Elena’s stomach tightened.
“He worked for my father?”
“He stole from your father.”
According to Mace, Caleb discovered almost eighty thousand dollars missing.
Rick had diverted company funds into gambling debts.
Caleb planned to go to police.
He never made it.
One rainy evening nineteen years earlier, Caleb Mercer’s truck went over Raven Pass.
It burned.
His body was found inside.
Marisol was seven months pregnant.
Elena whispered:
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Was Rick arrested?”
“No evidence.”
“But my mother married him?”
“Three years later.”
Elena stared across the diner.
Rick would not look at her.
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither did Gabriel.”
Mace explained that after Caleb’s death, Marisol changed.
She withdrew from the Iron Saints.
Stopped speaking to Gabriel.
Eventually she moved away.
Then she married Rick.
“She told Gabriel she wanted you away from motorcycles, away from the club, away from everything connected to Caleb.”
“Why would she marry the man who stole from him?”
Mace shook his head.
“We never knew.”
Rick suddenly laughed.
Every face turned.
“You people still telling ghost stories?”
Mace stood.
Rick smiled coldly.
“You always were stupid, Rourke.”
Deputy Vasquez put a hand on Rick’s shoulder.
“Enough.”
Rick’s gaze remained on Elena.
“You want the truth? Ask Gabriel why your mother stopped talking to him.”
Elena stiffened.
Rick smiled wider.
“Ask him what happened the night your father died.”
Before anyone could respond, a rider entered quickly.
“Mace.”
Something in his tone silenced the room.
“We found something.”
The Harley had been partly disassembled beside the pumps.
The fuel tank rested on a blanket.
One mechanic pointed beneath it.
“See that?”
A narrow steel panel had been welded underneath.
Not factory work.
Mace touched it.
“When?”
“Long time ago.”
Elena hugged herself against the desert wind.
“What’s inside?”
The mechanic used a rotary tool.
Rick saw what they were doing.
And exploded.
“No!”
He lunged from the diner door.
Deputy Vasquez grabbed him.
Rick fought desperately.
“DON’T OPEN THAT!”
Elena froze.
Every rider turned.
Rick realized too late what he had revealed.
Mace stared at him.
Then looked at the mechanic.
“Open it.”
The panel came free.
Inside was a narrow metal tube wrapped in decayed rubber.
Mace handed it to Elena.
“You should do it.”
Her fingers shook as she unscrewed the cap.
Three objects slid into her palm.
A small brass key.
A photograph.
And a microcassette sealed in plastic.
The photograph showed four people standing beside the same motorcycle.
A younger Gabriel.
Mace.
A beautiful dark-haired woman Elena recognized immediately as her mother.
And a smiling man with his arm around her.
Caleb Mercer.
Elena stared at his face.
She had his eyes.
Her chin.
Her smile.
Written behind the photograph were the words:
For Elena. So she will know who loved her before she ever arrived.
Elena covered her mouth.
Tears came without warning.
Mace looked away.
Doc placed an arm around her.
The brass key was labeled:
214.
The cassette contained another surprise.
Gabriel had equipped his workshop with ancient audio equipment.
One of the riders carried the cassette there while Elena rode in a pickup with Doc.
