Rand
I stepped up to the battered Bug and waited as the woman cranked the window down. She looked up at me hopefully.
"I'm Doug Meyer. You wanted to talk to me?" I asked as the window lowered.
The woman inside opened the door and stepped out. "Mr. Meyer, thank you for seeing me."
I had to work hard to not gawk at the angel before me. The woman was of average height, perhaps five-five or five-six, but that was the only thing average about her. Her light brown hair was worn in an easy-care style that framed her face and just managed to hide her ears, the short cut showing off the graceful curve of her neck. She had a fresh scrape on her cheekbone, along with matching ones on her elbow, and right knee and thigh, as if she'd take a hard fall, but the scratches in no way diminished her beauty. She had a pixie nose, huge brown eyes that sparkled in the late afternoon sun, more curves than the Green Hell, and when she smiled, she dimpled. No matter what the woman might want, Doug was going to be sorry he missed this, but it answered one question. She definitely didn't know Doug.
"What can I do for you?" I asked, preventing my smile from spreading too broadly.
"I have information you need to know."
"What information is that?"
"First I need something from you."
Here is comes...
"Oh? What's that?"
"My son was kidnapped a few days ago. I think he's here."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Ms...?"
"Ellerbe. Hanna Ellerbe," she said sticking out her hand.
I took her hand. "I'm sorry to hear that, Hanna, but what does that have to do with me?"
"Everything. If I give you this information, information you want and need, will you help me get my son back if he's here?"
I held her gaze for a moment. "What do you expect us to do?"
"Just help me find him. If I have proof he's here, then I can go to the police. That's all I want. Just help me find him."
"And if he's not here?"
Her face crumpled slightly. "Then what have you got to lose?" she asked softly. "You will have gotten the information and it cost you nothing."
I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck as I thought.
This is above my pay grade.
"Okay, I'm going to come clean with you. I'm not Doug."
Her face hardened. "You lied to me? Why? Who are you? Do you know Doug?"
"I'm Rand, Rand Tauper. I know Doug, but we don't know you. Why are you pretending to know Doug?"
"Because I'm desperate! Please, are you part of the motorcycle club here in Bayport?"
"I don't know of any club."
"Please, I'm begging you. Can you please get a message to Doug? The club really, really needs to know this."
"And if the club agrees to help you find your son, you'll tell them the news?"
"Yes! Everything I know! I promise!"
"And the news is related to the kidnapping of your son?"
"In a way. Once I explain it all, they'll see."
I rubbed my neck again. The woman seemed earnest, and yes, even slightly desperate, and I couldn't detect even a hint of a lie or a scam. I made a decision. "Follow me."
I led Hanna into Doonz, then to a back room that was normally closed off unless CJ needed the extra tables. It was the BRMC's room so long as Doonz wasn't using it.
"Doug, this is Hanna. She said she has information she thinks we need to hear and, in exchange, she wants help finding her son. Somehow they're related."
Doug looked at me a moment before motioning her to a chair. "Won't you have a seat? Want something to drink?"
"Just a pop, please, Sprite if they have it," she said as she sat down.
I watched as she glanced around the room, taking in the members. There were only a dozen of us here, a small unofficial gathering that had gotten together to remember Stu and to console each other over our loss. It had been a couple of days since I'd torn his bike down, we'd learned the truth about his crash, and the club was still smarting from our loss. If we ever found the person responsible, they were going to have a really bad day, but the seething anger we'd felt was beginning to fade.
I was closest to the sliding wall, so I stepped out of the room for her drink. I returned a moment later and placed the glass on the table in front of her. "Here you go."
"Thank you."
"Maybe you should start at the beginning," Doug suggested.
"If I tell you what I know, you'll help me?"
"I can't answer that until I hear the news."
She paused and her gaze flicked to each of us in turn, looking for help. She found none. "About three days ago, my son, Garrett, was kidnapped," she began.
As we listened, she laid it all out, starting with her having her husband arrested for beating the shit out of her, and going right up to me stepping up to her car.
"How sure are you about this information?" Doug asked. If the Orcas was moving in on our turf, we were going to have problems.
"Not very," she admitted. "I don't think Leeda would lie to me, but she could be wrong. I hope not, because if she is, I have no idea where Garrett is. What's here the Orcas would want?"
Doug glanced around the room. "Nothing."
"But you men are in a club, right?"
Doug nodded. "Yes. The Bayport Riders."
She held his gaze. "You don't have to tell me, but there's something, isn't there? Something the Orcas want."
Doug glanced at us. It was clear she wasn't stupid. "I don't know what it might be."
She glanced around, and I could tell she wasn't buy Doug's lie. "Will you help me? I've told you everything I know."
Doug thought about it a moment. "I can't promise anything. We'll help with your son if we can, but I'm not sending someone to jail for a kidnapping charge."
"I've asked for sole custody, and there's a restraining order against Carl. All I have to do is find him. If Garrett is with him, I can tell the police where they are. I just need help finding him. Please! I've told you everything!"
"We're going to need some kind of break. Bayport isn't Eugene, but we can't scour every place in town looking for Orcas," Chuck said. "How would we know unless we see the patch?"
Doug rapped a ditty the table with his fingers. "We're not going to solve this tonight," he said before he turned to Hanna. "Give us a day or so to get our act together. Do you have a place to stay?"
"No."
