Chapter 15 - Laura’s Last Night
Daniel stared at the phone.
Laura had died in a car crash.
Rain.
A slick highway.
A truck crossing lanes.
No mystery.
No conspiracy.
So why invoke it?
He did not ask Noah immediately.
Instead, he called Walter.
“What happened the night Laura died?”
Walter was silent.
“Dad.”
“Rachel was with you.”
“What?”
“At the hospital.”
“I know that.”
“No. Before.”
Daniel froze.
“Before the crash?”
Walter exhaled.
“Laura and Rachel argued.”
Daniel sat down.
“About what?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“Laura thought Rachel was too involved in your marriage.”
Daniel laughed once.
Walter explained.
Rachel had been at their house almost daily.
Calling Daniel about problems.
Daniel felt sick.
“Everyone keeps saying that like grief made me stupid.”
Walter said nothing.
Daniel called Megan.
She remembered too.
Laura once told her Rachel “wanted to run the house.”
Not romance.
Control.
Daniel looked at the last two years differently.
Rachel had not stepped into a vacuum after Laura died.
Police confirmed the accident remained exactly what it had always been.
An accident.
Rachel’s question was manipulation.
Then Noah came downstairs.
“Dad?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Did Aunt Rachel ever talk to you about Mom’s accident?”
Noah nodded.
“What did she say?”
“Anything else?”
“She said if Mom had listened, maybe she’d still be alive.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
That was what Rachel wanted hidden.
Not a crime.
A cruelty.
She had made children carry a version of Laura’s death that blamed their mother.
Noah whispered, “Is that true?”
Daniel pulled him close.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the crash report says another driver lost control in the rain.”
“So Mom didn’t die because she argued?”
“No.”
Noah began crying.
Daniel realized his son had been carrying that guilt too.
Then Detective Harris called.
Rachel had been located.
Not at a bus station.
May you like
At Laura’s cemetery.
And she had a knife in her bag.
