When he did, Joker noted the uniform was a good cop. He knew this with the way the man carefully peeled back the cover over Heidi. She was a dead woman in an alley who deserved respect. She wasn’t just a body on display, and he treated her that way.
Joker looked at her and froze solid.
This was not because he saw a lifeless Heidi.
It was because the word Chaos had been carved into her forehead.
“Ugly,” Tack said quietly beside him. “But, Joke, there’s more and it ain’t good either.”
“Show me,” Joker grunted.
The uniform looked to Hank and must have gotten the go-ahead because he pulled the cover further.
Her shirt was up.
And in her stomach, the word Joker was carved.
“Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,” Joker clipped out.
The uniform dropped the cover.
“Tack says you boys knew her,” Hank noted, and Joker looked to him.
“Valenzuela’s stable, sent to work our patch,” Joker told him what he knew Tack would have already told him.
“She special to you?” Hank asked.
“We had a relationship,” Joker shared.
“You wanna share that with me?” Hank pushed.
“She got cash for info on Valenzuela,” Tack told him. “Gave you that already, Nightingale.”
“Tryin’ to understand why Valenzuela, if he did that shit, would carve one of your boy’s names in her stomach,” Hank returned.
“Like I told you already, she snitched and her handler was Joker,” Tack replied.
“And she was pregnant,” Joker put in, and Hank looked to him.
“It yours?”
“Nope,” Joker said. “Never touched her.”
“Valenzuela think differently?” Hank went on.
“Obviously,” Joker bit out.
“Could be a different message, brother. Just sayin’ he knew she was yours,” Tack told him.
“Could be, but it doesn’t fuckin’ matter what that asshole’s message is, except the fact a woman and her baby are dead to give it,” Joker returned.
“Calm, Joke,” Tack warned, reading him easily.
“I’m calm,” he clipped, but he was not.
He still expended the effort to find it. He couldn’t grab hold, but he got enough of the edge not to lose his mind, turn on his boot, and find someone to hurt.
“Tack says she left Valenzuela’s stable ’cause she was pregnant, that right?” Hank asked.
Joker nodded and added, “She was gone, Hank. Be surprised she was still in town. Valenzuela did this, no doubt, but he tracked her down to do it.”
“Before this happened, Lee told me you were lookin’ for her because she shared she was up for findin’ a home for her baby,” Hank continued.
That was a nice way to put it.
“Yeah,” Joker confirmed.
Hank got close so Tack got close.
But Joker didn’t take his eyes from Hank.
“Pretty clear this isn’t Chaos, but it’s also clear shit that’s sticky just got stickier. I am not in the know with what you’re doin’ with Mitch and Slim. I don’t wanna be in the know. What I do know is you got two of my brothers in the know. They got blue blood. And they gotta keep their team clean. So I’ll need alibis for all of Chaos, and I don’t give a fuck that gets your backs up. You do what you gotta do to keep that team clean.”
“You’ll have them,” Tack said.
Hank turned to Joker. “Please God, tell me you got an alibi.”
“With my woman all night.”
Hank sighed as he nodded.
“Why you prayin’ to God?” Tack asked, and Hank looked to him.
“Because Joke is a focus, and Valenzuela’s focus is not good to have. Might just be that woman,” he tipped his head to the street where Heidi was. “Might be a specific vendetta. Valenzuela plays any angle, and Chaos is known for a weapon of choice. Those bein’ knives.”
“Not gonna carve my own name and my Club in a dead woman’s body,” Joker ground out.
“No, you wouldn’t,” Hank said. “But past history, when Chaos was a different club, members had a way with knives and were so up their own asses, they didn’t mind markin’ their territory.”
This was history not shared while he was a recruit, and Joker looked to Tack.
Tack looked pissed.
“That isn’t past history, Hank, it’s ancient history,” Tack stated. “Only one fuck did that, and his back is blacked for puttin’ Chaos out there with shit like that, not to mention seein’ as he’s doin’ time until he dies for havin’ his head up his ass. He carved Chaos, but when the Club was fucked, he was more fucked, and even the brothers who wanted to walk that dark path we were on before I pulled the Club out were all over strippin’ his patch.”
“Regardless if you wanna claim it, it’s still Chaos. Shit like that makes legend, and legend never dies,” Hank returned.
“So you think Valenzuela is settin’ up the Club?” Tack asked.
“I think it’s lost on nobody you’re cleaning a new patch, and that nobody includes Valenzuela,” Hank said by way of answer. “Now, you already know to watch your back, so I won’t repeat it.” He looked to Joker. “Don’t know if you were tight with her, but sorry for your loss.”
He wasn’t tight with her, but he didn’t want her and her kid dead.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
There was hand shaking, and Tack and Joker walked back to the tape. When they did, Joker saw Lee had broken off and was standing with Luke and another member of his team, Hector Chavez.
They got looks and nods and ducked under the tape to go to their own crew, which had grown to include every member of Chaos, excluding those on patrol, but including Big Petey.
They barely stopped before Hawk declared, “Know you’re not gonna like it, but I think you need to pull back from claimin’ more territory.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Tack replied.
“A woman’s dead,” Hawk returned.
“Chaos didn’t kill her,” Tack bit back.
“Your advance was too aggressive,” Hawk retorted.
“It’s done and it’s not gonna get undone,” Tack stated. “We took our turf, we hold steady.”
“Then what?” Hawk asked. “His return play was that,” and he pointed to the tape, indicating Heidi.
“Right,” Brock Lucas put in, eyes to Hawk. “You and Tack could argue about the color of the sky.”