Page 6 of May 11

"He will be." He stepped backward. "Nobody will bother you. I'll make sure of it."

She looked away. He studied her profile. It was hard to see every detail, but she had honey-colored hair that hung past her shoulders in waves. She had a pert nose and high cheekbones.

"Okay," she said.

"You'll follow us?" asked Dio.

She raised her gaze and looked behind Wire. "Just so I can get a few hours of sleep, and then I'll find somewhere to go tomorrow when it's daylight out."

Wire nodded. "Flash your lights when you're ready."

He walked away, leaving her to prepare the van. Jagger had only wanted him to talk and find out what she knew about tonight's shooting, not bring her back. But the woman was suspicious. She was probably scared. From what he could tell, she was young. Too young to be on the road by herself.

He couldn't leave her when she was frightened.

Tomorrow, he'd get the answers they needed.

Chapter Three

CORA ROLLED OVER IN bed and grabbed her phone. She groaned, sitting up. It was already noon.

A rumble vibrated her van. The noise from motorcycles arriving and leaving all night had eventually provided white noise for her to sleep, and she'd slept hard, barely aware of where she was—which had never happened in the last year.

Strange towns. A depressing task ahead of her. Missing a place that was no longer home to her had taken its toll.

Peeking outside, she counted eight bikers at the back of the building. In the daylight, her bravery returned.

She dressed, skipping a hand-held shower since she wasn't hooked to a water supply. Thankfully, she'd taken one yesterday before rolling into Seaglass Cove.

Deciding her mood needed a lift, she picked out a sundress, put on makeup, and slipped on her flip-flops. Nervous to go outside, she knew if she was going to accomplish what she came here to do, she needed to go on about her business.

A day wasted only prolonged her trip.

First up on her to-do list today she would find the coffee shop Wire mentioned. Then, she'd spend the next few hours going around town, showing them the photo of her brother. Then, she'd find somewhere else to park her van.

It was a small town. It would probably take her a week to visit all the businesses and meet most people in town. If she failed to get any new information on her brother by then, she'd move on.

Being an oops baby put her at a disadvantage. Her older brother was already gone when she was born. As far as she knew, Jeff knew nothing about her. From what her parents told her, he'd left and never contacted them again.

They claimed it wasn't unusual for boys to leave the house at eighteen and never look back. It was a different era. She knew there had to be more to the story, and through the years, she'd overheard a few conversations between her parents when they believed she was asleep.

Jeff had a girlfriend that her parents hadn't approved of. There might've been a pregnancy involved. That was not something that would force someone to leave and never look back until she could find her brother—she wouldn't judge him.

By now, her brother would be forty-six years old. If he had a child, he would be grown. Even older than her twenty-one years.

By the time her parents had her, they were successful in their careers. Her father had worked as an attorney until age seventy-five. Her mom, fourteen years younger than her dad, was a professor at Southern Cal until she retired a few months before her death at sixty-six years old. That left babysitters to watch over her until she was twelve.

By the time she entered sixth grade, she had sent herself off to school and returned to an empty house. Throughout those years, she realized her mom and dad were older than other parents—and as kids do, she paid more attention to her friends than to her parents.

It saddened her that she'd taken them for granted, believing they'd be there until she was old and able to support herself.

She never believed they'd both die on the same day and she'd be all alone.

Leaving her hair down, she picked up her phone, ensured her card was in the attached holder, and went to the door. She peeked outside once more.

It was the middle of the day. If the bikers would've wanted to hurt her, they would've done that last night when no one was around.

The only thing she had to worry about was the man who'd shot one of the bikers. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught in some biker war—she'd read about that happening online.

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