“You’re not alone,” Morgan assured her.

“You’re a lawyer, right?” Tina gnawed on a cuticle.

“Yes,” Morgan said. “But if you want me to represent Evan, you have to answer all my questions honestly. No more holding back information.”

Tina rolled her fingers into a fist. “If you’re my lawyer, then everything I tell you is confidential, right?”

“Yes,” Morgan answered.

Tina glanced at Lance.

“As my agent, Sharp Investigations is also bound by client confidentiality,” Morgan explained.

“Then I want to officially hire you.” Tina lowered her hand. “I need someone to protect Evan and me. I can give you a retainer. I have a little money put aside.”

Morgan waved a hand. “We’ll worry about payment later.”

In a worst-case scenario, Morgan would defend the boy pro bono. She’d done it before. She would do it again. Her sense of justice didn’t make her firm solvent, but money wouldn’t stop her from helping someone she viewed as being wrongly accused.

“You left Newark after the trial. How did you get your nursing degree?” Morgan asked.

“The university was one of the reasons I chose Grey’s Hollow,” Tina said. “Lots of students meant cheap, flexible housing. No one asked questions if you didn’t have any money. I found a job working in the university cafeteria and rented a room just off campus. I went to night school. I was pretty far behind, so getting my GED took years. But because I was a university employee, the tuition was free. Eventually, I applied to the nursing program and was accepted.”

“You must have worked very hard,” Morgan said with respect.

“The definition of hard is relative.” Tina exhaled. “I had a roof over my head and a bed of my very own. Most days, I had something to eat. No one beat or raped me. Life was pretty good.”

That Morgan believed.

“Are you sure you want to stay at the hotel?” Lance asked Tina. “Sharp has a guest room.”

“I like the hotel.” She rested her head on the back of the seat. “No one knows I’m there. The sheriff registered me under a different name.”

“Let’s stop for food on the way back to the hotel.”

Tina pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. “I couldn’t.”

Morgan doubted she’d eaten since she found Paul.

“You need to eat something,” Morgan said. “Or you’ll be ill. Does your room have a microwave?”

“Yes,” Tina answered. “The room is a suite. There’s a small kitchen.”

“Then we’ll stop for a few basics.” Lance stopped at a convenience store and went inside. Morgan watched the parking lot the whole time he was in the store. He returned to the Jeep and set a bag on the center console.

“Are you sure there isn’t a friend we can call for you?” Morgan hated to leave her alone.

Tina turned to the window. “There’s no one.”

She had no friends? She’d been close to no one except Paul? Tina had claimed that Paul had known about her criminal father, but had he? Morgan wanted to believe her. Tina had admitted she’d held back information. Had she lied as well?

Tina took her phone from her purse and checked it, shoving it back inside with frustration and disappointment. “I wish I could do something.”

Morgan studied the woman’s face. Bags gathered under her eyes. Her dark hair was limp. Tina looked as if she’d aged five years since she’d first called Lance for help.

“Did you get any rest today?” Morgan asked.

Tina sighed. “No. I drove around the lake, then town, like I’d see him on the street. It was stupid, but I couldn’t sit still.”

Morgan understood. Inaction created its own tension and stress. “I know it will be hard to sleep, but you should try to get some rest tonight. You will not help your son by getting sick. We’ll touch base again in the morning.”

“All right.” Tina’s sigh quivered. “But tomorrow, I’m going out looking for my son again.”

Morgan would do the same. No one could keep her from searching for one of her kids.

Lance exited the interstate and parked in front of a chain residence-type hotel.

“What name are you booked under?” Morgan asked.

“Smith. The sheriff isn’t very original.” Tina climbed out of the car.

Lance and Morgan exchanged a knowing glance, both reaching for their door handles. Tina was a grown woman, and the choice to be alone was hers. But Morgan and Lance would make sure the hotel room was safe before leaving her.

“We’ll walk you in,” Lance said.

They bypassed the main lobby and went in a side door using Tina’s card key.

“Wait here. Let me check the room first.” Handing Morgan the grocery bag, Lance took the key and went in.

Morgan put her back to the wall and watched the hallway in both directions.

Lance returned in a minute. “It’s clear.”

They went inside. The room had a tiny kitchen and living area combined, with a separate bedroom and bath.

Tina wandered a few steps into the suite, looking lost. “I know you don’t understand why I need to be alone. It’s just my way. Paul didn’t always understand either, but he let me be. I’m not a social person.”

“You don’t have to explain.” Morgan would have hidden from the world after her husband died, but her family wouldn’t let her completely isolate herself. “Everyone is different.”

Tina nodded. She set her purse on the kitchen table. Her body stiffened.

“What is it?” Lance took two long steps and stood next to her.

“An envelope.” Tina pointed to the table.

Morgan looked past Lance’s shoulder. A letter-size white envelope sat in the middle of the table. It was addressed to Mrs. Smith with her room number and the hotel address. The letter had been postmarked in Scarlet Falls and dated the same day.

“Maybe it’s from the sheriff.” But as she said the words, Tina backed away from it.

“He would have told you if he’d sent you a letter,” Morgan said. “And any written communication from the sheriff’s department would be on official stationery.”

Lance patted his pockets. “Do you have gloves?” he asked Morgan.

She pulled a set from her tote and handed them to him.

He put them on before picking up the envelope. He went to the kitchen and took a knife from a top drawer. He used the blade to slit the flap. He pulled out a single piece of paper.

Blocky print spelled out I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE in all capital letters.

Tina flinched as if she’d been struck. “How? How did someone find me?”

“There are only a few hotels reasonably close to your house. It probably wasn’t that hard.” Lance snapped a picture of the note and the front of the envelope, then slid the paper back inside. “Let’s go down to the lobby and see how that envelope got in here.”

He led the way out of the room and down the hall. The registration clerk waved as they walked into the lobby. “Mrs. Smith. Your husband called for you.”

Tina froze. Her eyes widened as she turned toward the desk. By the time she reached it, her face was the same color as the pale-gray tiles. Without any communication, Morgan and Lance separated to put Tina between them.

“He said he would be in later this evening,” the clerk said in a chipper voice. “Would you like to leave a key for him here at the desk?”

“No!” Tina leaned both palms flat on the counter, as if she needed it to support herself. She took one long breath in and released it, visibly composing herself. “My husband is dead.”

The clerk paled. “I’m s-sorry. Then how?” He looked from Tina to Morgan and Lance. “Maybe it was a mistake.”

“Do you have more than one Mrs. Smith staying at the hotel?” Morgan asked.

The clerk typed on his computer and leaned closer to his screen. “No.”

Morgan pointed out, “Then it wasn’t a mistake.”

With gloved hands, Lance raised the envelope. “How did this get in Mrs. Smith’s room?”

“It came for her here at the hotel.” The clerk adjusted his glasses. “I had housekeeping deliver it to her room.”

“No one is supposed to know Mrs. Smith is at the hotel,” Lance said.

“Hey, no one told me.” The clerk focused on Tina. “What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know.” Tina’s words trembled.

“Did you give him any information?” Lance’s voice was clipped.

“No, sir.” A bead of sweat broke out on the clerk’s upper lip. “That would be against company policy.”

Morgan put an arm around Tina’s shoulders and steered her away from the counter. “Let’s go sit down. Lance will call Sheriff Colgate. He’ll have to move you.”

Lance walked a few feet away, his cell phone pressed to his ear.

“I need to get my things.” Tina’s body shook under Morgan’s arm.

“Later.” Morgan led her across the lobby, away from the door and windows to the tables where the hotel served a free breakfast buffet every morning and offered coffee and tea round the clock. Morgan picked a table in the corner. She steered Tina into a chair, then made her a cup of hot tea. She pressed it into Tina’s shaking hands.

Tina wrapped her fingers around the cardboard cup. Morgan went back to the alcove and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Lance appeared next to their table. “He’s sending a couple of deputies. They’re going to take you to a new hotel, and you’ll have a deputy with you 24/7.”

Tears leaked from Tina’s eyes. “But I want to be out looking for Evan.”

“We’ll take care of that,” Lance assured her. “You stay safe. When we find him, he’s going to need you. He’s been through a lot.”