“Not a chance,” Master said. “I was careful. I spent all that time with Delia driving her back. I made her stay in the same motel room with me. You know I’m good at reading people. I slipped in questions, went at her various ways. No one is that good. She’s shaken up, but glad to get out of there alive.”
“She’s in the apartment over the bar?” Czar continued.
Master nodded. “You said to take her there, and that’s what I did. I told her to get settled, get some sleep and then, today or this evening, she could see Breezy. I figured we’d have the meeting, report and then Absinthe and Scarlet could run into her at the clubhouse while she’s waiting for Steele to bring Breezy. They could chat with her and make doubly certain I’m right, but it’s very clear to me that she cares for that girl and can’t wait to see her again.”
“It’s just a genuine coincidence that she was already retiring and selling her diner when the Swords came knocking on her door?” Ink asked.
“I believe so,” Master said. “The Ghosts were making their way toward Swords country, and the Swords were trying to track down Breezy. It sounded to me as if they were looking for her more to see whether she knew her old man, Bridges, and brother, Junk, had been killed than they thought she had anything to do with the massacre. It wasn’t like Bridges wanted anyone to know what he was doing. He might have been president of the chapter, but he was stealing from the club.”
“Code, what do you have on Delia Swanson?” Steele asked.
“She’s sixty-six. Worked since she was fourteen. Married once, widowed. Her husband, Braxton Swanson, died five years into their marriage, an accident at his work. They never had children, and she never remarried. She bought the diner with the insurance money and worked her ass off to make that grow into a thriving business. A few parking tickets over the years, but for the most part, she has nothing on her record. She’s clean, no affiliation whatsoever to any club.”
“How did the Swords track Breezy to New Mexico?” Savage asked.
They looked at one another. Player’s heart dropped. None of them had ever thought to ask that one simple question. How had Breezy’s father and brother found her in New Mexico? Code had looked for her, and he was the best at finding anyone. She’d gone completely off-grid. Ironically, it had been Steele who had taught her how. He hadn’t thought she would ever be impossible for him to find.
Code sighed and glanced at Steele, clearly knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer he’d come up with. “Breezy called one of the women in the Swords’ club—Jerri, it looks like—back about a month after you kicked her out. Her father lived with Jerri for a few months when Breezy was around twelve. Jerri was pretty entrenched in another chapter of the club and was the old lady of one of the men by that time and so fairly protected against Bridges. My guess, when Bridges came looking for information, Jerri volunteered it rather than take a chance that she would get in trouble with him or the club. She knew the call had come from New Mexico under Delia Swanson’s name. It wasn’t that difficult for Bridges to find the diner. I’m guessing he only told a few of his best friends, the ones he felt he could blackmail or bribe or he knew were completely loyal to him, what he was doing.”
Steele stood up, walked to the corner of the room and called his wife. It was necessary they verify everything. No one was going to take chances with Breezy’s life, least of all Steele. He stood for a moment after he ended the call, back to the wall, his arm across his chest, head down briefly before returning to his seat.
“Yeah, when she realized she was really pregnant, she felt it was only right to tell me. She suspected, but didn’t know for sure until after she was gone. She waited to take a test because she was trying to find a place to settle. When she knew, she wanted to get in touch with me, but I had blocked her. She called Jerri, knowing Jerri had a pulse on everyone in the club. She was told she wasn’t allowed anywhere near the Swords, that she’d been blacklisted from the club and that Jerri would get in trouble for even talking to her. I’d had Breezy banned.”
“Did she tell Jerri about the baby?” Czar persisted.
“No. Breezy apologized to Jerri, said she wasn’t aware she’d been banned and hung up. That was the end of the conversation. She said she forgot about even calling her. She was really upset that I’d made it so permanent that she couldn’t even reach out to me. When her father and brother showed up so much later, she didn’t even connect the two events. They came looking for Breezy, to bring her back. They didn’t know about the baby until they saw him and realized he was mine. That was when Bridges got the bright idea of making Breezy kill Czar and Jackson Deveau,” Steele said. “He wanted to punish her.”