Chapter 4
Carla rode with the children to the hospital.
I followed on my damaged Harley after the firefighters cleared it and helped me patch the leak.
The left side was scraped badly.
The paint was ruined.
One handlebar bent.
I did not care.
All I could think about was Millie’s bare feet on that pavement.
Ben’s chain.
Carla’s words.
That’s where my husband died.
At the hospital, they took the children behind double doors.
Millie screamed when they separated her from Ben.
I heard her from the waiting room.
“Don’t take him where I can’t see!”
Carla covered her mouth and shook.
I stood beside her because I did not know what else to do.
She looked at my vest.
At the patches.
At my scarred hands.
Then she whispered, “Why did you help us?”
The question hit harder than it should have.
“Because she asked.”
Carla laughed once, broken and bitter.
“Most people don’t hear us when we ask.”
I sat down across from her.
“Tell me about your husband.”
She stared at the floor.
“His name was Daniel.”
I nodded.
“What happened at the mill?”
Her fingers twisted together.
“Three years ago, Daniel worked maintenance for the town. He found out Mayor Voss and Franklin were selling off old municipal equipment and pocketing the money. Sirens. generators. copper wiring. Anything they could strip.”
“The grandstand wiring?”
She nodded.
“He took photos. He said he had proof they were bypassing safety systems for events and billing the town for repairs that never happened.”
“What happened?”
“He was found dead at the paper mill.”
My stomach tightened.
“Accident?”
“That’s what they said.”
“But you don’t believe it.”
She looked up at me then.
Her eyes were red, but steady.
“Daniel was afraid of heights. They said he climbed a rusted catwalk alone at midnight and fell.”
I leaned back.
The old familiar anger moved through me.
Cold.
Focused.
Not the kind that makes you swing.
The kind that makes you stay.
“Did he leave evidence?”
Carla’s lips parted.
Before she could answer, a doctor stepped into the waiting room.
“Mrs. Reyes?”
Carla jumped to her feet.
“How are they?”
“Ben has a sprained ankle, dehydration, and bruising from the restraint. No electrical injury. Millie has second-degree burns on the soles of both feet and several torn fingernails. They are frightened, but stable.”
Carla started crying.
I turned away to give her privacy, but she grabbed my sleeve.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t thank me yet.”
The doctor hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
Carla went still.
“What?”
“Both children show signs of older injuries.”
Carla flinched like she had been slapped.
“They fell sometimes,” she whispered. “We moved a lot after Daniel died. They got scared easily.”
The doctor’s voice softened.
“I’m not accusing you. I’m telling you someone hurt them before today.”
Carla looked toward the hall.
May you like
“Franklin.”
I felt my hands curl
