Page 257
Marisol.
Sean grips the back of my chair.
“What happened to her?” he asks.
“She escaped.”
“How?”
“Price says she caused a disturbance while Greg was dealing with Sage.”
Sage goes completely still.
“I helped her?”
Vega answers carefully.
“You may have.”
Sage looks at Marisol’s photograph.
“When I hit that man, everyone started shouting.”
“That could have given Marisol time to run.”
“What happened after?”
“Price says she reached Sally’s diner two days later.”
Sage presses a hand over her mouth.
“Sally helped her.”
“Yes.”
“Sally didn’t tell me.”
“She was protecting Marisol.”
“Was Marisol there while I was sleeping in the storeroom?”
“We don’t know.”
I think about Sally allowing Sage into the diner.
A frightened sixteen-year-old girl appears alone after dark.
Sally gives her food.
A place to sleep.
Money.
A disguise.
She knows exactly what Sage needs because another frightened girl came to her first.
“Greg wasn’t driving past the diner because he found Sage,” I say.
