Page 18 of Edge

Irene threw her head back and laughed. “There’s the spunk I’ve been waiting for. I knew you had it in there.”

I smiled. “I really do appreciate this. More than you know.”

“I know,” she said and made a shooing motion with her hands. “Go on and get out of here.”

I did as she said and walked outside to find a shiny SUV sitting in the space next to where my car was previously parked. “Holy shit,” I breathed. It was nicer than anything I’d ever driven. I was almost afraid to touch it. “There’s no way this is a loaner car.”

I climbed inside and marveled at the interior. There were more buttons and controls than I’d ever seen in a car. When I went to put the key in the ignition and realized it didn’t have a key, I wondered if I needed a class on how to operate it.

It took me several minutes to figure out where everything was before I finally got going. The vehicle was bigger than what I was used to, but it glided along the road as if the streets were made of clouds. It was going to suck when I had to give it back.

6

EDGE

Iforgot to ask Evie for the details about her car, so I opened the glove box, hoping to find the car’s manual inside. Thankfully, it was there with the information I needed. What was also there was the car’s registration, with Evie’s full name and previous address on it. I wasn’t intentionally snooping, but I’d already read it before I realized I might be invading her privacy. Once the damage was done, I couldn’t stop myself from trying to find out more. I truly believed she was running from something, or someone, and wanted to help her. If I was right and those black eyes came from a person instead of a surgery, she needed more than help; she needed protection. I also didn’t want her troubles to become a problem for Irene. And that’s how I rationalized what I did next.

I knocked on Byte’s door. “Hey, man. You got a second?”

“Yeah. Come on in,” he called through the door.

I let myself in and took a seat in an empty chair.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I wanted to see if you would look into Evie Sinclair,” I said. “She’s from Fairbanks, Georgia.”

“As in Evie from the diner?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“What am I looking for?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “She showed up in Cedar Valley with no money and no place to stay. She was living in her car and looking for a job that would pay her under the table. And she had two black eyes. She said she just had sinus surgery, but I’m not buying it.”

“You think she’s running from something,” Byte mused.

“She has to be.”

“Does Irene know about any of this?”

“Sort of. She knows something’s going on with Evie, and that the sinus surgery story was bullshit, but she said she didn’t want to pry and scare her away,” I explained. “Hell, Irene doesn’t even know her last name.”

“How’d you find out what it was?”

“Evie’s car broke down. Irene called and asked if we’d fix it. Phoenix sent me to pick it up and drop off a loaner. When I got her car back here, I was looking for the manual and came across her registration.”

“What are you going to do if we find something?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. I guess it depends on what it is.”

“Well, let’s go down the rabbit hole,” Byte said and rubbed his hands together before he started typing.

Twenty minutes later, he abruptly stopped typing and turned to me with a look I couldn’t interpret. “Oh, brother. I think we might have a problem on our hands.”

“Fucking hell,” I grumbled. “I wanted to be right, but at the same time, I really didn’t. What did you find?”

“Evie Sinclair is the daughter of Carl Sinclair,” he said.