Chapter 14 - AARON
Aaron did not run.
Christopher stared at the man who had helped him recover Emma from the pool.
"You followed Anna?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Eleanor ordered me to make sure she reached the board safely."
"Safely."
"I believed her."
On the night Anna died, Aaron followed from a distance.
Saw the brake lights flash.
Saw the vehicle leave the road.
Not 911.
That delay lasted seven minutes.
Christopher went cold.
"Why?"
"She told me not to create a public scene until she knew what happened."
Seven minutes.
Anna might have survived.
"I should have called."
"Yes."
No excuse.
But then Aaron gave them something crucial.
Why?
"Guilt."
The footage showed Victor's SUV near Anna's car earlier that evening.
It also showed Eleanor's sedan parked at the overlook.
Eleanor had been nearby.
Closer than she admitted.
Brooks confronted her.
She had gone to stop Anna from reaching the board.
She wanted to take the trust papers.
Anna was conscious.
"What did you do?"
Eleanor whispered, "She asked me to call you."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why?"
"She said she had copied everything."
Anna was alive.
His mother chose silence.
By then Anna had stopped breathing.
Eleanor insisted she did not cause the crash.
Victor had.
But she had let the aftermath serve her.
Brooks added obstruction and homicide-related charges.
Emma was waiting with Rachel.
"Was Grandma there?"
"Yes."
"Did she help Mommy?"
"No."
Then she said, "Grandma always says family first."
"Sometimes people use those words when they mean themselves first."
Then Rachel's phone rang.
The district attorney had offered Eleanor a plea.
Christopher did not care about the sentence yet.
"Does she have to say what she did in open court?"
May you like
"Yes."
"Then she says it."
