Dion

Amelia took a good hour to clean herself and the dogs. In the meantime, I helped my guys dispose of the four Italian bodies we'd recently acquired. I had a contact up in California who dealt in 'unwanted' vehicles and let him know I had a high-end SUV needing a new home. He was already on his way down.

We had a stash of fifty-five gallon drums that we used for incidents like this. Some acid, a few days, and we had a nice mush to drain away either into a river, down a mountain, or into a deep hole.

By the time the bodies were neatly packed into the metal drums, Amelia was out on the porch, waiting for me.

"I'll be two minutes," I said, wiping my hands on my pants. "Just need to get changed."

She smiled at me and sat down on the top step, the dogs lounging either side of her.

After a quick change of clothes, I dashed back down the stairs and grabbed the van keys. I joined Amelia on the porch and said, "Ready?"

She grinned at me. "Are we going on the bike?"

I narrowed my eyes at her with a quirky smile. "I was going to take the van but if you want to go on the bike, it's not a problem."

"Please," she said, standing up. "It's so liberating. And I'm not going to be able to go on it soon when I'm the size of a whale."

I laughed and nipped back in the house to swap keys and grab our neck tubes and sunglasses. I came back out and handed her her gear.

As she pulled the neck tube on, she said, "I feel like we should be on that programme, What The Killer Did Next. Going for a bike ride after murdering four people, that's not quite right, is it?"

Chuckling, I replied, "It's all about perspectives, sweetheart. If you feel you should be doing something else right now, then by all means, go on and do it. On the other hand, if this feels natural, then so what? Who's going to judge you?"

"Are you not slightly concerned that I trained my dogs to rip out someone's throat?"

"No," I said, holding my hand out to her. "Because it means if I'm not around, I know you're going to be safe." I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. "By the way, why did you give the order in German?"

She put the dogs back in the house, ordering them to 'guard' whilst we were gone. "I spent a lot of time thinking about the basic commands I would be giving them and the words to use. If I used something simple, and English, such as 'kill', they'd be going for people all the time with the amount that word was spoken. I figured for such a lethal command, it needed to be something that would likely never be said unless it was absolutely necessary."

"You're a clever lady," I said, secretly marvelling at her tactics. We wandered over to the bike, hand in hand, under the desert sun. "And slightly scary."

She grinned as I mounted my bike. "Only slightly? I'll have to work on that."

"You really don't need to."

Giggling, she climbed on behind me and hugged me tight as we headed off to find the secrets of her mom.

***

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the car park of Yuma PD. A few cars were dotted about, including a couple of PD cruisers and the Sheriff's shiny red Plymouth.

Amelia hopped off the bike and looked around at the brand-new building. "This is bigger than I expected."

"It's new," I replied. "Only a couple of years old. The original police building wasn't big enough anymore to deal with the amount of staff and sometimes the people held in custody. It only had four cells. The population has trebled since those days, meaning the trouble has as well."

She nodded and smiled. "Come on then, lead the way."

I grasped her hand and led her inside the air-conditioned building. Sally, the long serving receptionist, gave me a friendly wave and smile. "He's in his office, Dion," she said.

The familiar sound of the buzzer filled the air as she released the door lock on the heavy door next to her desk. I thanked her and led Amelia through the wide white walled corridor to Tottie's office.

Women around town referred to Sheriff Wilmott as 'hot tottie' because he was apparently their answer to George Clooney wrapped up in uniform. I failed to see Tottie as attractive but the women I'd spoken to all assured me he was very desirable.

I knocked on his wooden door and waited for his gruff voice.

"Come in," he said.

Opening the door, I entered the familiar room. A wall length window faced me, giving me open views of the bustling town outside. A potted yucca plant stood in the far-right corner. Various framed certificates and newspaper clippings scattered the walls. Tottie sat in his bright red leather chair behind his oak desk.

"Dion," he said, stroking his salt and pepper goatee. "This is a surprise. And who is your lovely friend?"

"Amelia," I replied, purposefully leaving out her second name. "She's been staying with me for a few days."

He flickered his green eyes over to Amelia and gave her a broad smile. "Nice to meet you, honey. I hope Dion is treating you well?"

"Very well, thank you."

"Take a seat," he said, motioning his shovel sized hands towards the two empty seats in front of his desk. "How can I help?"

Amelia let go of my hand and sat in one of the chairs as I closed the door behind me. It had been a few months since I'd last seen Tottie and the hair on his head seemed to be thinning and gaining more grey. It looked a lot more salt than pepper. I decided to keep my observations to myself.

"Amelia has some information that you may be able to help her locate her mother."

He frowned and clasped his hands together in front of him. "And what makes you think that?"

"I was given your name six years ago by a reliable source," she said.

"Six years ago?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's taken you so long to find me?"

"I've been...otherwise engaged until the past few days."

He narrowed his eyes, scrutinising her intently. "Where have you come from? If you don't mind me asking."

She glanced at me. I cleared my throat and answered for her. "Does that matter?"

Tottie pursed his lips and locked eyes with me. "I'm getting the feeling this is going to be something I don't like, Dion. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Well, that depends on your perspective," Amelia said, grinning at me.

I stifled my laughter. Tottie gave her nothing but a poker face. "What's your mother's name?"

"Marie Coombs."

The Sheriff leaned back in his chair and stared at us both for a good minute or more. "That would make you Giovanni Santini's wife."

Amelia gasped. "How do you...how do you know that?"

"I know he came for you, your sister, and your father. I have my sources. They informed me one of the sisters died a couple of years back and the remaining one had married him."

"If you knew where we were then why the hell didn't you come and help us?" Amelia yelled, her face turning bright red. "You knew he kidnapped us, and you did nothing! You do realise that makes you as guilty of my sister's murder as him."

"Keep your voice down," he snapped, leaning forwards. "My hands were tied. I can't mobilise men to go on a rescue mission that I heard whispers of from an underground source. If Santini had gotten wind of where the order came from, and believe me, he would have done, it would have jeopardised your mother's safety. I'm sorry for your sister, and your father, but I had a duty to protect my witness."

Tears glazed over Amelia's eyes. "You asshole. You could have done something. Something. Do you have any idea what we lived through? Do you?"

I slid out of my chair and knelt down in front of Amelia. Taking her hands, I rubbed my thumb over the back of them in a soothing rhythm. "Calm down, sweetheart. This isn't about blaming someone for what's been and gone. This is about the future and finding your mom."

"But he knew," she said, her voice weak and pleading. "He knew we were there, and he left us to suffer. Emily would probably still be alive if he'd sent some help."

"Sweetheart, he can't justify setting another state's police force onto the doorstep of one of the most powerful organised criminals in the country without good reason. Santini had his fingers in everywhere. He would have found out where the request came from. You may not like it but he's right—he had to protect your mom."

She looked at me and slowly nodded, a few tears slipping free from her brilliant blue eyes.

"Can you help us or not?" I said, wanting to get Amelia out of there ASAP. I was suddenly glad we came on the bike and not in the van. Coming in the van would have meant the dogs being there, and well, given recent events, I didn't want to give Amelia the temptation.

Tottie let out a long sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face. "If I tell you, and anyone questions it, your mom recognised you herself, ok? It did not come from me."

Amelia nodded but kept her focus on the floor.

"I understand," I said.

"And don't hate me either. I had to do what I had to do."

I gave him a questioning look. "What the hell does that mean?"

"She's in your MC, Dion."