sign buzzed overhead, the red letters flick

. The silence in the c

Stay close to me. D

nes crunching under her sneakers. The air smelled of oil, r

tal side door and

ous stages of repair were scattered around on lifts. Tools lined the walls in o

past the bikes to a cleaner office area enclose

it

hing her knees

orner. He grabbed a bottle of water,

edily, the cool water soo

w it. Tucked into a holster on his belt, pressed against his lower back, was the black grip of a handgun. Her breath hitched. The memory

eyes, the way her body tensed. He instinctively straightened

oice flat. "We get water moccasin

im. You didn't need a semi-automatic pi

hed her

s your... wh

le. She typed on her

mentioned a granddaughter. She talks about

Of course Nana didn't talk about her. Eva was the secr

e shame. He realized there was a fam

not to pr

ea outside the office. The he

n here?" a v

" he told Eva. But it was too lat