Page 87 of Shadow
“Let’s go get something to eat and plan.” Kali smiled brightly. “I know this perfect little place to go. They make the best home cooked food in town.”
Saying nothing, I allowed Kali and Hope to drag me from the place that had been my home since I moved to Lawton.
Lunch with Hope and Kali was interesting, to say the least. Kali kept the conversation lively with ideas about where we would all go shopping while Hope talked with the cook about a recipe.
I really hoped she wrote the ingredients down verbatim before she tried to recreate anything.
“Did you get it?” Kali smiled up at Hope, as she sat back down at our table waving a small sheet of paper.
“I did and I know just what substitutions I will need to make it this recipe better.”
I cringed. “Hope, have you ever thought about taking a class that specializes in organic and holistic foods?”
“Why would I do that? I’m a superb cook.”
Reaching across the table, I covered her hand with mine. “You are sweetheart, but even the most world-renowned chefs take a class now and then to keep up with all the latest styles and inventions. Think of it as expanding your repertoire.”
Hope smiled. “You’re absolutely right. I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
Kali looked at her watch and sighed. “We should head back. Don’t want the guys to worry.”
After paying the bill, we loaded up in Kali’s SUV and did just that.
Only we never made it there.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shadow
“Monk, sit your ass down,” Kansas ordered firmly. “Whisper and Widow went to the Diamond bar to pick your sister up. Bongo is working at the bar today. He will watch her until they show up. In the meantime, we need to figure out where the fuck Keys is at.”
“Won’t find him,” Sandman muttered.
Looking at my former closed-off and silent club brother, I had to agree with him. Whatever set Keys off was big enough that he slaughtered an entire club and carried on as if it were just any other day. He played his part to perfection. He openly deceived every club brother and continued on with his life as if nothing was wrong. A man capable of doing that would be damn near impossible to locate.
“Sandman is right,” Slaughter added. “You won’t find Keys until he’s ready to be found. Right now, he knows all of you have figured out what he did five years ago. Which means he’s activating his contingency plan.”
“We need to figure out what set him off,” Blackjack stated. “If we can do that, then we might be able to figure out what he’s planning next.”
“Blackjack is right,” Ghost said. “This is a man who was perfectly normal until he lost his shit and went on a murderous rampage. If that wasn’t bad enough, he downplayed it and allowed all of you to believe it was someone else. And he damn near got away with it, until recently, when something changed. So, what changed?”
When no one spoke up, I asked, “Sypher, you said Keys found Abigail on Facebook. Did you find anything on his page?”
“Just the normal stuff, Mr. Shadow. He started the page when he was fifteen. Just a bunch of posts about school, clubs he was in and social functions. Normal stuff for a teenage kid until he started posting crap about social injustices, intolerance, bigotry and resentment until he closed his account shortly after. He only recently reopened his account and started talking with Abigail.”
“That makes no sense,” Kansas stated, then he asked, “Why would a straight-A student be posting shit about that stuff?”
I was trying to wrap my head around it all when I remembered something I heard the day I saved Kali from Conroy. Something he said that day jumped out at me. Curious, I asked, “Sypher, who were Keys’ friends in High School? Who did he hang out with?”
Sypher typed into his computer as I waited. The kid replied, “He only had two friends, Jake Hanover and Chuck Miller. All three of them were on the school’s debate team.”
Smirking, I shook my head. “Son of a bitch. I know why Keys snapped.”
It was the only thing that made sense.
“Think about it. A typical teenage boy growing up in a biker club. His father was the club president. He got good grades and never got into trouble. Then puberty hits. Only he realizes he’s attracted to the opposite sex.”