Chương 1 - LILY TOLD ME
Five-year-old Avery Collins was still wearing a pink princess costume when she began crying in the back seat.
Her plastic crown sat crooked over one ear.
Silver glitter covered one cheek.
Her mother, Megan, glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Sweetheart?”
No answer.
They were driving home from preschool along a quiet back road outside Franklin, Tennessee.
Trees pressed close to both sides.
Late-afternoon sunlight flashed between bare branches.
“Avery?”
The girl sat suddenly upright.
Then pointed.
“Mommy, stop!”
Megan’s foot lifted instinctively.
“What?”
“The motorcycle man!”
Megan looked through the windshield.
No motorcycle.
No people.
No wreckage.
Nothing except trees and a shallow drainage ditch disappearing down a slope.
“What motorcycle man?”
Avery began crying harder.
“He needs help!”
“Honey, I don’t see anybody.”
“The bearded man!”
She pointed toward the woods.
“He can’t wait!”
Megan slowed.
“Avery—”
“Please!”
Something in the child’s voice changed her mind.
Megan pulled onto the shoulder.
Before the car stopped completely, Avery reached for her seat-belt release.
“Wait!”
Megan was out first.
She opened the rear door.
“Stay beside me.”
But Avery was already staring toward the slope.
“Down there.”
Megan saw nothing.
Then sunlight caught metal.
Chrome.
Twenty yards below the road.
Her stomach dropped.
A motorcycle lay on its side near the tree line.
Several yards away, a man in a leather vest lay motionless.
“Oh my God.”
Megan grabbed her phone.
911.
She barely heard the dispatcher asking for the road name because Avery had started down the muddy incline.
“Avery!”
The child ignored her.
Megan slipped twice following.
When she reached the bottom, Avery was already kneeling beside the man.
Large.
Maybe early forties.
Dark beard streaked with gray.
Blood along one temple.
His leather vest bore a patch:
IRON HAVEN RIDERS
Avery placed both hands high against the left side of his chest.
Megan’s heart stopped.
“No, baby. Move—”
Then she saw.
A tear in the jacket near his shoulder.
Blood underneath.
Avery was pressing exactly where it seeped through.
“Stay with me,” Avery whispered.
The man groaned.
Megan dropped beside them.
The dispatcher’s voice became sharp through the phone.
“Ma’am, do not move him unless there is immediate danger. Is he breathing?”
Megan checked.
“Yes.”
“Is there severe bleeding?”
“Upper chest—maybe shoulder.”
“Maintain firm direct pressure over the bleeding area if safe to do so.”
Megan pulled off her scarf.
“I’ve got it, Avery.”
The child shook her head.
“No.”
“Avery.”
“I have to hold this spot.”
“Honey, let Mommy—”
“Lily told me.”
Megan froze.
“Who?”
The injured man’s eyelids moved.
Avery leaned closer.
“Stay awake.”
His lips barely moved.
“Lily?”
Megan heard it.
So did Avery.
The little girl nodded solemnly.
“Yes.”
The man tried opening his eyes.
“Lily…”
Then lost consciousness again.
Megan replaced Avery’s hands with the folded scarf and held pressure as instructed.
Avery stayed beside him.
“He’ll wake up.”
“How do you know?”
“Lily said.”
“Avery, who is Lily?”
The child looked toward the trees.
Not at Megan.
“Her.”
Megan followed her gaze.
Nothing.
Only branches moving in the October wind.
Then Avery added:
“His brothers are coming.”
Megan’s skin prickled.
“What brothers?”
Before Avery answered, an engine roared somewhere in the distance.
Then another.
Then five more.
Motorcycles.
Megan stood halfway.
A line of bikers appeared at the top of the hill.
The first man ripped off his helmet.
“Gabe!”
They rushed down.
One stopped when he saw Megan.
Then Avery.
“What happened?”
“Crash. Ambulance is coming.”
Another biker crouched near the injured man.
“Bear, come on.”
Avery corrected him.
“His name is Gabe.”
Everyone stopped.
The biker looked at her.
“How do you know that?”
Avery looked confused.
“Lily told me.”
The color drained from his face.
Megan noticed.
“What?”
The man whispered:
“Who did you say?”
“Lily.”
Nobody spoke.
Finally the biker asked:
“What does Lily look like?”
Megan immediately pulled Avery toward her.
“No.”
He raised both hands.
“Sorry.”
Good.
The ambulance arrived.
Paramedics took over.
As they lifted Gabe onto the stretcher, his hand moved weakly.
Avery reached out.
His fingers closed around hers.
His eyes opened halfway.
For one second he looked directly at her.
Then whispered:
“Yellow boots.”
Avery smiled.
“She still likes them.”
The paramedic looked confused.
The bikers did not.
One of them stepped backward as though somebody had hit him.
Megan stared.
“What is going on?”
The oldest rider removed his sunglasses.
His eyes were wet.
“Gabe had a daughter.”
Megan tightened her hand around Avery’s shoulder.
“Had?”
The man nodded.
“Her name was Lily.”
Silence.
“How old?”
His answer came quietly.
“Five.”
Exactly Avery’s age.
May you like
“And she died four years ago.”
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