Chapter 12 - The Wrong Body
The dead man was Travis Coleman's, a mechanic who had worked at one of Raymond's garages.
Police believed Raymond staged the scene to make it look like he had died.
Inside Travis's jacket was a motel key card.
Detectives searched the room and found maps, cash, and a printed photograph of Ethan leaving school two weeks before Daniel's crash.
On the back, someone had written:
THE BOY IS THE LEVER.
Mara immediately moved Ethan to a secure foster placement approved by the court.
Ethan hated it.
The house was safe, but every locked door reminded him of Amanda.
He started waking at night certain someone was downstairs.
Lily called him every evening from Aunt Denise's house.
She always asked the same question.
"Did you eat real dinner?"
He always lied and said yes.
On the fourth night, Mara arrived with Detective Cole.
"We found Raymond's email archive," she said.
One message was dated the morning Daniel died.
AMANDA: I can't keep doing this. Daniel knows everything.
RAYMOND: Then choose. Him or us.
AMANDA: What about the children?
RAYMOND: Once Ethan is legally under your control, the trust solves everything. Lily stays with you. Everybody wins.
Amanda had replied fourteen minutes later.
DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. JUST DON'T TELL ME DETAILS.
Ethan read it twice.
"She knew."
Cole did not soften it.
"She knew something serious was going to happen."
Then another recovered email appeared.
It had been sent by Daniel to Mara but never delivered because someone deleted it from the server queue.
Subject: IF I DON'T MAKE IT TO CINCINNATI.
May you like
The attachment was a photograph of Raymond standing beside Daniel's SUV.
In his hand was a pair of bolt cutters.
