“The threats.”
She explained that after Walter died, a developer had approached her.
They claimed the diner property was worth far more than she understood.
At first they offered money.
Then came legal letters.
Then visits.
Then warnings.
Finally, Evelyn left.
Not because she wanted to.
Because she was afraid.
Bear clenched his jaw.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“I didn't think anyone would care.”
Bear looked around.
“Look again.”
Evelyn did.
Nearly two hundred bikers stood in the parking lot.
Some were old.
Some young.
Some had scars.
Some carried photographs of friends who were gone.
But all of them were there.
For her.
A motorcycle engine suddenly roared near the entrance.
Everyone turned.
Richard Kane had returned.
This time, he wasn't alone.
Four vehicles entered the lot.
Kane stepped out.
“You're making a mistake,” he told Bear.
Bear walked forward.
“No.”
He pointed toward Evelyn.
“This is her land.”
Kane smiled.
“Not for long.”
Bear stared at him.
“Then you're going to have to explain why.”
Kane's smile disappeared.
“I don't explain myself to criminals.”
The parking lot went silent.
Bear's expression remained calm.
“Neither do we.”
Kane turned away.
But before he left, he said one final thing.
“Ask Mrs. Harper what her husband hid.”
Bear looked back at Evelyn.
She had gone pale.
The bikers gathered around Evelyn after Kane left.
She looked exhausted.
Bear sat beside her.
“Tell us.”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
“I know Walter was afraid.”
“Of Kane?”
“Not exactly.”
She looked at the old photograph.
“Walter believed someone had been watching the diner for years.”
“Why?”
“Because of what happened there.”
Bear leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Thirty years ago, a group of young men came into the Silver Star.”
Bear remembered.
He had been one of them.
“They were traveling west,” Evelyn continued. “Their motorcycles broke down. They had no money.”
Bear nodded.
“That was us.”
“Walter fed them.”
“Yes.”
“After they left, one of them came back.”
“Who?”
“His name was Michael.”
Bear froze.
Michael had been his closest friend.
Michael had died in a highway accident years later.
“What about him?”
“He left something.”
Bear stared.
“What?”
“A small metal box.”
“Where is it?”
“Walter hid it.”
“Why?”
“Because Michael told him it could get people hurt.”
Bear felt his heartbeat quicken.
“What was inside?”
“I don't know.”
“You never asked?”
“Walter told me not to.”
“And now?”
“Now I'm tired of being afraid.”
She pulled the brass key from her purse.
“Walter said this key would open the box.”
Bear looked at number 17.
“Where?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Frank spoke.
“Maybe the diner.”
Evelyn nodded.
“But it's been closed for years.”
Bear stood.
“Then we're going.”
They loaded Evelyn into a comfortable SUV.
The motorcycles followed.
The convoy stretched across the highway.
The Silver Star sat twelve miles away.
It was smaller than Bear remembered.
The neon sign was gone.
Windows were boarded.