"Then we keep the garage open and let the lawyer do his work. If he threatens anyone, we document it and call the proper people. We don't give him a fight he can use to make you look unreasonable."
"You make that sound easy."
"It isn't easy," Reese said. "But it is straightforward. Easy and straightforward aren't always the same thing."
The first new pressure came from a newspaper item. Six days after the consultation, the Coldmare Weekly ran a short piece about concerns surrounding a young transient woman living and working at a motorcycle club garage near the edge of town. The article did not name Willa, but nearly everybody who had passed the service doors in the preceding weeks knew who it meant. It cited an unnamed community contact who worried that vulnerable young people might be exploited by organizations with troubled reputations. It also mentioned a respected West Haven businessman who had expressed concern for the woman's welfare.
The language was careful enough to avoid making a direct accusation. That was what made it effective. It encouraged readers to fill the gaps with whatever they already believed about motorcycle clubs, young women without money, or men who wore patches on their jackets. By breakfast, customers were asking Fig whether the article was about the garage. By ten, Brody had seen the story shared in a local community group with comments from people who had never met Willa.
Willa read it on her phone while waiting for a replacement bearing to arrive. Her face went white before she reached the last paragraph. The article had taken the period of her life she was most ashamed of, the months when she had needed shelter, and used it to suggest that the people who had helped her might be dangerous. It did not say the word Harlon in connection with the allegations, but she could see his hand in the careful emphasis on concern rather than evidence.
She took the phone to Reese. "He knows I've found a lawyer."
"Maybe. We don't know how much he knows."
"He wants to make you look bad for helping me." She held the phone in both hands, as though she could keep the words from getting any larger by gripping the device. "If customers start believing this, it hurts your business."
Reese read the article once, then again. "We'll ask for a correction where there's a factual error. We can explain the shop's employment practices to anyone who has legitimate questions. We won't spend the week chasing every stranger on the internet."
"You shouldn't have to do any of that because of me."
"Willa, people have been making up stories about motorcycle clubs since before I joined one. That's not your fault, and it's not our first morning dealing with it." He looked up. "The question is what we can prove. Same as with the partnership."