He counted five thousand dollars into an envelope and held it out without forcing her hand. "Consider it a refund," he added, allowing the faintest smile. "With interest."
Chloe stared at the envelope. She had imagined a hundred dollars as wealth that morning. Five thousand seemed impossible, more than she had earned or saved in all the years Richard controlled her money. She did not know whether accepting it would put her in another person's debt. Jack seemed to read the concern on her face.
"Nothing owed," he said. "Not a ride, not a favor, not silence, not loyalty to anyone you don't choose. Preacher used to help people get on their feet when they were in trouble. It feels right to do that in his name."
At last Chloe accepted the envelope. It was lighter than she expected. She held it with both hands and felt tears gather in her eyes, tears that had little to do with the bills themselves. For the first time in years, someone had given her something without explaining what she would have to surrender in exchange. She looked toward the broken Shovelhead and thought of the forty dollars she had believed were her only hope.
"Is that bike yours now?" she asked Jack.
"It's evidence first," he answered. "Then there's a title question, and an ownership question, and a lot of history we don't understand yet. When the people investigating are finished, we'll talk about what happens to it."
She nodded, grateful that he had not simply declared the matter settled. For all the power of the ninety-seven motorcycles, Jack seemed to understand that grief did not transfer legal ownership by itself. It would take official records, a court's determination, and perhaps years before the old machine could be restored with a clean history. Chloe hoped it would be restored someday. She hoped even more that she would never have to ride anything so dangerous again.
Miller approached when the ambulance crew said Chloe could travel after examination at a nearby hospital. He offered to accompany her and help her find the woman whose phone number Arthur had written on the map. Jack asked Chloe whether that was what she wanted. She considered the question carefully, unfamiliar with the luxury of having an answer matter.
"I want to go to Nevada," she said. "But I want to know he can't track me down. I want somebody to tell Arthur I'm alive. And I want to talk to someone who knows how to keep him away without me having to hide forever."
Agent Vargas promised to connect her with a victim advocate and coordinate a safe way to cross the state line after her statement. She also arranged for Arthur to be contacted through investigators rather than Richard's department. Chloe did not need to give away the address where she would stay. She would be told how the case progressed, and she could decide when she was ready to give a fuller account.