Hat on her head, gloves on, and the extras tucked under her arm, Kat closed the trunk and froze.
“Good evening, Mrs. Croston.”
Kat’s chin came up a notch. She mentally cursed herself for closing the trunk, longing for a tire iron or road flare.
“I understand that congratulations are in order. Is this a first for both you and Tommy?”
“What’s it to you?”
Kramer smiled, holding his hands up in innocent placation.
“No reason to get hostile, Mrs. Croston. I’m not the threat to your child.”
Kat eased around the far side of the car, judging the distance back to street lights and people.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve talked to your father. He’s very concerned for you and his grandchild with everything that has been going on.”
“Neither of us are his concern. He can rot in hell.”
“With the difficulty you had conceiving, I’m sure you’re being very cautious. The stress Zeke Brawer has put you all under lately isn’t good for you.”
“Say whatever you came to say and cut the concerned citizen bullshit.”
“Bringing a new life into the world makes people look at things in a whole different light. You have more than just yourself to worry about all of a sudden. Do you want to raise your child in the violence and lawlessness you’ve found yourself in these past months?”
“Spare me your moral counsel. You don’t know me or my husband,” Kat snapped, inching toward the alley.
Where the hell was Crux?
“I know you don’t want to hear this. I understand your issues with authority. Your father was very enlightening in that area. However, it would be a shame if something were to happen to your child before he or she even had a chance, just because of a misguided sense of loyalty to someone like Zeke Brawer. Trust me when I tell you that he doesn’t share your allegiance. I’d suggest you ask his partner, but the bullet Brawer put in his head makes that a tad difficult. That is how Zeke Brawer repays loyalty when you have outlived your usefulness or become a liability.”
Fear constricted Kat’s throat and she fought the desire to whirl and run. Her arms wrapped around her curved belly, fingers stroking reassurance to the little one inside. Licking her lips, she moved out from the believed safety of the car. Glancing behind her for any obstacles, she backed faster, eyes locked on Kramer.
Rage twisted his features and he shook his head with a chilling smile.
“You’re all sheep. Trinity Falls has bought into the fairy tale for so long that you don’t see that the big bad wolf is in your midst. Deny it to me, but you know in your heart that Croston will put the club before you and the child you carry. Brawer controls the club. He’s leading your man down a path that will see him in prison while your child grows up, or worse!” he shouted. “Brawer is a user. He’s a certifiable Sociopath. Look past the charm. He will always do what is best for him and the rest of you be damned. He doesn’t feel guilt or remorse like we do. He doesn’t FEEL! Open your fucking eyes before it is too late. If you won’t do it for you, then think about your baby.”
Kramer stepped forward, his hand outstretched.
“You have to trust me, Katrina.”
Bile burned the back of her throat and Kat clamped a desperate hand over her mouth. Her head shook back and forth in denial. Fear wrapped its icy claws around her. She couldn’t force a denial past the gorge in her throat. Dear God, he sounded so much like her father. Kramer took another step and she turned and ran.
Her run was an awkward waddle. Heart hammering, her lungs burned. Bursting onto Main Street’s sidewalk, she ricocheted off a large body. Crying out, she spun, stumbling off the curb. Arms pin-wheeling, she grasped air in search of something to break her fall. A hand closed around her upper arm, yanking her upright.
“Whoa! Kat, are you all right? What happened?”
Clinging to the familiar leather, she peeked around Mox’s bulk, searching the shadows for Kramer. Mox stiffened at the threat, thrusting Kat behind him as he sought the source of her fear.
“Did someone hurt you? You need to talk to me.”
She tugged on his jacket, just wanting Crux.
“He just scared me. Please, just take me back to the booth,” she stammered.
Mox shot another uncertain glare toward the ally, but wrapped an arm around his club brother’s distraught old lady and escorted her through the crowd.
Ginny was the first to spot them. One look at her best friend’s pale face brought her scurrying out from behind the counter.
“Oh my God, Kat, what happened?”
Kat allowed Ginny a passing hug and then pressed into Crux’s arms.
“What the fuck happened, brother?” he demanded, not even attempting to ask his trembling wife.
“She came running hell bent for leather out of the alley beside the library. The only thing she would say was that some guy scared her. I didn’t see anyone and she wanted to be brought back here.”
‘Kat?” Crux asked, pushing her back from him so he could see her face. His tone brooked no argument.
“He was just raving like a mad man and he reminded me so much of my father,” she whispered, burrowing into Crux’s chest as Zeke stepped up beside him.
“Who?”
Feeling her husband’s hands tighten on her arms in warning, Kat sighed.
“That Internal Affairs asshole.”
Crux tensed.
“Did he touch you?”
She shivered at the strained fury in his voice and shook her head.
“Look at me.”
It took effort to force her gaze up to his. Few grown men could look into his scarred face when he was pissed. He was livid, but fear and love lurked around the edges.
“He didn’t touch me,” she whispered, stroking his sides in reassurance. A little of the tension left his whip lean body. “He congratulated us on the baby. He said he talked to my father and he’s worried about me, and then he went off on a tangent about Zeke. He’s a whack job. He sounded so much like my father, I just freaked out.”
“Son-of-a bitch!”
Kat tugged at Crux’s leather jacket, but he was already whirling on Zeke.
“I’m done pissing with this asshole!”
“I understand, but this is not the place.”
“I’m getting real sick of you preaching patience, brother. Look where patience got Ginny.”
Zeke’s barrel chest slammed into Crux, his voice fighting for civility.
“I don’t need to be reminded of what happened to my wife.”
“Both of you, this is not the place. Take the conversation behind closed doors,” Bowie snapped, laying a big hand on each shoulder and shoving the men toward the clubhouse.
“You go nowhere,” Crux said to Kat, his tone clipped.
“None of the women go anywhere alone. Is that understood?” Zeke added, meeting each woman’s gaze before locking on his own wife.
Both men were met with complete acquiescence. The girls let out a collective held breath when the men moved inside.
“Get back here, Prego. I swear I can’t let you out of my sight!” Ginny said, breaking the tension.
The girls hovered over Kat, as she took a seat in the booth again.
“I’m okay, really. He just scared me, which I’m sure was his intention. I swear I turned into such a wuss the moment I found out I was pregnant.”
“It’s a natural instinct to protect your child,” Amber said, giving her a squeeze.
Kat was grateful when customers interrupted the smothering attention. She had no desire to get into specifics with Ginny. The ranting of a mad man or not, Zeke was her husband.
“I’m not going to sit around with my thumb up my ass waiting to see if the rat is the rapist!” Crux roared the moment the doors closed on the meeting room.
“You think I don’t want to kill him?” Zeke bellowed back.
“Neither of you can afford to go off half-cocked in the middle of a street fair. Zeke’s right. It’s not the place. Kramer’s taunting us. The fucker has nothing to lose at this point. We have to be smarter than he is.”
“If anything happens to Kramer right now, it blows back on us without question. Give the law a chance.”
“Excuse me if I have no fucking faith in the authorities doing their damn jobs. You said yourself that they don’t have shit.”
“As much as the higher-ups want me to keep my nose out of it, the detectives handling the case have been keeping me in the loop. The son-of-a-bitch didn’t leave as much as a stray pubic hair. That makes us think we’re looking for a pro, or someone with a really good knowledge of forensics, like a cop. If there is anything worse than a dirty cop, it’s a dirty rat. Nothing would be better than nailing one of those sanctimonious pricks.”
“He messes with Kat again and I will nail him to the fucking wall and gut him.”
“Kramer had an opportunity tonight and chose only to run his lips. As much as my gut says the bastard is guilty, we can’t rule out a wildcard.”
“Kramer, or an unknown, either way there is an animal out there that preys on women. Kramer waited until Kat was alone to approach her. As much as they’re not going to like it, the women shouldn’t be left alone until this is cleared up.”
“Ginny’s going to balk, but I agree.”
“You think I’m going to have an easier time with Amber and two teenage girls?” Bowie snorted.
“Kat will do what she’s told or I’ll put a boot in her ass.”
“You’re such a charmer. How the hell did you get a woman as hot as Kat?”
“She fell for my boyish good looks.”
The other two chuckled, tension easing as Crux’s smirk twisted his scarred features into a gruesome mask.
“Normally strangers are easy to spot in Trinity, but with the festival going on,” Zeke said, leaving the sentence unfinished with a rueful shrug.
“The next two nights up here at the festival make us an easy target. If the son-of-a-bitch waited for Kat to be alone, then he’s been watching us. I’ll pass the word to be on the lookout for anyone paying too much attention.”
“Besides our own, we need to keep an eye on Miriam.”
“Roughing her up was reckless.”
“Kramer’s either losing what little grasp he had on reality or he’s getting cocky enough to think he’s above the law. Either way, that makes him dangerous.”
Chapter Forty
Sunday blessed the festival with the week’s best weather. The unseasonably mild evening had drawn a large, lingering crowd and venders that would’ve normally packed it up early were staying around to eke out a few more dollars.
“Are you two talking yet?”
Ginny looked up at Kat’s nudge to spy her mother walking with a group from the retirement village. She shrugged.
“Her highness deigns to allow me to take her shopping once a week, but I’m still not in favor and Zeke is persona non grata.”
“What the hell is he doing?”
Rage and betrayal flooded Ginny at her mother’s delight as Kramer handed her a dainty blown glass slipper for her collection. Her eyes swung to her husband, but he was already moving.
Zeke stepped into the street. Tension hummed.
“Beautiful street fair Trinity Falls puts on. This is my first visit. They should advertise better,” Kramer said smoothly.
“The town council doesn’t want to attract riff-raff,” Zeke offered with an apologetic shrug.
“No help for the Lords of Mayhem, I guess.”
“What a surprise to see you here.”
Both men cringed at Flo’s interjection, her honeyed twang like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“I fucking live here,” Reaper muttered from beside the smoker.
Flo whirled on him, her face twisting in disgust.
“I wasn’t talking to you, low-life!”
“Shut your blow-hole, whore,” he sneered back at her.
Miles glared at Reaper from beside his wife, his blue eyes watery and bloodshot, but kept his yap shut.
“Are you going to let him talk to me that way in front of our son?” Flo asked, turning to confront Zeke.
“I don’t give a fuck how he talks to you. My sons know you’re a whore.”
Flo raised her hand and Zeke chuckled.
“Start it and I’ll finish it, Bitch.”
The icy surety of his words must have sunk in, because she dropped her arm, looking to Miles or Kramer for support. Neither seemed prepared to play the white knight. Glancing back up at Zeke, he seemed to have forgotten about her already, his gaze trained back on Kramer. The ratcheting tension made the geriatric biddies start to mill around in uncertainty.
“Gram, can I talk to you for a minute?” Rhys asked, moving around his father and breaking the deadlock.
Lillian’s face lit up at the sight of her grandson and she stepped forward for a hug, but Kramer caught her arm in a light grip.
Ginny stepped out from behind the counter, but Zeke shot her a look that stilled her in her tracks.
“We’re having such a nice evening, Lillian.”
“This is my grandson,” she protested.
“This is ridiculous. Why don’t you join us, Paul?”
Kramer ignored Flo’s invitation.
“Your son-in-law doesn’t want you to know what kind of man he really is.”
“We’re not talking about Zeke,” Lillian said, spitting her son-in-law’s name out with vehemence. She pulled her arm free with a look of annoyance. “You can’t hold his sins against my grandbabies.”
Rhys smirked at Kramer as he gathered Lillian into a hug.
“If your friends can spare you for a few minutes, Gram, I need your advice,” he said, flashing the older ladies a charming smile that had them all blushing and tittering.
Lillian smiled to her friends, turning to allow her grandson to lead the way. Rhys shouldered Kramer out of the way with a mocking wink.
Grinding his teeth, Kramer spun away only to come nose to nose with a seething Ginny Brawer.
“That’s the second time you’ve tried to come between me and my mother.”
“The third time is the charm,” he whispered.
The haunting words slapped her in the face. Shock and fear numbed her limbs. Retreating from the pure malice in his smile, she shook her head in denial. The smell of anise candy surrounded her, triggering flashes of the rape and her gag reflex. Catching her heel on the curb, she stumbled. Strong arms closed around her. She pushed off, barely registering Mox’s face. Someone else caught her arm, trying to steady her. Jerking away, heart pounding, she sought an escape route. Blind to anything but the horror in her mind, she shoved through the throng of bodies, stomach heaving.