The Biker's Fate Chapter 258

Hatch

SATURDAY MORNING, I was at the shop catching up on a few things when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I saw "private number" on the screen and ignored the call, but it buzzed again, so I picked it up. "Hatch here."

"Hey, man, it's Jaxon Quinn."

"Hey."

"We pulled a print off the car that didn't belong to Maisie or her daughter," he said. "Nothing hit in the criminal database, so I had a hunch to check places like volunteer databases."

"And?"

"And, we got a hit."

"Yeah? Who does it belong to?"

"Alison Lundy."

"That's Maisie's best friend. She's cool."

"The print was on the inside of the tire and a partial on the brake line at the cut. Also found a palm print on the steering wheel, which I have a feeling will match hers. She removed the airbag completely."

"Are you sure? What about that Jeremy asshole?"

"Jeremy Marville's got an airtight alibi and he's totally in love with Maisie, Hatch, and not in a weird way. He genuinely respects her. Record's clean. Not a pushover. Ex-wife's a psychopath and he's protectin' his kids. Good guy."

"Shit," I breathed out. Ice infused my veins. This fuckin' crazy bitch could have killed Maisie and Poppy. Could have taken them away from me. I dragged a hand down my face. "How the hell would Alison know how to do that?"

"The internet's flooded with how-to videos on this kind of thing. It wouldn't be hard. She's also got a computer science degree, so she has knowledge around coding."

"You think she hacked into the car's computer?"

"Not sure yet. She physically removed the airbags, so she might have done both."

"Damn it. How do you have her prints?"

"She signed up to be a volunteer at her kids' schools."

"Makes sense. Maisie probably did too." I rubbed my forehead. "You can't get to Alison right now. She had a breakdown yesterday, so her husband put her on psychiatric lockdown."

"We know Ryan Lundy. He's a good cop."

"Have to take your word on that," I said. "I don't know what the fuck this is gonna do to Maisie."

"We're gathering evidence, Hatch, but this is a pretty clear case of attempted murder, we just gotta figure out if she was in her right mind when she did it."

"Right. Thanks, man."

I hung up and took a deep breath, then dialed Knight. "Hey, man."

"Hey. You talk to your brother?"

"Yeah."

I filled Knight in on what he didn't know, and we made a game plan going forward of who would watch Poppy, who would watch Maisie when I wasn't around (which would be never), and who would watch Alison. No one was to lose sight of the psychopath. She was to be monitored at all times. I hung up with Knight and called Maisie.

"Hey," she said, on the first ring.

"Hey, Sunshine. You cool if I come over in a bit?"

"Of course. Everything okay?" she asked.

"Gotta talk to you about something."

"Okay. I'll let the lobby know."

"See you soon."

She hung up and I locked up the shop, holstered my gun, and jumped on my bike.

Maisie

I was trying not to panic. Hard to do when I had no idea why Hatch suddenly needed to come over. I was enjoying a blissful day alone today since Cricket had taken Poppy out to Kim's place to ride. They wouldn't be home for a few more hours, so even though I had to eat with one hand and couldn't really do much, it was quiet and I had no one to answer to. I hadn't had that in a while. A drunk and unstable Alison I could handle… Hatch maybe wanting to break up with me… not so much.

My doorbell rang and I checked the peephole, then pulled the door open and stepped back to let Hatch in. "Hey."

He leaned down and kissed me gently. Well, this was a good start. At least he wasn't dumping me… well, I hoped he wasn't. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Let's get you somewhere comfortable." He wrapped an arm around me and led me into the family room. "I have to tell you somethin' and I think it's gonna fuckin' kill you."

I frowned. "Are you serious right now, or are you taking the Mickey?"

"Takin' the Mickey?"

"Joking around," I explained.

"Not jokin'." He sat in Niall's chair and pulled me gently onto his lap.

My side hit something hard and I leaned away from him. "What's that?" I gasped. "Are you carrying a gun?"

"I usually do, Maisie."

I tried to scramble off his lap, but he held me still. "Why do you have a gun?"

"I've always had a gun, Sunshine, I've just been leavin' it in my truck so Poppy doesn't freak out. But I think it's time to have a conversation with her, because I'm not good with doin' that anymore."

"Hatch, you're scaring me," I rasped.

"I know. I'm sorry. Just got a call from the forensics guy lookin' over the car. He found something."

"Okay," I said, slowly.

He dragged his hand through his hair. "Shit!"

"Just tell me, Hatch."

"It's Alison."

"What's Alison?"

"The person the FBI believes cut your brake line and removed your airbags."

It took a minute, but I snorted as I burst out laughing. "Alison would never do this."

"I'm just tellin' you what they found."

"Well, they're wrong." I shook my head. "There's got to be some other kind of explanation."

My phone rang on the coffee table and Hatch kept hold of me as he reached for it and handed it to me. "Hey, Ryan."

"Hey, Maisie. I'm at the hospital. Alison wants to see you. We're discussing options, trying to sort out if the hold is necessary, but she'd really like to see you if you can come by."

"Of course I can. Twenty minutes okay?"

"Sure. See you then."

I hung up. "Alison's—"

"I heard."

"Now we can find out once and for all," I said.

"I really want Jax to be wrong, baby."

"He is," I assured Hatch as I climbed off his lap, and headed to brush my teeth. "Can you just let your sister know what we're doing? I don't want to worry Poppy."

"Sure," he said.

Once I freshened up, Hatch drove me to the hospital. We made our way to the mental health ward and Hatch stayed in the hallway while I walked into Alison's room. "Hey honey."

She gave me a sad smile as I approached. She was in a hospital gown, but she looked as though she'd just come from the spa. Her hair was perfectly styled, her make-up freshly applied, and she didn't have restraints on. All-in-all, she looked perfectly normal. Maybe the doctors felt she didn't require the seventy-two-hour hold.

"We really need to stop meeting this way," I said as I hugged her.

"I know, right?"

"Are you okay?"

Tears slid down her face. "No. I don't think I am, Maisie. My brain is all jumbled again."

"I'm sorry, love."

She grabbed for my hand. "I'm doing bad things."

"Are you?"

She nodded.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Bad bad things," she whispered. "You know, you've lost your English accent."

Whoa, where did that come from?

"What, love?"

"Niall never lost his Scottish one," she continued.

"You don't think?"

Alison shook her head. "And he always wore my favorite shirt."

"I'm sorry?"

"The blue one with the paisley collar."

God, I hated that shirt. He wore it the sum-total of twice. Once out to a double date with Ryan and Alison and once to their house, but only because it was ugly shirt night and that was the ugliest shirt he owned. It was put in the donate bin after that.

She sighed. "He wore it just for me. I know he did."

"I don't understand Alison."

"You had to have it all," she whispered. "Why didn't you just die?"

"The police said they found your fingerprints, Alison." My heart raced; fear flooding me that Jaxon might be right.