Page 52 of Rolling Thunder
“Hey!” someone called. They both looked up as a girl in her twenties approached, holding up a cell phone. “You’re that guy from the home improvement show. What are you doing at the police station? Are you in trouble again?” Evan held up a hand toward the phone and turned swiftly the other way with Kayla, escorting her as quickly as he could toward the motorcycle. Thankfully, the girl didn’t follow them, but she was texting.
“This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen,” Kayla said quietly.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
They pulled out of the police station parking lot and put a few miles between them and the texting girl. On their way home, Kayla recognized the upcoming turnoff, and she saw Annie’s green GMC Jimmy in the parking lot. Annie was the one person that Kayla’s life didn’t seem to be polluting. The urge to go hide in the friendly anonymous room was strong.
“Can you drop me off at that community center?” She pointed to the large building. Evan slowed and pulled into the crowded parking lot, then put the bike in neutral. Kayla swung off, unbuckling her helmet.
“I don’t think you should be alone until we know Trent’s been put away.”
“I won’t be. This is an AA Clubhouse. They run meetings all day long. Trust me. It’s the last place in the world Trent would ever go or think to look for me. My sponsor will drop me back at the farm.” She said it after a quick kiss to his cheek, but she was already backing away from him through the parking lot. She was making a break for it before he could stop her.
CHAPTER 21
Evan insisted on going with Bill to talk to Leanne. Hurricane Jake and Roadkill stayed behind at the farm to wait for Kayla. It had gone against every cell in his being to drop her off and let her out of his sight. He’d sworn to protect her. But she was lost in her own mind and he couldn’t seem to reach her. He figured she needed one of two things—a bottle of bourbon or the support of other people trying to help her stay sober. Maybe she needed a woman’s support after everything she’d just recounted at the police station. A quick text that she was fine gave him some relief.
They arrived at a run-down motel and located the room number Leanne had given Kayla. When Evan knocked, the door opened quickly. Leanne’s expectant face dropped when she saw the two men at her door. She looked rough. She was thin and wearing a dirty tank top and jeans that didn’t fit properly.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, fishing for a cigarette out of a pack in her back pocket. Her voice was gravelly from years of hard living.
“We need information,” Evan said. She gave them a disgusted look and retreated into the hotel room, but left the door open behind her. Evan assumed it was as much of an invitation as they were going to get.
She eyed Evan. “So, you’re Kayla’s new guy, huh?”
Evan watched her steadily. “Yeah.”
She shifted her gaze to Canyon Bill. “And you?—”
“What kind of muscle does Trent have, Leanne?” Canyon Bill interrupted her.
“Why should I tell you?” she retorted.
“Because for one damn thing, your daughter’s safety depends on it. For once, put her first,” Evan interjected, and saw a stab of regret in Leanne’s face.
“I always put her first!” Leanne retorted.
Evan’s anger boiled over. “Letting Trent make her a stripper when she was fourteen? That was putting her first?”
“Well la-de-fuckin’-da, Mr. Know-it-all has somethin’ to say. Nice to meet you too, asshole. Comin’ in my place and judging me about how I raised my daughter. You try tellin’ her not to do something she’s got her head set on! She wanted to do it!”
Evan took a step toward her. Bill’s hand on his arm snapped him out of it. He stood poised, feeling like he was about to explode. Leanne stared at him, then Bill, daring either of them to come for her. When they didn’t, she deflated slightly.
“I did the best I could by myself,” she said quietly, retreating across the room to sit on the bed. “We didn’t have a lot of options.”
“You could have stayed on the farm. You could have left Kayla on the farm with her grandmother, instead of bringing her down to this shit hole,” Bill said.
“So Mother Teresa could go on rubbin’ it in my face how much better she was than me? So she could turn my daughter against me? Kayla is my baby. She’s all I got in the world.”
It was crystal clear to Evan that this was going nowhere. Leanne obviously couldn’t see the forest for the trees where her daughter was concerned.
“There sure as hell wasn’t no daddy trying to help us, now was there?” she spat, staring pointedly at Canyon Bill.
Evan felt like his head was on a giant swivel controlled by someone else as he turned to stare at Bill, incredulous. Was she insinuating what he thought she was insinuating? But he said nothing. Now wasn’t the time.
“Bill, let’s go,” Evan said shortly.
“He’s got some guys,” Leanne said softly. Evan turned back to her, and for once, she looked almost appropriately shamed. “And he’s really pissed. It’ll probably blow over quick, but for right now, it’s bad. I heard them say they had to shut her up so she couldn’t testify if it goes to court.”