like you talk big about loyalty, but that’s because shit is going well. When there’s a threat, people bail.”
“I’m glad you’re going on the three-day ride with River and Shane. You need to understand the Reapers. You’re not a member of the Skullz anymore. We don’t pin shit on our people. I mean, damn, that was a dumb move anyway. What if you, Swamp Thing, or Grabby decided to make a deal by ratting out the club? Fuse was a fucking moron for putting his men in situations where turning on the club would have been the right move.”
“I don’t rat.”
“Well, good for them, huh?”
“You think I should have?”
“No, but fuck them for setting up their own people.”
“Unlike you, who would have just shot me.”
Sighing, I feel like there’s no winning with Goliath. He wants to distrust me, so nothing I say will change his mind.
“We’d only have you shot if you crossed certain lines like raping a chick, stealing from the club, or killing the wrong person. You know, fucked-up stuff. Not because your giant balls intimidated my president’s giant balls.”
Goliath gives me a cranky smile. “I did intimidate Fuse.”
“You’re gigantic, and he was a pathetic bitch. If you were paying attention, you’d realize River isn’t pathetic.”
“But he is a bitch?”
Shrugging, I give him a grin. “Aren’t we all?”
Goliath shrugs, looking awkward. I really feel as if he’s here against his will. There goes my momentary confidence over him maybe, possibly, under certain circumstances, wanting me.
I don’t lose my shit, though. Goliath isn’t my project anymore. I gave us a shot, and things ended differently than I hoped. Sure, I got a few orgasms and a baby out of the attempt, but I couldn’t win the big guy’s heart.
THE GOLIATH
Shelby is a weird chick. Why won’t she put on pants? Is she flirting with me? No, not really. Does she walk around with no pants on all the time? I ain’t asking her that question, but I can’t help wondering.
I swear I got no idea what she’s thinking when she watches me with her bright brown eyes.
“What’s all this?” I say, gesturing at the three whiteboards with names listed and photos pinned to them.
“I’m trying to find the Shasta Slasher.”
Chuckling, I shake my head. “Sounds about right.”
“I have a system,” she says, standing up and giving me a flash of her white panties in the process. I swear this woman wants my dick to explode from my jeans. Except her mind is clearly on her goofy project rather than me.
“First, I have all the possible victims,” she says, gesturing toward the whiteboard on the right. “I’m not sure about a few of them. Like Violet Navarro. It’s possible her parents killed her. I even worried she was buried here. We paid some guys to come out to the property and use a device to search for her remains. Basically, the kind of technology they use to find dinosaur bones. We checked the house and the yard. I don’t think they murdered her.”
“Was she a prostitute like the others?”
“No. Though she does fit the physical type of the other victims, her body was never found. Either she isn’t one of his victims, or he disposed of her in a different way.”
“Why change his behavior? Isn’t the reason you think it’s a serial killer because he drops them off in the same place?”
“Yes. My theory is Violet can be tied to him in a way that the other girls can’t be. Right now, the cops treat her as a missing person. If she was found dead, it might get press and more intelligent cops to look at the case. But that’s not for sure. She might have actually run away. The problem is I don’t know anything personal about her or the other women. None of them have families or friends who can help me with info. It’s difficult to know what the women did or didn’t do before they were killed. That’s why I’m mostly focused on the killer.”
I stand up and walk over to the boards. “He could be anyone.”
“No, not really. He must be from Shasta. He isn’t grabbing prostitutes off the street. He knows who people are and how to avoid trouble. I think he’s local, and I’m narrowing down the suspects.”
“How?”
“I located the name of every male in Shasta. I’m working to eliminate candidates. Then I’ll investigate the ones that I can’t rule out.”