When we got to the motel, we had a debate about whether to stop and let the unknown girl see where we were staying (which she’d already know if she was a cop) or keep riding around until she tired of following us. Going to the police station, we agreed, felt silly. After all, she hadn’t threatened us or done anything other than ride behind us.

It was my bladder that determined our course of action. We pulled in, I dashed into my room, and by the time I came out, Tolliver reported, “She’s trying to make up her mind to come over and knock on the door.” He was concealed behind the curtains, and he hadn’t turned on a light in the room.

I joined him, and it was like watching a pantomime. The girl’s car was clearly lit up by the lights in the parking lot, and she was recognizable; that is, I’d be able to pick her out in a police lineup now, though her features weren’t crystal clear. She had short brown hair worn in a longer version of a standard boys’ haircut, which looked cute on her, since she was a petite thing. She was maybe seventeen, maybe younger, and she had a pouting lower lip. She was wearing enough eye makeup for three ordinary women. Her small face had that look so common in teenage girls from homes where all is not well—part defiant, part vulnerable, all wary.

Cameron had worn that expression on her face all too often.

“How much are you willing to put down on this? I think she’ll give up and drive away. We’re too scary for her.” Tolliver put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.

“Nah, she’s coming in,” I said with assurance. “I’d be taking your money too easily. See? She’s daring herself.”

Rain began to pelt down again as she made up her mind to brave us. She launched herself from the car and dashed for my door. She pounded on it twice.

Tolliver turned on the lamp beside the bed as I answered her summons.

She glared at me. “You the woman that finds bodies?”

“You know I am, or you wouldn’t have been following us. I’m Harper Connelly. Come in.” I stepped back, and, shooting me a suspicious look, she entered the room. She looked around carefully. Tolliver was sitting in the chair trying to look harmless. “This is my brother Tolliver Lang,” I said. “He travels with me. You want a Diet Coke?”