Carol looked at her.
"Maybe."
Maya swallowed.
"Then we need to find out."
Carol nodded.
But before they could do anything, Harker returned.
His face was serious.
"We found the vehicle."
Maya stood.
"Nico?"
"Not yet."
Her shoulders fell.
"But we found something else."
"What?"
Harker looked at the flash drive in Carol's hand.
"Where did you get that?"
Carol didn't answer.
Maya did.
"Roy dropped it."
Harker stared at it.
Then he lowered his voice.
"Whatever is on there may explain why they were willing to risk everything tonight."
He paused.
"And if it does, your brother may be in more danger than we thought."
Maya looked toward the rain.
Carol felt the same cold fear.
The night was just beginning.
ELENA TORRES
The police took Frank Delinger and Roy Sutter away just after nine o'clock.
The rain became heavier.
Blue lights reflected off the wet asphalt outside Hollow Creek.
Customers slowly left.
Some whispered.
Some stared.
One elderly couple stayed until the very end.
They had been regulars for years, and they understood that leaving Carol alone with a frightened young woman would be cruel.
Sam closed the kitchen early.
At 9:27, Hollow Creek was nearly empty.
Maya sat in a booth with a blanket around her shoulders.
Carol placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of her.
"I know you said coffee earlier," Carol said, "but you look like you need something sweeter."
Maya gave the smallest smile.
"Thank you."
Carol sat across from her.
"You don't have to tell me anything tonight."
"I do."
"Why?"
"Because if I don't, Nico might die."
Carol stared at her.
"The police are looking for him."
"They don't know where he really is."
"You gave them an address."
"That address was a trap."
Carol leaned forward.
"What?"
Maya lowered her voice.
"They wanted the police to find that place."
"Why?"
"So whoever is holding Nico can move him."
Carol was silent.
"How do you know?"
"Because Frank told me."
"When?"
"Before we came here."
Carol's face tightened.
Maya wrapped both hands around the mug.
"He said if the police came, they would kill my brother."
Carol felt anger rising.
"Why would they want Nico?"
Maya looked down.
"He was a courier."
"For drugs?"
"No."
"For money?"
"Information."
Carol waited.
Maya reached into her pocket.
She removed another folded paper.
This one was older.
The edges were worn.
"My mother gave me this."
Carol unfolded it.
Inside was a handwritten list of names.
Some were crossed out.
Some had numbers beside them.
At the bottom was one sentence.
IF MAYA EVER COMES TO HOLLOW CREEK, TRUST CAROL WHITFIELD.
Carol stared at it.
"Why me?"
"I don't know."
"You never asked her?"
"I did."
"What did she say?"
"She said you helped her once."
Carol shook her head.
"I never met your mother."
Maya looked confused.
"She said you did."
"When?"
"She wouldn't tell me."
Carol studied the handwriting.
She knew that handwriting.
Not personally.
But somehow.
The letters were narrow and slightly tilted.
She had seen them before.
Then she remembered.
A package.
Six years ago.
After Carol had escaped Dale, she had received an anonymous letter.
It had contained no return address.
Only one sentence:
YOU SURVIVED. NOW HELP SOMEONE ELSE SURVIVE.
Carol had kept that letter.
She had no idea why.
She had placed it inside an old recipe box in her bedroom.
She had never shown anyone.
Until now.
She looked at Maya.
"Wait here."
Carol went into the back office.
She opened a cabinet.
Then a drawer.
Then another.
Finally, she found the old recipe box.
Her hands were trembling when she opened it.
The letter was still there.
She brought it to Maya.
Maya read it.
Her eyes widened.
"That's my mother's handwriting."
Carol sat down.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Maya said, "She told me she had helped someone escape."
Carol nodded slowly.
"She helped me."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Carol closed her eyes.
Then the memory came.
Six years earlier.
A night almost identical to this one.
Rain.
A locked door.
Dale's voice.
Carol trapped inside the apartment.
Her phone broken.
Emily asleep at a friend's house.
Dale had threatened to find her.
Then someone had knocked.
Elena Torres.
Carol remembered her voice.
She had stood outside pretending to be delivering food.
She had lied to Dale.
She had created a distraction.
Carol had escaped through the back.
She had never seen Elena again.
She had forgotten the woman's name.
Until tonight.
Carol looked at Maya.
"Your mother saved my life."
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
"Then help me save Nico."
Carol reached across the table.
She took Maya's hand.
"I will."
At that exact moment, the diner door opened.
Officer Harker entered.
"We found something."
Maya stood.
"Nico?"
"Not yet."
Her shoulders fell.
"But we found the vehicle."
"What vehicle?"
"The van used by Frank and Roy."
Harker placed a photograph on the table.
Maya looked at it.
"That's not their van."
Harker nodded.
"We know."
"Then whose is it?"
"We're trying to find out."
Carol looked at the photograph.
The van was dark blue.
Old.
Mud covered the license plate.
But something was visible on the side.
A faded white logo.
A circle.
Inside it were three letters.
H.C.R.
Carol frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Harker looked at her.
"That's what we're trying to figure out."
Maya suddenly grabbed the photograph.
Her face went pale.
"I've seen this."
"Where?"
"At my mother's house."
Carol leaned closer.
Maya pointed at the logo.
"It was on a box."
"What box?"
"I don't know."
"Where is it now?"
Maya shook her head.
"After she died, someone broke into our house."
Carol felt a chill.
"What did they take?"
"Nothing."
Harker frowned.
"Nothing?"
Maya shook her head.
"That's what scared me."
"Why?"
"Because they went straight to my mother's bedroom."
"And?"
"They opened her closet."
Harker waited.
"They took one thing."
"What?"
Maya whispered:
"An old photograph."
Carol looked at Harker.
"What photograph?"
Maya's eyes moved toward the rain-streaked windows.
"A picture of my mother standing beside three men."
"Who were they?"
"I don't know."
"Can you describe them?"
Maya nodded.
"One of them had a tattoo."
"What kind?"
"A black bird."
Carol's stomach tightened.
She had seen that tattoo before.
On Frank's hand.
Suddenly everything connected.
Frank had not randomly chosen Maya.
He had been looking for something.
And whatever Elena had hidden six years ago was still valuable enough for people to kill over it.
Harker picked up his radio.
"We need the state investigators."
Maya looked at Carol.
"What's happening?"
Carol squeezed her hand.
"Your mother didn't just leave you a warning."
She looked at the old letter.
"She left you a trail."
The flash drive was examined at the station.
It contained twenty-seven files.
Photographs.
Scanned documents.
Bank transfers.
License plates.
Names.
Dates.
Locations.
And one folder labeled:
TORRES
Inside were photographs of Elena.
Not just ordinary photographs.
Surveillance photographs.
Elena leaving work.
Elena entering her apartment.
Elena walking with Maya.
Elena speaking to police.
Someone had been watching her for years.
Harker looked sick.
"This is bigger than we thought."