"I'm not here to rush you. Could you give these two a warm place to sit while I speak to somebody outside?"
Warren looked from the frightened woman to the boy and then at Cole. His gaze was steady and practical. "You bring trouble through my doors?"
"I'm hoping to keep it outside."
"Good answer. Not necessarily a reassuring one." Warren pointed toward the corner. "Coffee is terrible, heater's decent. There's a stool for the boy. I'll be right here."
Eli sat on the stool and accepted the cornbread from his mother. Cole did not tell him everything would be fine. He had become wary of assurances that existed only to soothe the person giving them. Instead he told him exactly what he knew: they were warm, they were together, and he would speak to the riders before making any decisions.
"You're coming back?" Eli asked.
"Yes. I'm not going far."
Mara stepped closer as Cole turned toward the door. "If that call was real, you need to tell me as soon as you know. I can't carry another night of uncertainty without knowing what you're learning."
"You won't have to."
She looked at his face a moment longer, measuring the promise against the man. Then she stepped aside.
The three riders killed their engines as Cole emerged into the lot. Without the noise, the wet air felt suddenly wider. The smaller rider removed her helmet first. She was a woman in her thirties with dark hair pulled tight at the nape of her neck, angular features, and calm eyes that missed very little. Her vest carried a regional patch Cole did not recognize, but she did not try to use it as an introduction.
"Cole Mercer?"
"Who's asking?"
"Voss. Darla Reeves sent us."
Cole felt his heartbeat settle into something deliberate. "Darla's shop closed years ago."
"Her shop closed. Darla didn't stop working. Those aren't the same thing."
"Then tell me something only she would know."
Voss considered him with an expression almost approving. "She says you never paid her for the second compass patch because you insisted the lower point was crooked. Evan paid for both when you weren't looking. She says you've had twenty years to apologize."
Cole looked at her. It was such an irritatingly specific memory that he could hear Darla's voice in it. "She still holding that against me?"
"Apparently."
"The phone call?"
"Her message. She wanted you to know before we told you anything else."
Cole glanced toward the workshop. "You know Mara and Eli?"
"We've been keeping an eye on them since Mara started asking questions that frightened the wrong people. Darla knew about the letter long before she could safely tell Mara she knew. We've been waiting for a person Evan trusted enough to help bring the information into the open."
"He trusted you?"
"He knows Darla trusts me. That's enough for tonight."
"Where is Evan?"