Page 72 of The Weakest Wolf

“And where is home?”

Nosy bastard.

“Upstate New York.”

His eyebrow rises. “And your sister ended up all the way here?”

I nod. “Married a guy that didn’t treat her well,” I say, since beating four-year-old information from him is only likely to make him clam up. A sprinkling of sympathy might get me much more.

And the reason you didn’t try that with Sierra?

“Well, she got away from him all right. The other woman took her to the bus station and bought her a ticket.”

Sierra did what?

“And the woman had long, dark hair and gray eyes?”

He nods. “And smoking hot.” He sticks his hand out. “Derek, by the way.”

I don’t care.

The instant I touch his warm, clammy hand I regret it. “Galen.”

“What more do you want to know?” Derek asks.

“Anything you can tell me. But, just out of curiosity, how come you knew where they ended up?”

“You’ve seen the size of this town, right?” He pauses, and I nod. “It’s like a goldfish bowl. I’d parked up on a side street with my engine off, so I could have a few smokes before heading home.”

I raise my eyebrow. “And the reason you had to do that on a side street?”

“The missus—at least the one back then—wasn’t fond of me smoking.”

“And now?”

“That didn’t last long. Now I smoke wherever.”

“Right.” That explains the magazine, then. “So you saw them in the street and—” I stop when he shakes his head.

“Notonthe street. Tucked far enough down one of them that it made me think they didn’t want anyone to see them. Same as what I was doing. Kept whispering that they needed to keep their voices down.”

“And you’re sure that it was the same women your dad saw?”

“Dad told me who you were looking for the next day. It was them.”

“You said something about a ticket.”

Derek nods. “Yeah, Sierra—that’s the woman’s name—bought her a bus ticket.”

“You still remember her name?”

Why the fuck didn’t you say it before?

He raises his eyebrow as if I’m stupid for asking. “You’ve seen her, right?”

The image of Sierra stepping into Bowen’s cabin flashes in my mind. “I’ve seen her.”

“Anyway, the name just seemed to stick. Sierra, like Sierra Mist the drink.” He grins at me as if he’s just told the world's greatest joke.

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