EVERY THURSDAY THE HUGE TATTOOED BIKER ORDERED TWO MEALS AND SAVED AN EMPTY SEAT—UNTIL THE LITTLE GIRL HE WAS WAITING FOR SUDDENLY STOPPED COMING

Sarah and I stared at the elegant older man in shock.

"You're... a Vance?" Sarah asked, backing away slightly.

"Regrettably, yes," Arthur Vance replied, sitting down gracefully in the armchair across from my desk. "Richard is the black sheep of our family firm. He uses corporate intimidation, forged documents, and corrupt local officials to line his pockets. I’ve been tracking his illegal land acquisitions across Kansas for two years, waiting for him to make a fatal mistake."

Arthur set his silver cane against the desk. "An hour ago, a retired friend of mine at the Federal Bureau of Investigation tipped me off that Richard was attempting to rail-road a decorated 82nd Airborne veteran named Raymond Sullivan in a Sedgwick County court."

Arthur’s eyes turned to cold steel. "My family name built schools and hospitals in this state. I will not allow a greedy coward like my nephew to use it to destroy an honorable man."

"Can you get Knox out?" I asked, my heart pounding with sudden hope.

Arthur opened his leather briefcase, pulling out a thick sheaf of legal motions printed on heavy cream paper. "I spent forty years as a senior partner in Manhattan corporate law, Miss Foster. I’ve argued before the United States Supreme Court. Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, Richard Vance and his bought prosecutor are going to learn what happens when you bring a knife to a battleship fight."

He looked at Sarah, his expression softening into profound kindness. "Mrs. Miller... or rather, Miss Sarah Jennings. Are you prepared to stand up in a courtroom tomorrow and tell the truth about what Marcus Miller did to you and your daughter?"

Sarah looked down at her hands. For months, she had been beaten down, terrified, and made to feel worthless by a cruel man. But then she looked out the office door into the diner lobby, where Sophie was sitting at Table Six, drawing a picture of a big black motorcycle on a napkin.