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Besides, she wasn’t the police. Her sister’s old boyfriend must have seen something. Hell, maybe he was even involved.
One thing was for sure, this particular interrogation wouldn’t involve a badge.
***
Cora sat on her motorbike, idling outside the woodworker’s shop where her sister’s old boyfriend was now employed. She had been following him for the last couple of days and keeping track of his habits. Her first day back in town hadn’t even been used to visit her parents but to gather information about him.
Gabriel Finch. An angel and a bird, both with wings. But he wasn’t about to get away from her. In ten minutes, he was due for a supply run. Like clockwork, he followed the schedule. He was sometimes a bit early, sometimes a few minutes late, but all within the same window of time.
She exhaled slowly, feeling a slow adrenaline rush, as she realized what she was planning on doing. She bit her lip nervously, trying to calm down her usual aversion to breaking the law. The previous week, rescuing that girl, all of it had been outside the jurisdiction of the law. And now, idling and leaning against a tree, her bare shoulder pressing into the rough bark, she didn’t even blink.
And then he appeared. A few minutes early.
She tensed, frozen in place. She didn’t gun the engine yet, though. No need to startle him. No need to alert him.
Gabe was taller than she had remembered, a bit over six-foot. He had a long stride and was wearing blue jeans stained with sawdust. He had on a stupid little flat cap, like from some old-fashioned movie. The hat tilted off to one side, displaying disheveled hair. He was also bigger than she remembered. Well-muscled and broad-chested. The previous day, when she’d first set eyes on him, she’d thought he looked something like a linebacker.
It would be tougher if he put up a fight.
But she was determined to find out the truth one way or another. The big guy hopped into a truck, one arm dangling lazily out the open window. One door of the truck was purple and didn’t match the white body.
Gabe pulled out of the parking lot near the woodworker’s shop and pulled past her. He even tipped his hat at her as he did. Clearly, he didn’t recognize her.
Not that she could blame him. It had been more than a decade, hadn’t it?
And over the last couple of days, she’d been a ghost.
She knew how to avoid detection when keeping tabs on a suspect.
And now, she followed him, keeping a safe distance until he moved onto a lonely road cutting through corn fields. Dust kicked up behind the truck, the red taillights obscured.
She waited until he hit an entirely unpaved section of the road. She even spotted the small orange traffic cone she had placed the previous day to help her remember the perfect spot. A switchback was coming up. For a period of thirty seconds, they would be in a bend and completely out of view for miles in any direction, hidden in the cornfields.
As he passed the traffic cone, she gave a little twist of her hands on the handlebars, and then sped forward. The motorbike grumbled beneath her, roaring as she picked up the pace. She skidded around the truck, hitting a small easement before slipping back out in front of the larger vehicle.
And then, she began to lean on her horn.
The dust was a cloud now, covering them. This section of the road offered little in the way of traction.
The horn of the truck met the sound of her own blaring.
She hit the brakes, then sped forward, hit the brakes, and sped forward again.
And like this, she began to force him to slow.
For a brief moment, though, he didn’t slow fast enough.Shit. Was he going to ram her?Cora sped up again, then slowed down again, just enough to keep the truck in check. And finally, she had her way.
His truck began to skid on the dust, nearly toppling. Leaning on the horn still, Gabe managed to slide the truck to a stop, the front bumper angling off towards the corn.
Cora didn’t hesitate. As the dust, quite literally, began to settle, and as the sound of the blaring horn faded, she tossed her bike into the tall weeds in the section she had scouted out before. And then she sprinted forward, approaching the truck.
The front door opened. A loud voice shouted, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She didn’t hesitate but went straight for him.
One moment, he had been rubbing at his forehead, scowling, and slipping out of the vehicle. The next, his eyes landed on her and suddenly widened. He took a hesitant step back. And then a fist began to curl, as if he wasn’t quite sure what was happening.
Cora, on the other hand, used the element of surprise to the best of her ability. She didn’t stop, didn’t falter, and didn’t give her body even a chance to hesitate. Instead, she flung herself through the air, fist flying, and drove it into the man’s neck.
