The veterinary worker looked at him.
“To a clinic?”
“Yes.”
“The emergency animal hospital is twelve minutes east.”
He nodded.
Then looked at his motorcycle.
The red paint was still dripping.
His brand-new Harley looked like somebody had emptied a murder scene across it.
He almost laughed at the absurdity.
No way he was riding that now.
A man from the crowd held up keys.
“I've got a pickup.”
The biker looked at him.
“Take us.”
The little girl stepped forward.
“I want to go.”
Her grandmother immediately said:
“No.”
The child looked at the kitten.
“Please.”
The biker looked toward the grandmother.
“She saved him.”
The grandmother exhaled.
Five minutes later, the little girl sat in the back seat of a stranger's pickup beside her grandmother while the biker held the towel-wrapped kitten carefully against his chest.
Before they left, the store manager ran from the entrance.
“Wait.”
The biker turned.
The manager's face looked wrong.
Not merely concerned.
Disturbed.
“What?”
“We found footage.”
The biker looked toward the kitten.
“Someone tied him?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“A teenager.”
The manager glanced toward the child.
“Maybe fifteen.”
“Do you know him?”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
The manager looked around as though unsure how much to say.
“He came from the alley behind the building.”
“Carrying the kitten?”
The manager nodded.
“He put it under your motorcycle.”
The biker's jaw tightened.
“Tied it?”
“Yes.”
The little girl's grandmother covered her mouth.
The manager continued.
“Then he set up a phone.”
The biker stared.
“What?”
“A phone.”
“Where?”
“Against one of the shopping carts.”
“Recording?”
“Looks like it.”
Nobody spoke.
The biker looked around the parking lot.
Rows of carts.
Cars.
People.
Somewhere among them, a phone might still be sitting.
“Find it.”
Security found the device less than two minutes later.
It was wedged near the bottom of a shopping cart rack.
The camera was still recording.
The screen displayed the motorcycle.
The exact parking space.
The area beneath the rear tire.
The biker stared.
The child stared too.
She whispered:
“They wanted to watch.”
The biker looked at her.
She pointed toward the motorcycle.
“When you started it.”
Nobody needed her to finish.
Police arrived before the pickup left.
Two officers took statements.
One collected the phone.
The manager copied security footage.
The biker gave his information.
The grandmother gave hers.
The little girl was asked only basic questions.
When the officer finished, he crouched to her eye level.
“You did a very brave thing.”
The child looked toward the kitten.
“Is he going to live?”
The officer glanced at the biker.
“I think we're going to find out.”
The animal hospital smelled like disinfectant and wet fur.
The kitten was taken immediately.
The biker sat in the waiting room beside the little girl and her grandmother.