Page 37 of Brage & Dinah

Rune slapped Brage's arm. "Want to ride?"

"Can't." He lifted his chin in Dinah's direction for his excuse not to hit the street. "Where's Elling?"

"Inside."

He walked toward the clubhouse, leaving Dinah to talk with the ladies. Even if she tried to convince them to open the gate for her, the prospects wouldn't allow her out.

What he needed to do would be better done without her around. Going by the text he'd received an hour ago from Roar, Elling had made headway in the background check on Dinah.

Finding Roar, Elling, Marcus, and Joel waiting for him, he headed inside and walked to the back of the room, going down the hallway to the meeting room. Once inside the room, he sent a text to Glenn asking him to watch Dinah for him.

Once he got an affirmative reply, he sat at the table with the others. "News?"

"More than I expected to find." Elling slid a file across the table. "Do you want to read it yourself or hear it?"

"Go ahead." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.

He anticipated hearing about the usual things a single woman would acquire. A mediocre credit rating, last known address, maybe a divorce in her past. If Elling worked the channels Slag MC had set up for such a purpose as investigating their enemies, he could find a person's relatives, VIN numbers, and well-buried secrets.

They used the information to harass individuals and put punishment on those closest to their enemies. He hoped to find out about the man he found her hugging wearing Moroad colors.

"Luckily, Roar had Dinah's social security number because of her working at The Fire Ring." Elling leaned forward and braced his elbows on the table. "Except, I noticed a discrepancy which is what took me a few extra days to research. The information I got through the social security office doesn't match her birth certificate. But, before I get to that, we'll start with the basics."

Elling looked at Brage to go on, and when he received permission, he said, "She told you she was twenty-six years old and through Social Security, it says that she's twenty-four years old."

"It could be a typo and something she never thought was important to fix," said Roar.

Elling shrugged. "I thought of that. Plus, she could've lied about her age. Dinah wouldn't be the first woman to do that when hooking up with a man. Though they usually claim to be younger, not older."

"The next thing that stuck out to me is her birth certificate, it lists Brad Reed as her father and a woman named...get this, Jane Doe as her mother." Elling's gaze intensified. "Born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, which is about forty-five minutes west of Federal."

"Okay," he muttered, following along.

Elling's gaze widened. "That's where things got interesting."

"How so?"

"Brad Reed is a member of Moroad Motorcycle Club, along with his younger brother, Tony." Elling inhaled deeply. "Brad is forty years old. Tony is thirty-nine years old. If we go off Dinah being twenty-six years old, that would've made her father fourteen when she was born. Even putting her at twenty-four years old, that would make Brad Reed a sixteen-year-old dad. What are the odds that a sixteen-year-old boy impregnated a girl named Jane Doe and he raised his baby while being a juvenile?"

Brage scratched his jaw through his beard. Hell, he'd had sex for the first time at fourteen years old. It was possible.

"All leads on Dinah ended there, so I followed the trail on Brad." Elling paused. "Brad was in a detention hall from age thirteen to seventeen for armed burglary. It seems he tried to hit up a gas station and the gun went off. Two months before his eighteenth birthday, he was placed back at home. Tony has a similar juvenile path and went to prison at eighteen years old for two years. When he got out, he joined Moroad like his older brother."

"Brad isn't her father." He stared at the table following the timeline. "What about this Jane Doe?"

"Dead end. Far as I can see, she doesn't exist. I believe somehow, Brad Reed was able to get someone within records to accept the phony name."

"Who is Dinah Reed?" he asked. "What aren't you saying?"

"Brage..." Elling shook his head. "Everything is pointing toward her birth certificate, and social security number is a fake. The only one who is going to know the real facts is Dinah."

"That's not what I wanted to hear," he muttered.

"We all wanted answers." Roar sat on the edge of the table. "One thing we do know is the names of the men she's involved with in Moroad. We make her pay and send her back as a message not to fuck with us."

"Hell..." He stood up.

He wasn't into hurting females. None of them were. In all the years, he couldn't remember one girl that'd been hurt as payback.