Samuel looked at it.
The room went silent again.
Emily smiled slightly.
"I think you're taking me."
Samuel called Laura before sunrise.
Emily was furious.
"You had no right."
Samuel put the phone on speaker.
Laura answered after one ring.
"Emily?"
"No. Sam."
Silence.
Then:
"Oh, God."
"She's safe."
Laura began crying.
Emily's anger vanished.
"Mom."
"Emily, come home."
"I need to know."
"No, you don't."
"You lied."
"I protected you."
"From what?"
Laura's voice broke.
"From spending your whole life thinking your father was murdered."
The room became still.
Emily whispered:
"So you believed it too."
"I knew he was scared."
"Why didn't you tell police?"
"We did."
"We?"
"Samuel. Me. Others."
Samuel nodded.
Laura continued:
"Nothing could be proved."
Emily looked at him.
"He told me you asked the club to stop."
"I asked them to stop coming to the house."
"Why?"
"Because somebody followed me."
Samuel's face hardened.
He had not known.
Laura continued.
"A green truck."
Emily closed her eyes.
The same truck Michael mentioned.
"I had you."
"You were seven months old."
"I couldn't sleep."
"I couldn't breathe."
"Every motorcycle outside sounded like someone coming back."
Laura cried quietly.
"I moved three states away."
"Changed our number."
"Changed jobs."
"And yes, I told Sam to leave us alone."
Emily sat.
Her anger remained.
But it changed shape.
"You should've told me eventually."
"I know."
"When?"
"I don't know."
"That's the problem."
Laura had no answer.
Finally Samuel said:
"We found Mike's instructions."
Laura whispered:
"Don't."
"We have a map."
"Sam."
"And a key."
Long silence.
Then Laura said:
"The locker."
Everyone looked up.
Emily stared at the phone.
"You know?"
"I know the key."
"Why didn't you—"
"Because Michael told me never to go there."
"Where is it?"
Laura exhaled.
"North Star Fuel."
Samuel closed his eyes.
Correct.
Laura continued:
"Mike rented a storage compartment behind the old gas station under another name."
Emily's hands shook.
"What's inside?"
"I don't know."
Samuel said:
"We're going."
"No."
"Laura."
"No!"
Her voice became sharp.
"You men already let him die once."
Silence.
The sentence hit everyone differently.
Samuel looked as though she'd struck him.
Laura immediately said:
"I'm sorry."
Samuel whispered:
"Don't be."
Emily looked at him.
There was more history here than anyone had told her.
Samuel said:
"You're right."
Laura began crying again.
Samuel continued:
"I should've answered the phone that night."
"You were with your daughter."
"I know."
"You couldn't know."
"I know."
Neither sounded convinced.
Emily said:
"Mom, I'm going."
"No."
"I need to."
"Why?"
Emily looked at Michael's vest.
"Because Dad left this for me."
Laura whispered:
"That patch doesn't obligate you to become him."
Emily softened.
"I know."
"Promise me."
"What?"
"You don't confuse knowing what happened with needing revenge."
Emily looked at Samuel.
He nodded once.
"I promise."
Laura stayed silent for a long time.
Then:
"Call me every two hours."
Emily almost laughed.
"Mom."
"Every two."
"Okay."
"And Samuel?"
"Yes?"
"If anything happens to her..."
"I know."
"No."
Laura's voice hardened.
"You don't know."
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Nothing happens to her."
Five motorcycles and one SUV left the Iron Sparrow at 8:10 the next morning.
Emily rode in the SUV with Marie.
Samuel, Red, Eddie, Calvin, and Joseph rode ahead.
Emily had expected excitement.
Instead she felt sick.
The farther they traveled, the more real everything became.
Her father had driven these roads.
Perhaps on his final night.
Marie noticed.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Good answer."
Emily looked at her.
"You knew him too?"
"Michael?"
"Yes."
Marie smiled.
"He tipped badly."
Emily laughed unexpectedly.
"Seriously?"
"Terrible."
"What else?"
"He hated olives."
"He sang badly."
"Carried candy for kids."
"Could repair almost anything except coffee machines."
Emily listened.
These details mattered more than heroic stories.
They made him human.
By noon, they reached North Star Fuel.
The station had closed years earlier.
The main building was boarded.
A faded blue star remained above the roof.
Behind it stood twelve small storage units.
Samuel found Unit Seven.
The key fit.
Everyone stepped back.
Emily opened it.
Dust.
Boxes.
An old toolbox.
A motorcycle cover.
Then a metal filing cabinet.
Emily pulled the first drawer.
Empty.
Second.
Documents.
Third.
Cassette tapes.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
A notebook.
Samuel picked it up.
"Ledger."
Emily's heart raced.
On the top page, Michael had written:
If Sam found this, I'm sorry. If Emily found this, I'm more sorry.
She almost cried.
Then Eddie found something else.
A photograph.
Green Ford pickup.
License plate visible.
Samuel looked at it.
His expression changed completely.
"What?"
He handed it to Red.
Red whispered:
"No way."
Emily grabbed the photo.
"Who owns it?"
Nobody answered.
She raised her voice.
"Who?"
Samuel looked at her.
"At the time?"
"Yes."
"Our vice president."
Emily's breath stopped.
"Name."
Samuel hesitated.
"Robert Kane."
"Where is he now?"
Samuel looked toward the mountains.
"He's the president of North Star's largest chapter."
Emily stared.
"So my father's killer might still be in the club?"
Samuel answered carefully:
"We don't know he killed anyone."
"But the truck—"
"Proves his truck followed Michael."
Red opened the ledger.
"There's more."
The fraudulent companies all connected through different addresses.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Robert Kane.
Emily sat on an old crate.