Confessions Of An Old Lady Page 10

  Once all of the dishes were on the table, Leroy called for everyone to gather around. “Who wants to say grace?” he asked. No one answered. “Spider…as the newest member, you will say the blessing for this delicious meal that my beautiful wife has prepared for us all.”

  Spider looked uncomfortable, but he bowed his head anyway. Everyone, including me, followed suit.

  “Dear Lord,” Spider began. “Thank you for this lovely meal and thank you for everything you give us. Look over us and protect us. Amen. Oh, and thank you for our newest member of the family…Trish.”

  “Amen,” everyone repeated. It was so strange standing there watching all of these big tough bikers and their strong-willed wives bowing their heads in prayer.

  “Sit down! Dig in!” Leroy said enthusiastically

  We all did as commanded and I sat between Sonny and Amanda. Melanie was standing up, carving the turkey. We all started scooping out the delicious side dishes of green beans, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese, onto our plates. The food was delicious. It was cooking like I hadn’t had since the last time I visited home, which was for Christmas almost a year ago.

  I know you hear people say that things seem to happen in slow motion, and I’ve never really understood it until that very moment. The first thing I noticed was the sound…it was like a loud “pop, pop, pop” combined with the sound of shattering glass. Melanie stood there in shock for a split second before she dropped down to the floor to take cover.

  “Get down!” Sonny shouted, grabbing my arm and pulling me down from the chair onto the ground. My agent instincts kicked in and I went to grab the gun on my hip that didn’t exist. Instead, I covered my head with my hands and crouched down low. Suddenly, Sonny jumped up and ran from the dining room table to the kitchen. He opened a drawer, retrieved a pistol, and aimed it in the direction of the living room windows, from where the gunshots were coming.

  The women started screaming and the men were all scrambling to grab their guns, which I hadn’t even noticed they had on them until now. All of the men, including Spider, took up defensive positions with their guns drawn and held out in front of them. They started to return fire, which I would have done instinctually if I had a gun. The windows in the living room were completely blown out at this point and there was shattered fragments of glass all over the living room floor. There were little tufts of cotton floating in the air where bullets had pierced the sofa cushions and pillows.

  Just as quickly as it had started, the gunfire ceased. What seemed like an eternity had actually only lasted about fifteen seconds. There was a moment of eerie silence before anyone said anything.

  Sonny was the first one to speak and take control of the situation. “Is everybody okay?” Slowly, everyone started responding, but I couldn’t identify any of the voices. “Melanie?” Sonny walked slowly over to where Melanie had slumped down to the floor. “Oh, God! Melanie!”

  Leroy jumped up from his position in the corner of the living room and ran over to Sonny and Melanie. “Baby! Oh, baby! Is she okay?”

  I peered out from under the table where Melanie was lying only a few feet away from me. I could now see that she wasn’t hiding from the spray of gunfire as I’d first assumed. She was lying in a pool of her own blood. A dark red puddle circled her head. Her blonde hair was matted with blood and her eyes were open and staring blankly at the ceiling.

  Leroy knelt down next to Melanie and pulled her halfway up from the ground until he was cradling her in his arms, rocking back and forth. “No, baby, no,” he kept repeating.

  I noticed that no one was rushing to pull out their phones, which, after reaching for my non-existent gun, was my second instinct. “Shouldn’t we call 911?” I asked. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, and when I saw the looks on everyone’s faces, I wanted to take them back.

  Amanda whispered the response that everyone was thinking. “We don’t call the cops. We take care of everything on our own.”

  “Yeah…but Melanie…” I started.

  “Melanie’s beyond help.” Amanda answered me.

  I looked back over at Melanie’s limp body being cradled by big, bad Leroy, who in this moment did not look so big and bad. He looked more like a child than the burly, dangerous gangster I knew him to be. He continued to rock Melanie back and forth, saying, “no, baby, no.”

  Sonny stood up from where he had been kneeling next to his dad. He now had blood all over his jeans and shirt. “Trish, come here. Help Dad.”

  I jumped up and ran over to where Leroy was kneeling. I looked up at Sonny. “What are you going to do?” I could tell he was thinking about doing something and it scared me.

  “Nothing. Just going to go handle this shit,” he said, tucking his pistol behind him into the waistline of his jeans.

  “Sonny, where are you going?” I asked, only louder this time. I stood back up to face him.

  He pulled me by the arm and spoke very low and angry. “I’ve got to go get the bastards that shot up my house and killed Melanie.”

  “But how do you even know who did this? It just happened!”

  “Trust me, we all know who did this,” he said cryptically.

  “No, Sonny. I don’t know anything. You keep me in the dark, remember…for my protection? So, no, I have no idea who did this or why!” I took a chance, not knowing exactly how he was going to react to my tone. As I stood there waiting for his response, I could still hear Leroy, and now the other women, crying over Melanie’s body.

  Either because he was so worked up over what had just happened or because I was super convincing with my acting, he finally confided in me. “It’s a rival crew…out of Garrard County…the Monsters of Mayhem. We’ve been competing with them in some business deals for years. Recently, we took over a major shipment that was meant for them. This is payback for that…I just know it in my bones.”

  “What kind of shipment, Sonny?” I stood my ground, demanding answers for once.

  He looked around, probably out of habit, for anyone who might be listening. When he remembered that he was in his own home, surrounded by his people, he leaned in closer to me and said, “Cocaine.”

  Just like that, I had my first admission from Sonny Jackson that he and the Lords of Chaos were trafficking in cocaine, probably among many other things. I pretended to be shocked.

  “Cocaine?” I batted my eyelashes and pretended to be dumbfounded.

  “Yes, Trish. Cocaine. What did you think it was? Motorcycle parts?”

  “Well, yeah. Since your family owns a motorcycle shop, actually, I did.”

  “I know that it was the Garrard County club that killed Melanie, so I’m going to their place and I’m going to kill every last one of those motherfuckers myself.”

  “No, Sonny. You can’t do that!” I shouted, drawing the attention of the others in the room.

  “Like hell I can’t.”

  “No…listen to me. Think about it for a second. If you go in there half-cocked and looking for a fight, all you’ll do is get yourself killed. You’ve got to be smart about it.”

  “She’s right,” Leroy said between sniffles, apparently overhearing our conversation. “We’ve got to be smart about this, son.”

  He paced back and forth for a moment. “Yeah, well, what do you all suggest, then?”

  I thought about it. So did Leroy. Neither of us answered him right away.

  “I don’t know,” I answered finally. “We’ll think of something. But promise me you won’t go after them until we come up with something. Promise me you won’t get yourself killed. I love you, Sonny. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You love me?” All of a sudden his face softened. I had chosen the perfect time to tell him that I loved him. Of course Olivia Rockford didn’t really feel that way…right? But Trish Sanders had just been brought into Sonny Jackson’s circle of confidence, so this is what needed to be said to seal the deal.

  “Yes. But right now, I need you to promise me that you will think this thr
ough before you go after them. Let’s come up with a plan first.”

  He nodded his head and then looked over at his dad. Tears began to fill his eyes. “But we will get these motherfuckers, Dad. I promise.”

  “I know, son,” Leroy said, gently laying Melanie’s body back down on the ground. “I know.”

  Chapter 16

  The visitation was held on a Wednesday at St. Luke’s Catholic Church, the same place we had all been having a good time at the Jessamine Jamboree just a couple of weeks prior. A bunch of people showed up from town, since Melanie worked at the local diner.

  The funeral was at Betts & West Funeral Home on Main Street. I wore a black skirt—the first skirt I had worn in years—a black lacy shirt, and strappy black heels I had trouble walking in. Sonny wore his nicest jeans and a black t-shirt since he, as well as most of the other members of the crew, would not dare put on a suit, even for a funeral.

  Friends and family filled the benches in the gallery of the funeral home and there were so many people who showed up that some people had to stand around the perimeter of the room. A lady from the Catholic church sang a song about a man who dreamt he went to heaven. It was gut-wrenching to watch Leroy break down, his shoulders moving up and down, his white-bearded face buried in his hands. A few members of her family gave eulogy, including her mother, which was painful to listen to. Finally, the priest from St. Luke’s closed the service with a prayer for Melanie’s soul, leaving not one dry eye in the place.

  Melanie was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in the center of town, with a beautiful grey marble headstone that read:

  “beloved daughter, sister, friend, wife.”

  Immediately after the burial, we all headed to Leroy’s house. Everyone gathered in the barn and drank toasts to Melanie. I saw Leroy and Sonny talking, heads turned toward each other, nodding, so I walked up next to Sonny. To my surprise, they didn’t stop talking this time when I approached them.

  “We’re going to get them, Pop,” Sonny said.

  “I know, son, but like your girl here said, we’ve got to think this through…come up with a plan.”

  I chimed in, “Plus, they’re probably expecting you to go chasing them down. You’d be walking into an ambush. No one would get out alive.”

  “Listen to your old lady, son. She’s right. She’s smart, this one.” He pointed at me with one finger, the others curled around a bottle of beer.

  Sonny put an arm around me and pulled me tight to him. “Yes, she sure is. What would you suggest, darlin’? How do we get back at them if we can’t get them on their own territory?”

  I thought for a minute. Little did either of them know that I had the benefit of DEA agent training on my side when it came to planning any kind of coordinated assault.

  “Pretend that you don’t suspect them. As hard as it would be, let some time go by. Then, invite their leader over for a sit-down. Say it’s to discuss your mutual interests in the importing business. That you want to work out some sort of deal where everyone gets their fair share. Then, when they least expect it, swoop down on them and take them all out at once.”

  Although I was ostensibly giving Sonny and his father a better alternative for exacting revenge, I was really setting up an opportunity for the DEA to swoop in and catch both rival gangs with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. I thought about how happy Kingston would be with me when he not only arrested two dozen hardened criminals, but also managed to get a cache of weapons and drugs off the streets. This was everything I had been working for. Wasn’t it?

  Sonny took a step backward and looked at me. “Damn, that’s a good plan. Where did you come up with that?”

  Uh, oh, I thought. Did I say too much? Was I giving myself away by knowing so much about these types of things? “Nowhere. It just seems like the best plan to catch them off-guard, make them feel comfortable and then turn on them.”

  “I’m scared of you,” Leroy said, laughing now.

  “You should be,” I said jokingly, but only I knew that I meant what I said. He should be scared of me, because nice as he seemed to be so far, one day soon I was going to bring his whole world crashing down on his head and he’d never know what hit him.

  ***

  I went home that night and immediately called Renley.

  “Renley. I think I’ve got something.”

  “Agent Rockford. Do you think you could ever call me during the day or, say, before midnight?”

  “Sorry. Bikers keep weird hours. But like I said, I think I’ve got something big. You’re going to want to hear this.”

  “Go ahead. What is it?” He sighed into the phone.

  “I’m sure you heard about Melanie Jackson, right? Well, Leroy and Sonny are planning some sort of revenge on the Monsters of Mayhem in Garrard County. That’s who they think killed Melanie.”

  “They’re right. We picked up some chatter down the pipeline. The Monsters are pretty much bragging about it, especially their leader, Eddy Walters. He coordinated the whole thing, apparently. Although Leroy was the real target.”

  I explained to Renley the plan that I had concocted to get revenge on the Monsters. I wasn’t sure they were going to take my advice, but I hadn’t heard of any other alternative plans.

  “We could get both the Lords and the Monsters at the same time, if they go through with this sit-down. They’d be like fish in a barrel!”

  “But we don’t have any evidence to go against them with yet. All you have is one statement by Sonny Jackson confirming they’re in the cocaine importing and distribution business. We need more than that. We need concrete evidence.”

  “I’ll get it. I promise. He’s confiding in me more and more every day. I’ll get whatever we need to bring them down.”

  “Keep up the good work, Rockford. Goodbye.”

  I clicked the end button on my phone and was instantly hit with a strange feeling. For the first time since this whole thing started, I realized I wasn’t as excited as I used to be about bringing down Sonny and his dad. These were bad men who did bad things and I should be chomping at the bit to take them down. Instead, I felt nervous for Sonny and somewhat guilty about setting him up. Why is that? I wondered. Am I starting to really care about his guy? I brushed the thought off immediately. It was impossible for me to develop feelings for a guy like Sonny…wasn’t it?

  ***

  The weeks following the funeral were miserable for everyone. Despite myself, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Leroy, who had lost his first wife to cancer and now his young bride, his second wife, had been gunned down in his own home while serving a wonderful meal for her unconventional family. Sonny wasn’t taking Melanie’s death very well, either. Even though Leroy and Melanie had only been married a few years and Melanie was the same age as Sonny, he had grown to care for her and was grieving for his poor father.

  I did my best to be supportive but stay behind the scenes. I had only been part of the group for a couple of months, so I didn’t want to get in the way. I’d already stepped out on a limb with my suggested plan for revenge.

  I hadn’t seen much of Sonny since the funeral. He and Leroy met behind closed doors with the other guys several times. I was not privy to the contents of those conversations, of course, and Sonny did not share any more information with me. But I knew they were planning something big. Retaliation against the Monsters. That was the thing about these crime families. It was always a never-ending circle of revenge for one wrong or another, committed against one crew by another crew. There would never be peace between these quarreling gangs.

  ***

  It was early on a Saturday morning when I got a frantic call from Sonny. Spider had been picked up by the police in Lexington the day before, carrying a significant amount of cocaine. He’d been delivering a supply to their “distributor” in Lexington when he was pulled over for a broken taillight, of all things.

  “That dumbass!” Sonny screamed into the phone. “Why would he be driving around with drugs in a car that
had a broken taillight?”

  “So is he in jail now?” I asked.

  “Hell yeah, he’s in jail. They immediately arrested him. He’s looking at hard time and he’s just a young kid.”

  “Don’t you guys have a lawyer you can call for him?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but no lawyer’s going to be able to get him out of this mess. I think he had a couple pounds on him.”

  “Oh, shit,” I said. I made a mental note to look into this at some point.

  “Wanna go for a ride?” Sonny asked. “I have to clear my head.”

  “Sure,” I told him. “Come on over.”

  He was there within half an hour to pick me up and we drove around town for a little while, stopping once for gas along the way. Then we left town and started driving south on Highway 27. At first, I thought we might be going to Herrington Lake, which was right inside Garrard County, but he rolled past the lake.

  “Where are we going?” I shouted to him, but my voice was drowned out by the sound of the motorcycle engine so he didn’t answer me.

  As soon as we began to approach downtown Lancaster, I knew immediately where we were going. Well, sort of. I knew he was going to the Monsters of Mayhem’s hangout, but I didn’t know where that was. He turned off of the main road and then turned right and pulled the Harley to a stop behind a tall building. He pulled off his helmet.

  “Sonny…what are we doing here?” I asked, with a hint of reprimand in my voice.

  “I wanted to see the bastards that killed Melanie. There they are. There’s their hangout in that building over there.” He pointed down the street to a large garage of some sort that looked like a vehicle repair shop. I could barely see a couple of figures milling around, working on cars, wiping their hands on bandanas. They were wearing cuts, so I knew they were part of a motorcycle gang.

  “That’s the one, right there.” He pointed, his finger shaking slightly.

  “Who is he?” I asked.