Part 2
“And they talked to me.”
Elena's voice became quieter.
“He told them he hadn't seen her.”
Travis smiled.
“Because I hadn't.”
Raymond noticed Miguel look away.
There.
Another small reaction.
Raymond had spent enough years watching men lie to know guilt wasn't something you could diagnose from a face.
Nervousness wasn't proof.
Looking away wasn't a confession.
But it was a reason to keep listening.
Elena reached into her apron.
Travis immediately moved.
“Don't.”
Raymond shifted in front of her.
Travis stopped.
Elena pulled out her phone.
“This came this morning.”
She opened a message.
Unknown number.
STOP ASKING ABOUT SOFIA.
A second message followed.
SHE LEFT BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO.
Then a photograph.
Sofia's apartment building.
Taken from across the street.
Raymond's expression changed.
“Police have seen this?”
“I was going to show them after my shift.”
Travis laughed.
“Anybody can send a text.”
Raymond nodded.
“That's true.”
Travis looked almost relieved.
Then Raymond continued.
“But anybody didn't walk into her workplace three hours later and grab her wrist.”
Travis's smile disappeared.
Elena looked toward the front windows.
“My manager told them I was working today.”
“Who?”
“All three.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Raymond looked at the bikers.
Now the visit made more sense.
The scattered dollar bills.
The demand that Elena bend down.
The laughter.
The humiliation.
It hadn't begun as a random joke.
They wanted to intimidate her.
Make her feel small.
Make her understand they could walk into her workplace whenever they wanted.
Travis pointed toward Elena.
“She needs to stop telling people I did something to Sofia.”
Elena's voice cracked.
“I said she was missing.”
“You said my name.”
“Because you were her boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend.”
“Then help find her.”
Travis stared at her.
“Maybe she doesn't want to be found.”
From beside him, Miguel said quietly,
“Travis.”
Travis snapped toward him.
“What?”
Miguel shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Raymond saw it again.
Fear.
This time not Elena's.
Miguel's.
Raymond looked at him.
“You know something.”
Travis laughed.
“He doesn't know anything.”
“I asked him.”
Miguel looked toward the door.
Raymond didn't block it.
“If you want to leave, leave.”
That surprised everyone.
Even Miguel.
Raymond stepped farther aside.
“I'm not keeping anybody here.”
Travis stared at him.
“What game are you playing?”
“No game.”
Raymond pointed toward the exit.
“You've had an open door since I stood up.”
Then he looked at Elena.
“She didn't.”
Travis's jaw tightened.
The distinction landed harder than a threat.
Miguel moved toward the door.
Travis caught his jacket.
“Where are you going?”
Miguel pulled free.
“I'm done.”
“With what?”
“This.”
Travis grabbed him again.
Raymond didn't interfere.
Not yet.
Miguel turned.
“Let go.”
Travis released him.
Miguel walked two steps.
Then stopped.
He looked at Elena.
“I didn't touch your sister.”
Travis's face changed instantly.
Nobody had accused Miguel of touching Sofia.
Elena stared at him.
“What happened?”
Miguel looked toward Travis.
Travis said,
“Shut your mouth.”
Raymond heard a chair scrape behind him.
The diner manager had come from the office.
Phone in hand.
“Police are coming.”
Travis turned.
“You called them?”
The manager nodded.
“About five minutes ago.”
Derrick swore.
Travis moved toward the exit.
Raymond didn't stop him.
Neither did anyone else.
But before Travis reached the door, Miguel spoke.
“She was at the quarry road.”
Travis froze.
Elena stopped breathing.
“What?”
Miguel looked sick.
“Eleven nights ago.”
Travis turned slowly.
“Don't.”
Miguel's voice shook.
“I drove.”
Elena stepped forward.
Raymond extended an arm to keep her from getting too close.
“Where is my sister?”
Miguel looked at her.
“She was alive when I left.”
Elena's knees almost gave way.
Raymond caught her elbow.
“What happened?”
Miguel began talking.
Not cleanly.
Not in order.
But enough.
The night Sofia ended things with Travis, he refused to accept it.
He called Derrick.
Then Miguel.
Travis told them Sofia had some of his property and he wanted it back.
They met outside her apartment.
Sofia came downstairs because she didn't want Travis inside.
An argument started.
Travis demanded her phone.
She refused.
Miguel said Sofia eventually got into their SUV voluntarily because Travis promised they would drive somewhere public and settle things without involving her neighbors.
They drove toward an old quarry access road outside town.
Raymond listened carefully.
“You expect anyone to believe she voluntarily went somewhere isolated with three men?”
Miguel looked ashamed.
“She didn't know where we were going.”
That answer was worse.
Elena whispered,
“Then she didn't agree.”
Miguel lowered his head.
“No.”
At the quarry road, Sofia realized where they were.
She demanded to be taken back.
Travis refused.
They argued.
Sofia got out.
She started walking.
Travis followed.
“What happened then?”
Elena asked.
Miguel looked at Travis.
“I don't know.”
Travis laughed once.
“You're lying.”
Miguel shook his head.
“You told us to leave.”
Derrick finally spoke.
“Stop talking.”
Miguel turned toward him.
“You can keep doing this if you want. I'm not.”
Sirens became audible outside.
Travis moved toward Miguel.
Raymond stepped between them.
“Don't.”
Travis looked at him.
“You think you're a cop?”
“No.”
“Then move.”
“No.”
Travis raised his hands.
Raymond's remained open.
“Police are thirty seconds away. Don't turn one bad decision into another.”
For a moment, Travis looked like he might swing.
Then blue lights crossed the diner windows.
His hands lowered.
The confrontation ended there.
Not with three men unconscious.
Not with Raymond proving anything.
