Read Confessions Of An Old Lady Online
Authors: Christina Morgan
As soon as Melanie dropped me off at the house, I went to the living room and grabbed the fake book from the bookshelf. I opened it up, pulled out my white iPhone, and told Siri to call Agent Renley’s number. It only rang twice before he answered, even though it was almost midnight.
“Agent Rockford. Is everything okay? It’s late.” I knew that Renley was married and had a young son, but I didn’t even think about that when I called and woke him up in the middle of the night.
“Everything’s okay. I just wanted to let you know…something is going down in the club. I’m not sure what. Sonny wouldn’t tell me. All he would say was that it was ‘club business,’ and that someone ‘messed with the club,’ whatever that means.”
“I’m surprised you even know that much. How did you get that information?”
“I did what I had to do, Renley, and now I’m closer than ever to the inner circle of the club. He’s taking me to club functions and he’s confiding in me, but not about club business.”
“It’s early yet. If in only a couple of weeks he’s confiding in you at all, it’s just a matter of time before he’ll tell you even more. Just hang in there and keep doing what you’re doing. Now, if that’s all, I’m going back to sleep.”
“Yeah, that’s it. It’s just that I feel like something big is happening. I’ll see what I can find out. Later, Renley.”
“Goodnight, Rockford.” The line disconnected.
I paced the living room, my hand on my hip, trying to figure out a way to find out what was going on inside the crew. I just kept thinking that, as I paced the living room, something big was going down somewhere out there and I needed to know what that something was.
My pacing was interrupted when Sonny called on my black iPhone, which I answered immediately.
“Sonny! Are you okay? Is everything all right?” I found I was actually a little worried about his well-being.
“I’m fine. Everything’s been handled and I’m perfectly fine. Club business can get a little…heavy…sometimes, but you don’t have to worry about me, darlin’. I’m made of steel. Nothing can hurt me.”
“Oh, very funny, but you are not made of steel and so I was worried about you when you sounded so serious about the club business. You looked upset. Why can’t you tell me what happened?” Although I didn’t want to push too hard, I figured any girlfriend of Sonny Jackson’s would probably push a little to find out what he was hiding from her.
“I can’t tell you over the phone. I’ll head over to your place now. Be there in ten minutes.”
Exactly ten minutes later, Sonny was knocking on my door—ever the punctual criminal. I let him in and offered him some sweet tea, which he gratefully accepted.
“Okay, now what’s going on?” I asked urgently.
“Sit down,” he instructed. We both sat down on the brown suede couch in the living room. “There are some things you need to know if we’re going to be together. There are also some things that I will never be able to tell you and that’s just for your own protection. You see…some of the things that we do in the club aren’t necessarily above the board.”
“You mean…they’re illegal,” I clarified.
“Well, yeah, technically. But I’m not a bad guy, Trish. It’s just the family business. My dad founded this charter back in the seventies with a bunch of his closest buddies and over the years, they’ve had to do certain things to bring in money for the club. Some of those things are slightly illegal, but we’re not hurting anybody…at least, no one that don’t deserve to be hurt.”
“So what, then? Drugs? Guns? I’ve seen on TV where some motorcycle clubs are basically their own criminal syndicate. Is that what this club is? It’s okay, Sonny. You can tell me. I’m not going to judge you. Remember, I don’t necessarily have the cleanest history, either.”
“Like I said, I can’t tell you specifics—for your protection, of course. But suffice it to say that we have to watch our backs almost every day. We’ve got not only our rival crews to worry about, but the feds and the local police are constantly up our asses too.”
I realized that no matter how hard I pushed, he was not ready to give me specifics, so I backed down a little. “I understand,” I said, placing my hand on his knee. “But I want you to know that you can trust me. I’m never going to do anything to hurt you…or the club. Your friends and your father have been so nice to me. I’d never do anything to put you or them in jeopardy. Whatever happened tonight, that you won’t or can’t tell me about…has it been taken care of, at least? Do I need to worry about you over this?”
“No. It’s taken care of. The club always takes care of business. I’m fine,” he said reassuringly. “Hey, you need any help around here?” he asked, changing the subject.
I looked around at all of the boxes I had intentionally left stacked throughout the house. “I’ve pretty much got it under control. Now all I have to do is sell all of this shit and get the house listed. I guess I’m going to have to have a yard sale.”
“Come here.” Sonny grabbed my hand and pulled me over to where I was now sitting on his knee. “Why are you in such a hurry to get this place sold? Don’t you want to stay around here a little longer…with me?”
I reminded him that I only “lived in Lexington,” which was only twenty or thirty minutes away, but he was insistent that I stay in Nicholasville longer.
“It’ll take six months, maybe a year or more to sell this house, and that’s
after
I get this shit divided up with the relatives or sold. Don’t worry…” I said, stroking his scruffy cheek. “…I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”
This seemed to satisfy him, at least temporarily. “Want to come over for dinner tomorrow night? Melanie’s cooking.”
“Sure. Just let me have tomorrow to sort through some of this stuff and I’ll head over that way around five o’clock. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is. Do you want some help?”
I stood up from his lap. I couldn’t agree to let him help me, because I had no idea what they had put in these boxes and most of them were probably empty. “No, thanks. I’ve got it under control.”
“All right, then. See ya tomorrow night, darlin’.” He stood up and tightened the bandana he wore every day.
He leaned in and kissed me quickly but sweetly on the lips, then turned and walked toward the front door. After opening it, he turned and winked at me, then left, once again leaving me alone in the small, empty house.
***
The next day, I woke up and decided to go for a run around the elementary school that was two doors down from the house. I was bored to tears, plus I had to clear my mind. I always did my best thinking while I was running. It started when I was little. Every time I was upset about anything, I would dash out the front door and run around the neighborhood. I always came back home later, feeling renewed and refreshed, not to mention clear-minded.
I laced up my black, blue, and white Saucony running shoes and headed out the front door. I could feel the gravel in the pavement through the rubber soles of my shoes and hear it crunching beneath my feet.
Being two different people was starting to take its toll on my mind. Not only did I have to remember my cover story every minute that I was with Sonny, I had to remind myself that he was my mark and everything we were doing—the cuddling, the kissing, the sex—was all for an assignment. Of course, he didn’t know that. It was part of what was eating away at me on the inside. I knew he was a criminal, but I still felt guilty for leading him on and lying to him, because as I got to know Sonny, I started to see the human underneath the façade of a hardened motorcycle gang member.
Then there was the inner conflict I had over what exactly I was feeling for Sonny. If Renley or anyone asked me, I would answer without hesitation that I have no feelings for the man and this is only an assignment. But in those quiet moments when I was alone and there was only me, I knew there was a part of me—I wasn’t sure how big—that really enjoyed Sonny’s company and was starting to have real feelings for him.
I mentally scolded myself and reminded myself that falling in love with my mark—in this case, a convicted criminal and suspected murderer—was not just a bad idea, it was against protocol. Obviously, you can’t really bring down your mark if you are in love with him. It was a horrible ethical conflict and I was right smack in the middle of it. I hadn’t expected this to happen. Before this assignment started, I was expecting some big, stinky, sweaty, dirty, meat-head criminal. What I saw when I looked at Sonny was a good-looking and sincerely nice person who was starting to have feelings for me…and from what I could tell, those feelings were genuine.
I came to no resolutions during my run. I never did when I pondered this situation. I had no idea how I was going to handle it and what I was going to do in the end. I decided all I could do was take everything one step at a time and try not to get too ahead of myself. I had to have faith it would all work itself out in the end.
I showered and threw on my baby blue fleece robe and fuzzy house slippers. This would normally be the point in the evening when I would curl up with Cleo on the couch and maybe even fall to sleep reading a Jennifer Weiner book or watching
The Bachelor
, but I didn’t have Cleo. I had nobody but myself, which, considering all of the thoughts running through my mind, made me feel lonelier than ever.
I arrived at Sonny’s house right around five o’clock. There were a few other bikes parked in the driveway, so I knew there would be others from the crew joining us. My assumptions were confirmed when I knocked and the door was opened by Melanie, who was wearing a hot pink apron, revealing the large kitchen table surrounded by members of the gang. I waved at Jimmy and his old lady, Amanda, as well as the newest member of the crew, Spider.
“Hey, Trish! Come on in!” said Leroy with a wave of his hand.
The people sitting at the table all said “hi Trish” in unison. I counted eleven people once I saw Harry and Connie sitting in the corner in a couple of wooden chairs. I noticed there was a card game going on at the kitchen table.
“What’s the game?” I asked.
“Texas Hold ’Em,” Spider answered. “Wanna play?”
“No thanks, I don’t know how,” I informed them all, a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know how to play poker.
“Oh, that’s no excuse! We’ll teach you! Come on!” Amanda said cheerfully. “Come on, sit down.”
I looked around. “Where’s Sonny?”
“He’s out back with Leroy, splitting wood. Come on and sit down with us,” Harry said from over in the corner.
I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to the one empty seat at the table and sat down. “Okay, now how do you play this game?” I asked.
Jimmy proceeded to give me instructions on the game of poker. It wasn’t too hard to follow along, and after a couple of hands, I felt somewhat confident in my newfound card-playing abilities. During the third hand—I think they were letting me win this one—Sonny walked in with Leroy.
“Trish, hon, what are you doing? You’re not taking all these guys’ money, are you?” Sonny joked. In fact, had we been playing with real money, I would have been about even. I won that hand and the guys all threw their cards on the table and scooted their chairs back, as if they were done with the game of poker forever after losing to a girl who’d only just learned how to play.
Melanie walked over to the table, carrying a large dish that contained one very large turkey. “Move out of the way, everybody…dinner’s ready.” She gingerly placed the dish down on a red potholder in the center of the table.
“Smells delicious!” Leroy said as he walked by, slapping Melanie on the ass. She jumped a little and giggled.
The other ladies, Harry’s wife, Connie and Jimmy’s girlfriend, Amanda, got up from their seats, went to the kitchen, and began picking up other dishes. I decided I should do the same, and so I went over and picked up a dish of what looked like candied yams.
“A little early for Thanksgiving dinner, isn’t it, Melanie? It’s only September,” commented Jimmy.
“Well, a turkey was the only thing I could think of that would be big enough to feed us all. Plus, it was on sale,” Melanie said.
“It looks delicious,” Amanda said to Jimmy.
Once all of the dishes were on the table, Leroy called for everyone to gather around. “Who wants to say grace?” he asked. No one answered. “Spider…as the newest member, you will say the blessing for this delicious meal that my beautiful wife has prepared for us all.”
Spider looked uncomfortable, but he bowed his head anyway. Everyone, including me, followed suit.
“Dear Lord,” Spider began. “Thank you for this lovely meal and thank you for everything you give us. Look over us and protect us. Amen. Oh, and thank you for our newest member of the family…Trish.”
“Amen,” everyone repeated. It was so strange standing there watching all of these big tough bikers and their strong-willed wives bowing their heads in prayer.
“Sit down! Dig in!” Leroy said enthusiastically
We all did as commanded and I sat between Sonny and Amanda. Melanie was standing up, carving the turkey. We all started scooping out the delicious side dishes of green beans, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese, onto our plates. The food was delicious. It was cooking like I hadn’t had since the last time I visited home, which was for Christmas almost a year ago.
I know you hear people say that things seem to happen in slow motion, and I’ve never really understood it until that very moment. The first thing I noticed was the sound…it was like a loud “pop, pop, pop” combined with the sound of shattering glass. Melanie stood there in shock for a split second before she dropped down to the floor to take cover.
“Get down!” Sonny shouted, grabbing my arm and pulling me down from the chair onto the ground. My agent instincts kicked in and I went to grab the gun on my hip that didn’t exist. Instead, I covered my head with my hands and crouched down low. Suddenly, Sonny jumped up and ran from the dining room table to the kitchen. He opened a drawer, retrieved a pistol, and aimed it in the direction of the living room windows, from where the gunshots were coming.
The women started screaming and the men were all scrambling to grab their guns, which I hadn’t even noticed they had on them until now. All of the men, including Spider, took up defensive positions with their guns drawn and held out in front of them. They started to return fire, which I would have done instinctually if I had a gun. The windows in the living room were completely blown out at this point and there was shattered fragments of glass all over the living room floor. There were little tufts of cotton floating in the air where bullets had pierced the sofa cushions and pillows.
Just as quickly as it had started, the gunfire ceased. What seemed like an eternity had actually only lasted about fifteen seconds. There was a moment of eerie silence before anyone said anything.
Sonny was the first one to speak and take control of the situation. “Is everybody okay?” Slowly, everyone started responding, but I couldn’t identify any of the voices. “Melanie?” Sonny walked slowly over to where Melanie had slumped down to the floor. “Oh, God! Melanie!”
Leroy jumped up from his position in the corner of the living room and ran over to Sonny and Melanie. “Baby! Oh, baby! Is she okay?”
I peered out from under the table where Melanie was lying only a few feet away from me. I could now see that she wasn’t hiding from the spray of gunfire as I’d first assumed. She was lying in a pool of her own blood. A dark red puddle circled her head. Her blonde hair was matted with blood and her eyes were open and staring blankly at the ceiling.
Leroy knelt down next to Melanie and pulled her halfway up from the ground until he was cradling her in his arms, rocking back and forth. “No, baby, no,” he kept repeating.
I noticed that no one was rushing to pull out their phones, which, after reaching for my non-existent gun, was my second instinct. “Shouldn’t we call 911?” I asked. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, and when I saw the looks on everyone’s faces, I wanted to take them back.
Amanda whispered the response that everyone was thinking. “We don’t call the cops. We take care of everything on our own.”
“Yeah…but Melanie…” I started.
“Melanie’s beyond help.” Amanda answered me.
I looked back over at Melanie’s limp body being cradled by big, bad Leroy, who in this moment did not look so big and bad. He looked more like a child than the burly, dangerous gangster I knew him to be. He continued to rock Melanie back and forth, saying, “no, baby, no.”
Sonny stood up from where he had been kneeling next to his dad. He now had blood all over his jeans and shirt. “Trish, come here. Help Dad.”
I jumped up and ran over to where Leroy was kneeling. I looked up at Sonny. “What are you going to do?” I could tell he was thinking about doing something and it scared me.
“Nothing. Just going to go handle this shit,” he said, tucking his pistol behind him into the waistline of his jeans.
“Sonny, where are you going?” I asked, only louder this time. I stood back up to face him.
He pulled me by the arm and spoke very low and angry. “I’ve got to go get the bastards that shot up my house and killed Melanie.”
“But how do you even know who did this? It
just
happened!”
“Trust me, we all know who did this,” he said cryptically.
“No, Sonny. I don’t know anything. You keep me in the dark, remember…
for my protection
? So, no, I have no idea who did this or why!” I took a chance, not knowing exactly how he was going to react to my tone. As I stood there waiting for his response, I could still hear Leroy, and now the other women, crying over Melanie’s body.
Either because he was so worked up over what had just happened or because I was super convincing with my acting, he finally confided in me. “It’s a rival crew…out of Garrard County…the Monsters of Mayhem. We’ve been competing with them in some business deals for years. Recently, we took over a major shipment that was meant for them. This is payback for that…I just know it in my bones.”
“What kind of shipment, Sonny?” I stood my ground, demanding answers for once.
He looked around, probably out of habit, for anyone who might be listening. When he remembered that he was in his own home, surrounded by his people, he leaned in closer to me and said, “Cocaine.”
Just like that, I had my first admission from Sonny Jackson that he and the Lords of Chaos were trafficking in cocaine, probably among many other things. I pretended to be shocked.
“Cocaine?” I batted my eyelashes and pretended to be dumbfounded.
“Yes, Trish. Cocaine. What did you think it was? Motorcycle parts?”
“Well, yeah. Since your family owns a motorcycle shop, actually, I did.”
“I know that it was the Garrard County club that killed Melanie, so I’m going to their place and I’m going to kill every last one of those motherfuckers myself.”
“No, Sonny. You can’t do that!” I shouted, drawing the attention of the others in the room.
“Like hell I can’t.”
“No…listen to me. Think about it for a second. If you go in there half-cocked and looking for a fight, all you’ll do is get yourself killed. You’ve got to be smart about it.”
“She’s right,” Leroy said between sniffles, apparently overhearing our conversation. “We’ve got to be smart about this, son.”
He paced back and forth for a moment. “Yeah, well, what do you all suggest, then?”
I thought about it. So did Leroy. Neither of us answered him right away.
“I don’t know,” I answered finally. “We’ll think of something. But promise me you won’t go after them until we come up with something. Promise me you won’t get yourself killed. I love you, Sonny. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You love me?” All of a sudden his face softened. I had chosen the perfect time to tell him that I loved him. Of course Olivia Rockford didn’t really feel that way…right? But Trish Sanders had just been brought into Sonny Jackson’s circle of confidence, so this is what needed to be said to seal the deal.
“Yes. But right now, I need you to promise me that you will think this through before you go after them. Let’s come up with a plan first.”
He nodded his head and then looked over at his dad. Tears began to fill his eyes. “But we will get these motherfuckers, Dad. I promise.”
“I know, son,” Leroy said, gently laying Melanie’s body back down on the ground. “I know.”