“Bear!”
“I'm here!”
The smoke thickened.
He wrapped his jacket around his face.
Then he heard scratching.
The stray dog.
The same dog Evelyn had fed.
It had followed them to the diner.
It was scratching at a lower wall.
Bear crawled toward it.
The dog pawed the floor.
There was another opening.
Bear removed a loose board.
A narrow tunnel appeared.
He looked at Evelyn.
“Can you crawl?”
She nodded.
They followed the dog.
The tunnel was dark and damp.
Smoke followed them.
After several minutes, they reached an old drainage exit behind the diner.
They crawled into the open air.
The motorcycles were waiting.
Frank ran toward them.
“Bear!”
He helped Evelyn stand.
The diner burned behind them.
Bear stared at the flames.
The evidence inside was gone.
But he still held the metal box.
The stray dog stood beside Evelyn.
She knelt and hugged him.
“You saved us.”
The dog licked her face.
Bear looked toward the road.
Bell was gone.
Kane was gone too.
But someone had left something on the ground.
A photograph.
It showed Michael.
Standing outside the Silver Star.
On the back was a message.
He knew the truth.
Bear stared at it.
For twenty years, he had carried guilt over Michael's death.
Now that guilt had a name.
Someone had known.
And someone had lied.
The bikers moved Evelyn to a nearby ranch owned by one of their members.
Medical personnel arrived.
She had inhaled smoke but was otherwise safe.
The dog stayed beside her.
Bear couldn't sleep.
He studied Michael's photograph.
There was something in the background.
A truck.
He recognized it.
A county utility truck.
The photograph had been taken the same week Michael died.
Bear called Frank.
“Find the truck.”
“License?”
Bear gave him the number visible in the image.
Frank called back twenty minutes later.
The truck belonged to the county.
Assigned to Thomas Bell's company.
Bear felt cold.
He called the state investigator he knew.
Then he called Captain Porter.
No one answered.
Finally, an unknown number called him.
“Bear?”
“Who is this?”
“Daniel.”
“Daniel who?”
“Daniel Bell.”
Bear froze.
“Thomas Bell's son?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Watching my father destroy everything.”
Bear listened.
Daniel said his father had been involved in illegal property transfers for decades.
But Daniel had discovered the truth.
He had also discovered what happened to Michael.
“Tell me.”
“My father didn't order the accident.”
Bear closed his eyes.
“Then who did?”
“His partner.”
“Name.”
“Arthur Kane.”
Bear looked toward the room.
Richard Kane.
Daniel continued.
“He was younger then.”
Bear's anger returned.
“Why tell me now?”
“Because my father is going to kill himself.”
Bear froze.
“What?”
“He thinks the fire destroyed everything.”
“Where is he?”
“At the old warehouse.”
Bear gathered the bikers.
They drove through the night.
The warehouse stood near the abandoned highway.
Inside, Thomas Bell sat alone.
He looked older than before.
Bear entered.
“You're coming with us.”
Bell looked at him.
“There's nothing left.”
“There is.”