Keys To My Cuffs (The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC Book 4) by Lani Lynn Vale

I’d missed, lately, they’d contributed to me ‘changing.’
    I had possibly changed, but I wouldn’t have missed that many important functions if I could’ve helped it. If anything, I would’ve attended just to avoid the questions that my lack of attendance would’ve caused.
    I ignored the worried stares that followed me out of the parking lot, only pausing long enough to wave before turning right on Vine Street and heading in the direction of Oak St.
    I had to clear my mind of all my problems and get my game face on. I’d nearly had them all locked inside the box I kept them in my head when I arrived, but as soon as I walked into the murder scene, every one of them popped back into the forefront of my mind again.
    “Fuck.” I said desolately.
    The scene in front of me was gruesome.
    Two victims. Both females. One was older, but the only reason I knew that was that the victim had graying hair. The other woman had black hair. They were both naked. Both shot in the forehead with what looked to be a .38. And both had defensive wounds.
    The first victim was on the couch, and the second on the floor near the front door.
    “32 year old female. Linda Coolridge . The older lady in the kitchen is her mother, Lucille Coolridge. 54.” The first responding officer said softly to my right.
    “That’s the woman that hires for V. S. Construction,” I said numbly.
    The same woman who’d been a small part of taking Varian Strong down, albeit unknowingly.
    She hadn’t realized, at the time, that she’d hired an undercover cop that was planning on taking down the business she worked for. She’d been sweet. Way too sweet to have what I’d suspected was done to her.
    I turned to find Tunnel Morrison, the newest member of The Dixie Wardens, standing to my right as he held a notebook open. His eyes moved up to my face, and he knew, without even saying anything else, that this particular case went from horrific to fucked up beyond belief.
    Tunnel was a fellow cop, as well. Although he wasn’t actually on the undercover case with me, he was aware of some of the details, as were most of the cops at the station. It was hard to keep something like that quiet after the arrests had been made. Especially a case that was influential in putting away the rapist that had been ravaging our small town.
    “You have a note.” He continued.
    “A note?” I asked sharply.
    He nodded solemnly. “It’s on the body of the secretary. Pinned to her chest with a knife.”
    I cleared my throat. “Have the techs swept this yet?”
    Tunnel shook his head. “No, sir.”
    “Alright, well get everyone out. Don’t let them come in. Keep everyone off the grass. Treat everything outside like the crime scene, too. You’re going to need to set up a police line as far back off the property as you can. Keep the press out of my hair, too. Nobody but you and the crime scene techs come in here, got it?” I ordered.
    He nodded and left to do my bidding while I walked to the body on the couch and read the note that was stabbed through the poor girl’s chest.
    ‘Two a day will die until you withdraw your statement and get the fuck out.’
    Mother. Fucker.

***
    By the time I pulled into my driveway that night, I was feeling anything but happy to be there.
    I was about to make the hardest decision of my life, but I could see no other way around it.
    After letting out Lucy, I shrugged into a black hoodie, black sweat pants, and a black skull cap that covered my blonde hair.
    Taking a deep breath, I snuck out my back door and scaled the fence in between Channing’s place and mine.
    I knocked on the back door, thankful to hear the reassuring beeps of the alarm being deactivated before she swung the door open.
    “Didn’t you think to ask who the fuck it was?” I barked.
    She slammed the door in my face.
    “I deserved that,” I muttered to myself before opening the door and closing it behind me.
    “What’s the arm code?” I asked.
    “Fuck you,” she