The Life of Nikki Winston

Telling Chibs; Ima is a Problem

"How did Otto take it?" I heard Chibs ask as soon as I stepped into the hospital room.

"Same way any of us would." Jax answered him.

"Do we know who?"

"Not yet. Georgie and his crew left for Thailand this morning."

"It's a buying trip. Fleeing the scene." Kip put in.

"That's where my money lands." Jax agreed.

"Luann is not your fault," Chibs tried to comfort Jax. "Take a lap, kid." I waited until Kip had left the room to move around the bed and take a seat at Chibs' side, opposite Jax. "Fiona was here."

"When?"

"Yesterday. Apparently, my kid got wind of the 'accident'. Fi came to make sure I was okay."

"Jimmy O with her?"

"I didn't see him, but he'd never let her travel on her own, so he must be here."

"When we were inside, Stahl had photos of Zobelle with Cameron trying to get us to sell out the IRA."

"Cameron's selling to Zobelle?"

"Confirmed it yesterday. We lost the Irish pipeline."

"Jimmy'll be going mad." Chibs groaned.

"Hey, it wasn't our choice man."

"It doesn't matter. He'll still find a way of blaming me." With a glance up, I saw the doctor coming to open the door and tapped Chibs twice on his hand to let him know we had unprivileged company. "Hey, doc."

"Just checking up, Mr. Telford. Mr. Teller, I passed by Chief Unser on my way, he'd like to speak to you apparently."

"Okay. Thanks doc. We'll handle it. You just get better." Jax said, turning his attention to Chibs again. With a smile and a quick kiss to Chibs' cheek, I stood and followed after Jax. As soon as we met up with Unser, he pulled Jax to the side and started talking. Not one to be left out of the loop, I walked behind them.

"Ran a sting this morning, prostitution. Logger Point Motel."

"Hookers in Charming?"

"Yeah, hookers and movie stars. Two of them were your Caracara girls. Want to talk to their boss."

"Perfect." Jax stepped into the Chapel, leaving Unser and me to follow him inside and find Gemma. "Hey. You okay?"

Gemma stood from where she was kneeling in front of a portrait of Jesus and cleared her throat. "Yeah. Anything on Luann?"

"Uh, crime scene is clean. Right now, we got nothing. Gemma, Nikki, can you give me a few minutes?"

"Yeah." She answered for us.

"You need anything?" Jax asked of his mother.

"Oh, honey, I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Alright. Nikki, I'll wait for you outside." Jax said to me.

"Sure. Here," I tossed him the keys to my truck, "Start it up for me, will you? I should only be a minute or two." With a smile, a true smile instead of a smirk, Jax caught the keys and walked out.

"Catch up with you at the station." Unser spoke to Jax before sitting down. "Wanted to make sure this Luann thing doesn't get you overreacting."

"You think it was Zobelle?" She asked.

"Do you?" Unser shot back.

"No. Zobelle didn't kill us; he's not gonna risk murder on someone like Luann. Doesn't cut deep enough."