Drew growled in frustration, his head bobbing from side to side as he walked, like each side of the scales were tipping over every few seconds as his thoughts rattled around. “What’s fucking infuriating is that I know you’re right. The more men who know, the more chance we have of tipping Owen off that we know he’s not loyal to the patch.”
I knew they were both right. There was no way in hell that a lot of the men out there could hold themselves back when faced with the rat. Owen would walk in here like he always did, head high, looking down his nose at us all, and someone would snap. Probably me.
“Agreed.” I finally murmured, knowing there wasn’t much more I could do. “What about Helen? You think she knew?”
“Helen? Why would she know?” Drew asked, confusion creasing his brows.
I blinked and shifted. “If Jon Taylor had information on you and the club, my first thought is he heard it either from the rat himself, or someone the rat was working with. Eric said this was going on while you were still locked up, right?”
Eric glanced between the two of us, his body still as he assessed the situation and nodded. “Harry suspected eyes had been on the club for a long time.”
“It might be worth asking her if anything stood out. Helen may not know anything. I’m sure someone as corrupt and arrogant as Jon Taylor paraded people through that house without a consideration of what that would look like to his wife. I doubt he really cared what she thought, but if she can confirm this… if she can confirmwhoshe saw…” I trailed off. “We’d know for certain. No more guessing. We’d have all the proof we needed for you two to take it to the table.”
“She has a point,” Eric muttered, surprising me with his agreement.
“Fine. We’ll go to her.” Drew continued to walk back and forth, eyes fixed on the carpet beneath his feet. “I need Sutton here,” he said suddenly. “I want him involved.”
“Sutton?” Eric asked with an edge of surprise, but that man was well rehearsed in keeping his face straight.
Looking up, Drew stopped in his tracks. “You said yourself—he’s clean. He’d lay down his life for me. If we’re going to out this fucker, I want Sutton involved. I want someone from the law on our side. He’s our man.” He shook his head, his mouth parting to speak. “I can’t believe these words fall out of my own goddamn mouth these days.”
I nodded my agreement with Drew. Sutton had proven himself lately, taking risks to make sure Drew, me, and all of the guys were safe from the Mayor and the ATF agents sniffing around. I figured it probably went much deeper than that, but I only had the knowledge I’d been given to go on.
“I can call him in if you need me to. Probably look less conspicuous coming from me. I’ll mention Sloane. Anyone monitoring him shouldn’t question that too deeply, and if they do, he’ll be here. Hopefully out of their reach enough to keep them in the dark.”
“Do it,” Drew said softly.
I pulled out my phone and dialed his number. Howard answered on the second ring and immediately said he’d be right here. From the moment I hung up to the second he walked through the office door, it had only taken twenty-five minutes. I hoped this meant his new shadow hadn’t given himany problems. Not one of us had been able to sit still while we’d waited, and I had a beer waiting for him by the time he strolled in.
“Sloane?” he asked with no preamble.
“... Is absolutely fine,” I said, handing Sutton the beer and moving to perch on the edge of the desk. “It was the fastest way to get you here.”
“Sutton,” Drew said, making Howard turn on his feet quickly. Everyone knew that tone coming from Drew was never a good thing. It set everyone on edge. “You might want to take a drink of that beer.”
“Oh, hell. What’s going on?” Sutton asked, his face falling.
“Better yet, you might want to sit down,” Eric added.
Sutton eyed each of us, before Drew carefully moved closer, resting his hand on Sutton’s shoulder.
“We need to talk to you about something, chief, but first, I need you to be able to assure me that whatever’s said in this room stays between the four of us.”
Sutton frowned, the question on his loyalty clearly irritating the hell out of him before he looked up at Drew. “I ain’t never talked about anybody’s crap to other people, Tucker, and I ain’t about to start now. What’s going on?”
Drew looked up at me, looking like he needed me again.
I started us off, explaining about Dallas and Clint’s family—all of which was new to Eric, too. Drew and Eric took over on everything that had happened between then and when Sutton arrived, while I watched the color slowly drain from the chief’s face.
By the time they were through, Drew was agitated again and pacing another rut into the floor, Eric looked as thoughhe’d finally figured something out, and Sutton looked like someone had run over his puppy.
“Jesus Christ,” Sutton said, dropping onto the couch and draining half the beer in one mouthful. “What a fucking mess.”
That was an understatement.
“I’m taking Owen out, chief,” Drew said matter-of-factly.
Sutton dropped his face into the palm of his hand with a heavy slap. “The population of Babylon decreases with every new dawn that rises around here.”