Trusting Bull: Savage Brothers MC Page 18

  My tears fall unchecked. I grieve for what she’s making me do. Her sins can’t go unpunished.

  They can’t.

  Chapter 44

  Skye

  “Hey Buck. How are things today?” I ask, as he mops up the floor.

  It’s my first day back to work since the night I told Bull, I loved him. If you discount the fact that Bull’s going crazy trying to figure out who rigged my brakes, life is pretty much perfect. Heck, I’ve not even had to deal with Dr. Reynolds or Dr. Eldridge today. I’ve seen them of course, it seems like everywhere I turn one of them is lurking and watching me. It’s creepy.

  “Pretty good. You doing okay? I heard about your accident while I was away.”

  “I know I didn’t see you around last week! I’m okay, I was just a little banged up. I hope you had a good vacation though?”

  “It wasn’t bad. Did they find out what happened to your brakes?”

  “Nothing to worry about. Probably just rusted brake lines,” I lie. It’s not like you want to just announce, oh I think someone is trying to kill me!

  “Well that’s good. Are you ready for Christmas?”

  “Not even a little bit,” I laugh. “Bull is going to pick me up here in a few minutes, when I clock out. We have a treat for Matty.”

  “It’s a shame you have to work. A good woman like you ought to have a man who takes care of her, so she doesn’t have to worry about anything.”

  “I’d go crazy,” I laugh telling him. “Do you have the holiday off?”

  “Yeah, and I’m working up a big surprise for my girl. She’ll be shocked.”

  “When do we finally get to meet this mystery woman? You’ve been talking about her for months.”

  “Soon. We need some alone time first. There are problems we need to work out.”

  “Well I hope it works out for you, and we finally get to meet this woman who has you wrapped around her finger.”

  “I have it all planned out. I want it to be the best Christmas she’s ever had. I’ve been planning it for the last four months.”

  “What a romantic. This world needs more men like you, Buck.”

  “There you go flirting with other men, Doc. I just can’t leave you alone,” Bull says, walking up.

  “Oh will you stop? I was just bragging on Buck because he’s been planning his proposal to his girlfriend for Christmas. He wants to make it special.”

  “Hell Buck, you are going to make the rest of us men look bad.”

  “You find a good woman you got to make sure you take care of her. You don’t want some other man to come in and steal her away.”

  “Amen, brother. Amen. Or you can keep her tied up in bed, unable to get away.”

  I slap Bull on the shoulder. “Will you hush?”

  “What? I was just offering my advice.”

  “We better get going or we’re going to be late. We’re taking Matty down to Burnside Island to look at the Christmas lights.”

  Buck nods goodbye, and goes back to his mopping. “Have a good time then. I’ll see you later.”

  Bull grabs my hand and we head out. He drove me to work on his bike, so he could pick me up. We’re going to surprise Matty by picking him up at school, then have dinner together, and finally head off to see the lights and meet Santa Claus. The way I figure it, this will be my last year with Matty where he still mostly believes in Santa. I want to enjoy it.

  Chapter 45

  Skye

  “I can’t believe Dr. Reynolds let you come back,” Dr. Eldridge says in his snarkiest voice. My hand shakes with the need to slap the hell out of him. I’ve been lucky, and I’ve not had to deal with him too much. The respite from him has been good. Bull told me he and the club were checking into people I work with, and have contact with daily. In fact, I’m supposed to go back to the club tonight, and go over surveillance video to see if I can identify anyone that was purchasing gift cards. I find myself wishing it was this guy, just for the sole purpose of watching Bull destroy him.

  I don’t see it happening. I don’t think this guy is anyone I know personally. The very thought that I could be wrong, chills me. I want to put this behind me, and move forward. So, anything I can do to help, I will.

  I do decide however, to ignore Dr. Eldridge’s hissy fit. Therefore, I don’t bother responding. Instead, I go back to writing in my chart, and smile at Alex, who is the floor nurse for my patient.

  “Could you review the chart, Alex and make sure everything seems okay to you?” It’s ridiculous that I feel the urge to do this, but I don’t trust Eldridge not to go behind me and change my orders. It seems a good precaution to make.

  “It’s all good Skye,” Alex says, and I nod, before walking around the idiot who is determined to ruin my good day.

  I’m thinking of switching hospitals, Bull keeps saying no. He says his club will find who’s doing this and handle it. That’s another thing, he’s determined whoever this is, is a man. I don’t know what to think at this point, and I really don’t know what he means when he says he’ll deal with them. I got a feeling I don’t want to know.

  I’m anxious to leave work. Bull, Matty and I are putting up the Christmas tree. Matty loves it and I want to make sure he has a wonderful Christmas. Bull and I are pulling out all the stops to guarantee it happens. My mind is on all the things I need to do this evening. I open my locker while on auto pilot. So I’m unprepared for what happens. As the door opens, photos fall out—so many I can’t count them. There are at least fifty and probably closer to a hundred of them. I pick a couple up, and at first I’m not sure what I’m looking at. It takes me a minute, and even as I’m staring at them, I don’t quite believe it. My hands begin to shake, my stomach rolls, and I can feel bile rise up in my throat. All around my feet are pictures of Nurse Allen’s mutilated body. I scream. I don’t do it cognitively, I just scream.

  The first one to me is Judy and she wraps her arms around me. In the distance I can hear her asking me what’s wrong, but I can’t talk. I can do nothing but stare a picture of Melissa’s corpse. Pictures of her dead, and on the ground. On the ground by my car! Pictures of her naked on a cement floor. Pictures of her body slowly losing different pieces. Pictures of a bloody….bone saw… like one we use here in the hospital.

  One by one my co-workers start filing in to see what the screaming was about. Clara from the cafeteria, Jake the hospital maintenance man, Dr. Eldridge, Dr. Reynolds, Judy, Ruth from accounting, Reverend Fisher the hospital Chaplin, Buck the janitor, Luke, an orderly, Alex the floor nurse, Katie a fellow resident—they all try to crowd in the room, along with Dante and Sam from hospital security. All I can think—the only thing I can grasp is…I’m standing in a room with a murderer and I’m his or her next target. That’s when I scream again, but this time I call out the name of the one person I can trust….

  “Bull!”

  Chapter 46

  Bull

  “You guys make it back?” I nod to Hawk as I enter my room. He’s stationed right by my bed watching over Skye—exactly where I put him when I had to leave. Until I find this fucker, I’m not leaving her alone, not even for a minute.

  “Yeah, you can go. We’re going to have Church in an hour and Skye’s going to go through the surveillance tapes with Freak right before,” I tell him.

  “You find her?” he asks, and I rub the tension at the back of my neck. Another damn headache is forming and I can’t deal with it right now. I have to be here for Doc. I have to take care of Skye.

  “Yeah man, exactly where we thought, down by the old gravel quarry.”

  “Fuck.”

  I nod, because what the hell else is there left to say? I hated Melissa, but shit…no woman deserves what that sick fuck did to her. The only thing that makes it a little better, is that it looks like most, if not all of the truly sick shit he did, was after he killed her. Our club might take care of assholes and occasionally torture has to be used, but to do what this sick fuck did to a woman…this asshole has to b
e off his goddamn rocker.

  “Okay, I’ll see you in a little while man,” he whispers, and then slaps my shoulder, before closing the door behind him.

  I look down at the woman I love more than life, lying on the bed asleep. My heart flips over in my damn chest. When her friend Judy called and told me what happened, I busted ass to get to her. Skye collapsed in my arms and cried for a fucking hour, before crashing. She’s so emotionally and physically drained. I don’t want to wake her, but I don’t have much choice. The sooner she watches the surveillance tape the better. We’ve also got files on the main suspects she needs to see. None of the pictures of our suspects match anyone on the camera footage, however. That would be too motherfucking easy.

  “I need to call Blair,” Skye whispers, and I look down at her.

  “I already have, Doc. About thirty minutes ago, actually. She said Matty went to her room to rest and everything was fine. I gave her the club number if she needed us.”

  “I don’t want him left alone, Bull. I want him with us.”

  “I sent Gunner over as soon as I hung up, sweetheart. Do you want me to have him bring Matty here?”

  “Please? I just…I’m scared, Bull.”

  “I know, Doc. I know,” I tell her, pulling her close to me when she stands and comes to me. Her scent calms me. How the fuck that is possible after the shit I just saw, I don’t know. It’s just true. I call, Gunner and ask him to go in and get Matty, bring him back here, and then hang up. I look down at Skye, trying to give her a smile, needing to reassure her. “We’re going to get this fucker.”

  “I know,” she says, and there might be fear, but I can’t find a trace of doubt.

  “I love you, Doc.”

  Now it’s her time to try and smile. She fails miserably, but the way she lays her head on my chest and encircles her arms around me makes up for it. “I love you, Bull. With all my heart.”

  I want to stay here and just enjoy the feeling of holding the world in my hands, but I can’t. Regretfully, I pull away and look down at my girl. “You ready to go look at the stuff the club has?”

  “Let’s get this done,” she sighs.

  *

  Skye’s just started going through the tape with Freak, when my phone rings. I step to the back of the room so I don’t disturb them and answer.

  “Bull.”

  “Bull, it’s Gunner. I went in to get Skye’s boy, and man, he’s not here.”

  “What the fuck do you mean he’s not there? I told you to guard the house with your motherfucking life!” I snap. I hear a chair crash, and Doc is up, the chair she was sitting in tips to the floor and she’s running to me. Motherfucker, I’ve let her down again. Worse, I’ve let Matty down. I should have picked him up at school, instead of letting Blair.

  “I’ve been guarding an empty house, fucker. The lock on the inside of the window has been opened. Matty had to be the one to do it. There’s a mud hole there too. Matty’s is the only set of footprints. He had to open the window himself and climb out.”

  “Why in the fuck would he do that?”

  “Bull what’s going on? Where’s, Matty?” Sky asks, desperate, her fingers claw into my chest, her body shaking.

  “Hang on, Doc,” I tell her, trying to concentrate on what Gunner is saying.

  “He left a note on the bed saying his friend Greg invited him over to his house for pizza and video games. I think the kid just snuck out man.”

  “Get your ass here now. I’ll get the address from Skye and go and get Matty,” I order hanging up.

  “Bull?” Skye asks, tears in her eyes, and her whole body trembling. Dragon and Freak, walk up behind her.

  “It’s okay, Doc. Matty’s just picked the worst time in history to be a kid. He snuck out.”

  “Motherfucker,” Dragon grumbles in the background.

  “Snuck out?” She cries.”

  “He left a note on Blair’s bed saying his friend Greg invited him over for pizza and video games.”

  “Why would he do that? He knows better than pull a stunt like that. Oh God, Bull! He’s only nine years old and what if this sick…”

  I put my hand on her lips and stop her from going any further.

  “Let’s not borrow trouble, Doc. I’ll go get him and bring him back.”

  “Okay,” she nods and then color drains on her face. “Bull! Matty just met Greg at school. They’ve been talking back and forth online, but I’ve never let him go over there. I don’t do that until I meet the parents. I don’t know where they live!”

  It feels like I’ve got fucking led in the pit of my stomach when she delivers her news.

  “You don’t know anything about Greg?”

  “Not really. Matty said he lived like two streets down from us. I told him after the holidays we’d invite him over.”

  “I’ll go get him. You two finish going through this damn tape. I want motherfucking answers like yesterday. There’s no way I’m going to let shit happen in my fucking club again,” Dragon growls, walking around us.

  “How are you going to find him? You don’t know…” I ask, but I’m talking to Dragon’s back.

  “I’ll knock on every fucking door, on every fucking street anywhere near Skye’s. I’ll take Hawk and Dance with me to speed that shit up. Now get busy.” He looks over his shoulder at Skye. “We’ll get your boy, Doc. Don’t you worry.”

  That seems to reassure, Skye, though I can still see fear in her eyes. Still, she nods, before turning to Freak.

  “Let’s get back at it,” she whispers. The woman has so much courage. My heart swells with pride.

  Chapter 47

  Bull

  “I don’t recognize one person on that tape you guys. No one looks familiar and the feed is so grainy and shadowy, I couldn’t even tell you for sure if one of them is someone I know.”

  “I thought that might be the case. They’re equipment is outdated. I can’t event narrow it down with a fucking time stamp,” Freak growls throwing something from his desk across the room.

  “Okay let’s move to the files,” I tell Skye, needing to keep her focused.

  “Have you heard from, Dragon?” she asks, worriedly.

  “Doc, he’s not even been gone an hour. Give them time,” I tell her, trying to keep her calm, but inside I’m worried. I got alarm bells ringing like a fucking church tower in my head. Something is off. I know it.

  Skye sits down at the small table, and picks up the first folder.

  “Judy? No way. She could never do this, and besides her house burned down, she’s been way too busy dealing with that.”

  “We need to take a second, third, and fourth look at everyone, Skye. Judy was on break about the time Melissa disappeared. Maybe she took that time off, to kill her and dispose of the body.”

  “I’m telling you there’s no way, Bull. And besides, you’re forgetting, I saw the pictures of Melissa…” she pauses to catch her breath, and I know she’s remembering. Thank God, she didn’t have to see it in person. It was much worse. “I saw the pictures, and it would take a man or a very big woman to accomplish that. Judy is tiny. A strong wind would blow her away.”

  I nod because we’re all in agreement over that, I just wanted to make sure. “Okay, so the next one.”

  “Dr. Douche,” she sighs, and it’s the first time I’ve really felt like laughing all day. “I mean he’s the one all of the signs point to, because he’s definitely psychotic.”

  “And he might have been giving it to Melissa, but you did say she told the whole hospital about his inch worm.”

  “Inch worm?” she gives me a weak smile and I wink at her.

  “Yeah. I mean it could be him. He just seems too…”

  “Too what, sweetheart?”

  “He is too bold and in your face? Like, I think he would attack first, and then try to be sneaky as hell to get out of it. He wouldn’t write cryptic notes and do things in the background.”

  “Okay so we’ll put him in the maybe pile and go to
the next.”

  “Well, we can cross out Walter.”

  “Fuck, no. He attacked you.”

  “He’s not going to jeopardize his career to do something like this, and he’s too high brow. He thinks he’s better than everyone else,” she argues.

  “You just described half the serial killers in America. My money is on, Walter-boy. He stays in the maybe pile.”

  “You just don’t like him,” she argues, putting the file on top of Dr. Douche, as she so colorfully put it.

  She goes through at least six more files, the security guards, cooks, nurses, and other doctors. We slowly rule those out. She stops when she comes on the next one.

  “Buck…”

  “The janitor I met the other day.”

  “Yeah. He’s a nice guy, or seems to be. I don’t know him that well, I’d have a hard time believing he was the one, but…”

  “But?”

  “Well, he does have access to everything and he’s in charge of cleaning the entire third wing, which is where my locker is.”

  “So, he could get in and out without being noticed.”

  “Yeah,” she says, sounding defeated.

  “Buck the janitor just became our chief suspect then. Hand me his folder, Skye and I’ll start doing more research while you go through the last one,” Freak tells her.

  “You know out of the thousands of employees there’s not been that many files,” she says, handing the folder to Freak.

  “Yeah, you should have seen it before Freak and the rest of us narrowed it down, Doc.”

  She nods and looks up at me a little lost.

  “What is it Doc?”

  “I hate this. I hate suspecting that any of the people I’ve worked with could be capable of all of this.”

  “I know, sweetheart. We need to lock this down, so we can put it behind us,” I tell her squeezing her hand. “Now go through the last one.”

  “Alex…”

  “Yeah, the floor nurse on the cardiac unit.”