the Sons than they did about Luke.”

“Yeah.” Bryan ran his hands through his curly brown hair. “I don’t know for sure, but I’m afraid that Luke’s being held — that the police are holding murder charges over his head — because they think he has, or they think he can get, information about a different investigation.”

“What the fuck, Bryan. How can they do that?” Before Krystal had come in, Bryan had been trying to explain to me that the police could hold me for a few days without actually having to charge me, and I was just furious. I’d never been arrested, never been charged with a crime, and I’d always had positive associations with the legal system. My father was an attorney, for Christ’s sake.

Bryan leaned forward and looked me in the eyes. “Luke, I’m gonna be frank with you. You’re a smart guy, and you’ve obviously kept your nose clean until now, but you’ve created some new associations for yourself who are less than pristine.”

“Yeah, but I’m working on a legit business deal with …”

He cut me off. “I don’t think you understand the way that your new brothers appear to law enforcement officers. Are you aware, Luke, that every single member of the Denver chapter of the Savage Sons has a criminal history, a couple of them for federal crimes?”

“Well, no.” I thought about that for a few seconds. “I know that they were involved with some shady stuff before Moses died, but they’ve cleaned up, as far as I know.”

“So this Moses, he’s the one that was shot in his home by a DEA agent, right? And then his girlfriend shot and killed that agent?”

“That’s what I understand,” I answered. “But Krystal may be able to answer more questions about that than I can. I never actually met the guy, even though he was my cousin.”

Before Krystal could say a word, Bryan directed her attention to the wall opposite the door, which had a one-way mirror. “Krystal, you need to know that it’s possible that we have an audience. Even though it’s not legal for cops to record conversations between attorneys and their clients, I wouldn’t necessarily trust that. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Krystal, without getting into … incriminating details, do you know why there was a DEA agent in Moses’ house that night?”

“No,” she answered. “That’s the crazy thing. No one knows. Now, I’m not privy to the business dealings of the MC, but I worked with Moses at his tattoo shop, and I knew him pretty well. Nobody has any explanation for why he’d be meeting a DEA agent, especially at his house.”

“And that DEA agent’s death has caused the club to … reevaluate its business dealings, right?”

She considered her answer. “I believe so.”

Bryan sat for a moment, looking from my face to Krystal’s, to the mirror set into the wall. He finally put his hands flat on the table. “I’m going to level with you, Luke. We’ve seen the summary of Krystal’s statement, and it corroborates yours to the last detail. It’s my opinion that there’s no evidence to prosecute you — not for manslaughter, and certainly not for murder. I’m going to do everything I can do to get them to charge you or release you as soon as possible.” He sighed. “The fact is, though, that if the feds think that you have information they want — or if they think you can get information they want — they may hold you for a few days, and there’s nothing I can do about that. If that’s the case, then we’re going to have to let this unfold and see what exactly the FBI and the DEA are after.”

“This just doesn’t make sense to me, though,” I protested. “If the FBI wants to ask me questions, I’m happy to answer them any time. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Bryan shook his head. “I believe you, Luke. And I understand that this may be hard for you to wrap your head around, since you’ve been a law-abiding citizen your whole life, but sometimes — even if you haven’t done anything wrong — these investigations work out in ways that end up inconveniencing innocent people. I’m going to do my very best to make sure that doesn’t happen to you, but I want you to understand the possibilities here.”

I sat back in the chair, feeling angry and frustrated. “I hear you. And I appreciate the help.” I looked around the room. “Any way I can get a few minutes alone with Krystal? There are a few things I want to talk to her about.”

“Absolutely.” Bryan stood up. “Just remember,” he said, pointing at the mirror. “The walls have ears.”

He knocked on the door, waited for it to be unlocked, and closed the door behind him. I could hear him talking to the officer stationed outside the room as the door swing shut and locked once again.

I turned my chair to face Krystal, and I carefully took her bruised, beautiful face in my hands. I knew that people were probably watching us, and I didn’t care. I pressed a kiss to her lips before I said a word.

“Baby, tell me how you’re doing.”

“Luke, I’m so sorry,” she said, tears starting to well in her eyes. “This is all my fault. You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me and the fucked up choices I’ve made.”

I shook my head. “Krystal, it’s not your fault. You weren’t the violent one, and if I hadn’t been there, you’d be dead at the hands of that sick, sadistic asshole. I’m glad I was there for you. You’re mine to protect, and I’ll do anything I need to keep you safe.”

“What can I do to help get you out of here?” she asked.

“I don’t exactly know yet, but I’ve told Bryan to get your contact information from my phone, and he’s going to notify the Ritz that you’ll be staying in my suite for the time being.”

“That’s crazy, Luke. I don’t need all that space, and you don’t have to provide me with a place to stay. I’m not your responsibility.”

I looked into her eyes. “Oh, but you are, Krystal. You’re mine, and I’m going to take care of you, no matter the cost.” I picked up her hands and kissed them both. “I realized something when I was trying to get inside that house to find you.”

Krystal looked at me and waited for me to continue.

“Krystal, I realized that you — your safety and your happiness — were more important to me than anything else in the world. I realized right then that I love you, and I won’t ever let anyone or anything keep us apart.”

Krystal’s hands flew to her face, and she winced as she bumped her jaw. “Ow,” she said, half laughing and half crying. “Luke, are you sure? I mean, look at the mess I’ve gotten you into. You’re in the police sta…”

I leaned forward and stopped her with a kiss. “Don’t ever question my love for you, Krystal. I’m absolutely certain that we’re meant to be together.” I paused and looked at her, realizing that she’d never told me how she felt, and hoping that I wouldn’t have to work to get her to see what was so perfectly clear to me. “Unless, of course, you don’t feel the same about me.”

Her eyes, shining with tears and with emotion met mine, and before she said a word, I knew that she loved me too.

“Luke, I knew I loved you in Bug’s kitchen, before everything went so terribly wrong yesterday.”

She was going to continue, but I stopped her with another kiss.

“Krystal, I have no idea what the fuck’s going on and why I’m stuck in here, but I promise you that when I get out, I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you.” I leaned forward, like I planned to kiss her neck, but I whispered to her instead. “Baby, I told Bryan a few things that he’ll fill you in on later. Don’t trust anyone but me or Bryan — not Joker, not Sable, no one? You got that?”

She nodded while I kept my lips near her ear. “I love you, too,” she said, making it look like I’d whispered something sweet to her.

I continued keeping my voice low. “Krystal, the Savage Sons have some secrets, deep dark ones, and I’m gonna sort out the truth, but I’m gonna need your help.”