Chapter 6 - THE ROAD WHERE DANIEL DIED
The mountain road was forty minutes outside the city.
Julia had not been back since Daniel’s crash.
Ortiz drove.
Julia sat beside her with Daniel’s red folder on her lap.
At mile marker thirty-two, they stopped.
The guardrail had been replaced years ago.
Flowers Julia once left there were gone.
Ortiz studied the old accident photos on her tablet.
“Brake failure.”
“That’s what they said.”
“The line was severed.”
Julia turned.
“What?”
Ortiz zoomed in.
“The original mechanic called it road damage.”
“But the cut is too clean.”
Julia’s hands went numb.
“Why wasn’t that investigated?”
Ortiz looked at her.
“The mechanic changed his statement three days later.”
“Where is he now?”
“Dead.”
Julia stared at the valley below.
Grant had been with them after the funeral.
He carried Emily when Julia couldn’t stand.
He paid bills.
He arranged food.
He called Daniel his best friend.
Julia wanted to scream.
Instead she asked, “Can we prove it?”
“Not yet.”
They returned home after dark.
“You came back.”
Julia hugged him.
“I told you I would.”
Julia understood why.
Later, Thomas showed her something he had taken from Diane’s apartment when he ran away.
A small brass key.
“She kept it in a box with my bracelet.”
“Do you know what it opens?”
“No.”
“But there was a number on the box.”
“What number?”
“317.”
Ortiz ran a search.
Three seventeen was a storage unit at Union Station.
The unit was rented under a fake name.
The payment card belonged to Diane Cole.
The next morning, police opened it.
Inside were children’s clothes from different ages.
School papers under fake names.
Medical records.
And a plastic tote filled with cash.
At the very back was an envelope marked JULIA.
Inside was a letter from Diane.
I was paid to keep your son hidden.
I told myself I was protecting him.
I was lying.
Grant was not the only person paying me.
May you like
Julia read the next line twice.
The second person was someone who sat beside you at Thomas’s funeral.
