High-Sided (Armed & Dangerous #3)(46)

“Me too.” His fingers entwined with mine and I hissed.

“Baby, you okay?”

I hadn’t noticed the pain the night before, due to the copious amount of alcohol, but now I felt it. I glanced down at my bruised knuckles, even my wrist was slightly swollen. “I hope that douchebag’s face hurts worse than my hand. It was like hitting a brick wall.”

Logan burst out laughing and loosened his fingers. Turning me around, he gently kissed my hand. “I have to admit, it turned me on when you hit him. Once we get back to my house, I’ll make all the pain go away.”

I brushed my body against his and smiled. “I have no doubt.”





Logan


Richard texted me later on Sunday night, saying he’d talked to the chief of police. By Monday morning, I received a call from Gary Cramer himself, requesting to meet with both me and Micah at his house.

I pulled up in his driveway in time for Micah to drive up behind me. Hopping out of my truck, I watched Micah get out of his, the black eye clearly noticeable. I tried to hide my smile and failed miserably.

“Laugh it up, *,” Micah grumbled.

“She sure as hell did a number on you, didn’t she?” His left eye was bruised and I knew it had to hurt.

He huffed. “You’re telling me. You guys owe me after this shit’s over.”

We walked up to the front door of the two story log cabin and rang the doorbell. I slapped him on the shoulder. “We will, I promise.”

“How’s Madison?” he asked, his voice low.

I looked over at him and sighed. “She’ll be fine. I saw her yesterday, before she left town. She’s hurt, but once we’re done here, we’ll tell her the truth.”

His jaw clenched. “Hopefully, I won’t be too late.”

The less people who knew about our mission, the better. I hated he couldn’t tell her, especially considering Kassie knew about me. It was one of the sacrifices of the job. If I knew Maddie could stay away from him while we investigated, it wouldn’t have been a problem. The last thing we needed was for people to see them together.

Through the glass in the door, I could see someone approach. When the door opened, Gary inspected us both and smiled. He looked the same, only now he had gray in his dark hair. He was in his mid-forties and in better shape from when I’d first met him. “Logan Chandler,” he greeted. “How’ve ya been, son?” He held out his hand and I shook it.

“Good. And you?”

“Can’t complain. I’m glad to see you got into the FBI. After your accident, I never heard anything about you. Richard was torn up over it.”

“So was I. Looks like I’ll be racing again this weekend though.”

“That’s what I hear. Good luck with that. You’ve been out of the game for a while.”

“True, but I’m ready.”

“I have no doubt.” He extended his hand to Micah. “I’m Gary Cramer, Chief of Police. Richard’s one of my good friends. I’m leading the investigation on Levi’s case.”

Micah shook his hand. “Any leads?”

“Not yet,” he said, opening the door wider. “Why don’t you both come in and we’ll talk. My wife is at work.” We walked inside and sat down on the black, leather couch in the living room. Gary sat across from us, grabbing one of the files from the coffee table. “I pulled every single file I thought might help.”

I picked up one and it was Jacob Privette’s. There was nothing in it other than him being brought in as a suspect in Levi’s accident—he was clean, and so was Mark Danvers. “Do you have a file on Brad Hendrix?” I asked.

Gary shook his head. “He doesn’t have a record. The man’s never gotten so much as a speeding ticket. Other than his competitive streak, we have nothing on him. Who all have you been investigating?”

Micah tossed the files I gave him back on the table and reached for more. “We looked at the men who attacked Richard a few years ago, and came up blank. One of them is dead and the other two moved away. They haven’t been in this area for years.”

Gary nodded. “You’re right. I knew them. They were dirty men. I hauled the McLain brothers into the station plenty of times.”

I looked through more files, but there was nothing that could help us. “Did you find anything at the scene where Levi wrecked?”

Gary closed his eyes and sighed. “Only death. I keep wishing I could unsee it, but every time I talk to his parents, the images come back. It wasn’t easy recovering his body.”

“What about his motorcycle?” Micah questioned. “If someone ran him off the road, there had to be some kind of damage.”

Gary nodded. “There was, but his bike was all but destroyed. It’s still at my nephew’s shop, if you want to take a look. Maybe you two will be able to find something I couldn’t. He has some other bikes there that need fixin’ up, so I can tell him you’re looking for a project.”

I looked at Micah. “Let’s do it. If there’s anything there, we’ll find it.” Then to Gary, I said, “Micah and I’ll take turns going over there so we’re not seen together.”

“Sounds good,” Gary said. “There probably won’t be anyone there if you want to go now.” He wrote down the address and handed it to me.