Victor spun.
"Evelyn."
She continued.
"He was here."
Noah stared.
"When?"
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
"Eighteen years ago."
Victor closed his eyes.
For a moment, the old yard seemed to disappear.
Noah whispered:
"What happened?"
Victor opened his eyes.
"Your father betrayed us."
Noah shook his head.
"My father didn't betray anybody."
Victor pointed toward the gate.
"Get out."
Noah didn't move.
Victor approached until they stood face to face.
"You know engines."
Noah looked confused.
"What?"
"That's all you know."
Victor pointed toward the road.
"Go home."
Noah looked at the Roadmaster.
Then back at Victor.
"My father worked on that bike."
Victor went still.
Noah pointed at the small dent on the tank.
"My mother showed me pictures."
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Victor stared at the dent.
Because it was true.
Daniel Mercer had built that motorcycle from the frame up.
And eighteen years earlier, on the night Daniel disappeared, the Roadmaster had been standing in exactly the same yard.
Victor's secret had survived for nearly two decades.
Until an eighteen-year-old boy walked through his gate carrying his father's name.
Victor looked at Noah.
"Your mother lied to you."
Noah's voice was steady.
"Then tell me the truth."
Victor didn't answer.
The engine continued to rumble behind them.
And somewhere inside the clubhouse, a telephone began ringing.
Nobody moved to answer it.
Because they all knew who was calling.
The clubhouse was quieter after dark.
Noah sat alone at a wooden table while Victor stood by the window.
Evelyn remained near the door.
Three other senior members of Red Canyon Riders watched Noah from a distance.
Nobody trusted him.
But nobody wanted him gone anymore.
The call had changed things.
Victor had finally told them the name of the person on the line.
Mason Redd.
A former member of the club.
A man Victor had believed dead.
Mason had called after seeing a video of Noah fixing the Roadmaster.
He had said only one sentence.
"Daniel's son has come back."
Then he hung up.
Victor turned from the window.
"Noah."
"Yes?"
"I'm going to tell you something."
Noah leaned forward.
"But you don't tell anyone else."
Noah gave a bitter smile.
"You've spent my whole life keeping me in the dark. I think I can survive one secret."
Victor ignored the sarcasm.
"Eighteen years ago, your father joined us."
Noah nodded.
"My mother said he repaired motorcycles."
"He did more than that."
"How much more?"
"He was one of the best fabricators I'd ever seen."
Victor looked toward the Roadmaster.
"That bike was his."
Noah's face tightened.
"I knew it."
"He built most of it."
"Then why do you have it?"
Victor was silent.
Evelyn answered.
"Because after Daniel disappeared, Victor bought it from the police impound."
Noah looked at her.
"Why would they impound it?"
"Because your father was suspected of stealing from the club."
Noah laughed.
"My father?"
Victor's expression hardened.
"There was money missing."
"How much?"
"Enough."
"That isn't an answer."
Victor looked away.
"Two hundred thousand dollars."
Noah shook his head.
"And you believed he stole it?"
"I didn't have a choice."
"Why?"
"Because the money was in his workshop."
Noah stared.
"My father didn't steal anything."
Victor sighed.
"That's what I thought."
"Thought?"
"For the first two weeks."
"What changed?"
Victor walked to a cabinet and opened it.
Inside was a file.
He placed it on the table.
Noah opened it.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
Police notes.
A handwritten confession.
Noah stared at the signature.
Daniel Mercer.
It looked real.
But Noah knew instantly that it wasn't.
He pointed.
"My father always crossed the M in his last name twice."
Victor frowned.
"What?"
"In his signature."
Noah traced the paper.
"This person didn't."
Victor took the document.
His eyes narrowed.
Evelyn stepped closer.
"Are you sure?"
Noah nodded.
"I've seen his handwriting every day of my life."
Victor looked at him.
"Then somebody forged it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Noah looked at the file.
"To make him disappear."
Silence filled the room.
Victor sat down.
"For years I believed Daniel betrayed us."
"And now?"
"Now I think he was framed."
Noah's heart started pounding.
"My mother said he was alive when she last saw him."
"When was that?"
"The night he left."
Victor's face tightened.
"Did she tell you where he went?"
"No."
Victor stared at the floor.
"Black Ridge."
"What?"
"Black Ridge Pass."
Noah leaned forward.
"Why?"
"Daniel was supposed to meet someone there."
"Who?"
Victor shook his head.
"Nobody knew."
"Then how do you know?"
"Because I followed him."
Noah's eyes widened.
"You followed my father?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Victor looked toward the window.
"It was raining."
He paused.
"I saw Daniel standing beside the Roadmaster."
"Alone?"
"No."
Noah waited.
"A man was there."
"Who?"
Victor lowered his voice.
"Mason Redd."
Evelyn inhaled sharply.
Noah felt a chill.
"The man who called?"
Victor nodded.
"Exactly."
"So Mason was involved."
"We thought he was."
"What did you see?"