Chapter 12 - The Last Two Minutes

Nathan could not listen alone.

Ruiz arrived with a forensic technician, and they played the file in the dining room while Lily and Noah slept upstairs.

Emma's final two minutes filled the house.

Wind.

An engine.

Her breath coming too fast.

"The pedal's dead," Emma said. "Oh God. Oh God."

A horn blared.

Then Emma's voice changed. Not panicked now. Focused.

"If this records... Nathan, I love you. Tell Lily I remembered the red light. Tell Noah Mommy loves dinosaurs even though I pretended not to."

Nathan bent forward, hands covering his face.

Ruiz stopped the playback.

"We can take a break."

"No. Finish it."

The recording continued.

Emma whispered, "She's behind me. Victoria is behind me."

Tires screamed.

A hard impact struck the rear of Emma's car.

Emma cried out.

"She hit me."

Another impact.

Then a man's voice came faintly through a phone speaker.

Grant.

"Do it now. Before she reaches the intersection."

Nathan looked up.

The final sound was Emma screaming as metal crashed through the guardrail.

The file ended.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Ruiz finally said, "That's conspiracy and homicide evidence."

The technician nodded. "We'll authenticate it, but the metadata is consistent with the night of the crash."

Nathan stared at the black laptop screen.

"Why would Emma have the recorder in her car?"

Ruiz looked at the red notebook. "Maybe she expected another confrontation."

Nathan remembered the voice recorder in locker 214.

"She had two recorders."

"Or the one in the locker was a decoy."

His phone rang.

Unknown number.

Ruiz held up a hand. "Speaker."

Nathan answered.

Victoria's voice came through softly.

"You found it."

Nathan's entire body went rigid.

"Where are you?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is Grant knows you found the recording."

Ruiz began tracing the call.

Victoria continued, "Nathan, listen to me. I cut the brake line, but Grant made me do it."

Nathan almost stopped breathing.

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