Page 38 of Goose

“What are you thinking you’re going to do with ‘em?” I asked.

He glanced around the roof deck and then met my gaze. “Can’t have ‘em at the shop, we know they got a warrant for that place once, and they’ll get another if they need to. If they know where you live, they know where all of us live. Only place I can think of, until we decide what’s best, is to leave them here.”

“No,” I snapped.

“Goose,” he pleaded. “It’s the only safe place.”

I widened my eyes. “Safe? Leaving a cop’s body parts here isn’t safe.”

“This place probably isn’t even in Ghost’s name yet. Hell, there wasn’t enough time to get the deed transferred before he died. I doubt they even know Ghost was living here. They damned sure won’t be able to get a warrant in Abby’s name. I think this is the only logical place to leave ‘em.”

My natural response was no. Thinking about matters logically told me he was right. Leaving the chunks of concrete anywhere in public would make them free reign for the cops. Having them on a piece of property required a warrant.

Getting a warrant for a piece of property that wasn’t in my name would be impossible. Leaving them would be the only logical thing to do.

I forced a sigh. “You’re right.”

“Where are we going to put them?” he asked.

“What do they look like?”

He chuckled. “Chunks of concrete.”

“God damn it,” I complained. “Are they shaped like a wad of shit, a sphere, a triangle, what?”

“Perfect squares,” he said. “He formed them up with wood.”

“How perfect?”

“The perfect kind of perfect.”

“How the fuck’d you fit a concrete-encased head in your saddlebag?”

“It’s not as big as you’d think.”

I glanced around the roof deck. I hated the thought of it, but keeping the body pieces at the beachfront home was in the club’s best interest. “Best place, as much as I hate saying it, is up here. Nobody’ll come up here looking for ‘em. Hell, I’ll paint ‘em black and stack flower pots on top of ‘em.”

He laughed. “Sounds like a great idea.”

“You’re carrying ‘em up here, though. This is you and Cash’s handiwork. You get ‘em up here, I’ll keep an eye on ‘em.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

Later that night, just before sunset, I copped a squat on a bench beside the dead cop’s head. I drank my umpteenth cup of coffee for the day. I gazed out at the ocean and drew a breath of the crisp winter air.

The sweet smell of the ocean and taste of salt lingered in the air. The pulse of the waves was rhythmic. Predictable.

Soothing.

The sun folded behind a cloud along the horizon. The sky transformed from a soft blue to oranges and pinks. The bright colors eventually faded, only to be replaced by a deep translucent indigo.

I closed my eyes and let the waves take me away.

My mind drifted to thoughts of Ally. Not of fucking her in the car, but of the first time I saw her. The day her natural beauty caused me to drift off into a sexual daydream.

It was her outer beauty that originally drew me to her. I later learned her lack of fear, outgoing personality, and willingness to challenge me were far more beautiful than her appearance. I’d never met a woman with enough spunk to stand up to me. Now that I had, I realized how valuable of an asset it was.

The sun setting along the ocean’s horizon brought a smile to my face. I’d lived a matter of a few miles from the ocean for eighteen years and had rarely taken time to experience its majestic beauty.

The only sound was of the waves washing ashore. As I let the depth of it all seep into my soul, I realized there was one place on earth that could satisfy all a man’s senses.

I was fortunate enough to have it as my yard.