Tori got into the car and pulled her cell out in case Dee called. Or in case Ryan called. Dee had sounded scared and had wanted a secret meeting with no investigators—no cops, as he put it. But was this a trap? Did he intend to hurt her?
Even so, she had a weapon and knew how to protect herself.
Backing from the drive, Tori headed down the street, surprised the deputy didn’t follow her. He must just be assigned to prevent anyone from entering her home, not necessarily protect or shadow Tori. Good. It wasn’t liked she needed a bodyguard.
Tori wouldn’t go into this situation if anything raised an alarm or if someone followed her.
A half hour later, she pulled into the parking lot of the Shasta Motel, fifteen minutes early. Good. That would give her time to assess the situation. This time of morning the parking lot was only half full. Either most everyone had checked out, or they hadn’t had many guests in the first place. The motel wasn’t near any theme parks or anything worthy of entertainment. A family exited their room and climbed into a Suburban. Other than that, the place was quiet.
She drew in a breath.
God, please help me find answers about who killed my sister. You know who it is. Please help me to find the killer and bring them to justice.
Okay, she’d told Ryan she wouldn’t do this alone. But as soon as she spoke with Dee and found out what he knew, she would contact Ryan to fill him in. She just wanted to wait until she finally had some answers. Everything she’d discovered so far had only caused her to have more questions. Her weapon hidden beneath her jacket, she headed toward the opposite end of the motel and then made her way down the walkway until she stood in front of the room number Dee James had given her.
She knocked softly. Nothing.
Then she knocked again. “Mr. James? It’s Tori.”
The door cracked open. She could barely see the redheaded man in the shadows staring out. Hadn’t she just last night thought about stupid people walking into the shadows?
“Dee James?” she asked. “I’m Tori. Sarah’s sister.”
He swung the door wide so she could easily see into the room, for which she was grateful.
She stepped inside and flipped on all the lights to chase away the shadows. “Do you mind leaving that door open while I check the bathroom?”
“Who do you think I have hidden in there?”
She pulled her gun out. He threw up his hands. “Whoa, whoa.”
She scrunched her face. “Don’t worry, Mr. James. This is for my protection only. I’m checking the bathroom, that’s all. I want to make sure this isn’t a trap. Is that okay with you?”
He relaxed. “Knock yourself out.”
Dee moved to stand in the corner opposite the door he’d left open, which she appreciated. This wasn’t the best scenario and she hoped she hadn’t just lost his trust.
She glanced at him before clearing the bathroom, then took in the small space in the wall that passed for a closet. He swiped a hand through his hair and fidgeted. Then did it again. Rinse and repeat.
She gestured that he could close the door.
“I don’t like guns. Why did you bring a gun? I should have said no guns along with no cops.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you or upset you. But a girl can’t be too careful. My sister was killed. Murdered. I’m only trying to protect myself. That said, I’m going to keep my weapon out and close, if you don’t mind.” Tori sat in the only chair in an effort to dial down the tension. She hadn’t meant to spook him.
“I understand. You don’t trust me.”
“It’s not you.” Though she couldn’t be sure that he was safe. “I’ve been attacked a few times since I arrived in California. Now, please tell me what you can about Sarah and what happened to her. It’s obvious that you know something.”
Sweat beaded his temple to go with his constant fidgeting. Dee began pacing the small room.
“Why don’t you have a seat on the bed and calm down?” Tori suggested.
She noted that he acted like someone who was sitting on explosive information and she wanted the information so she could get out of here before things blew up. She would pull pen and paper out, but she didn’t want to take the time to write things down. She had a great memory. She had a feeling he wasn’t the kind of guy who would allow her to record their conversation.
“Okay. Okay. Sarah...she was always so radical. Outspoken. I think she made some people mad in Sacramento. Some of the legislators.”
“You mean when you protested about the pollution issues? Why do you think that she made someone mad, specifically? She wasn’t the only one protesting.”
He shrugged. “She might have threatened someone.”
A chill ran over her. “Who did she threaten? How and why?”
“I don’t know. Look. I told her to use a secret email. To get an alias, if she was going to be so in everyone’s face.”
Her sister had used an email to threaten someone. That was what Tori was hearing.
“But isn’t that part of the point of belonging to an activist group and protesting? To stir things up and be in-your-face, as you said, in order to affect change?”
“I guess so, yes. I just thought she would take more precautions.”
He wasn’t giving her enough information to make heads or tails of this. “When I read up about A Better World, I found a few articles that loosely linked ecoterrorism back to your group. What can you tell me about that? Was Sarah involved in ecoterrorism? Is that what you’re telling me—that she threatened politicians with violence?” No way would Tori believe that Sarah would actually hurt someone, but if her targets thought she was dangerous, they might
