Chapter 13 - THE SEALED PACKET
The courier arrived at 11:43 p.m. Detective Kim came too. Rachel photographed the seal before opening it. Inside were copied emails, account authorizations, and one document that changed the room instantly: a vehicle maintenance invoice.
Amelia's SUV had been serviced three weeks before her fatal crash.
Brake lines inspected.
Rachel read both documents side by side.
"That doesn't prove sabotage."
"No," Dante said. "But it kills the easy explanation."
Then Rebecca found an email.
From Vivian to the Mercer household manager.
Please confirm Amelia's Friday departure time and whether she is using the Range Rover or the Mercedes.
Sent the night before the crash.
At 1:10 a.m., police reopened Amelia's death as a suspicious fatality pending forensic review.
Vivian's attorney issued a statement calling the new allegations "reckless fantasy."
A paper shredder jammed with half-destroyed documents.
Technicians reconstructed several pages by morning.
One was a payment ledger.
Another was an invoice to a shell company called Blue Ridge Automotive Consulting.
The payment date was three days before Amelia's crash.
The amount was twenty-five thousand dollars.
The invoice description read vehicle risk review.
The owner of Blue Ridge was a former mechanic named Calvin Rusk.
Police found him in a trailer outside Albany.
At first, he denied knowing Vivian.
Then Rachel showed him a bank record.
"I didn't know she was going to die," he said.
Rachel leaned forward.
"What did you do?"
Rusk stared at the table.
"She told me to make the brakes fail later. Not right away."
Rachel asked, "Who paid you?"
Rusk whispered one name.
"Nathan."
May you like
Then he looked up.
"But the woman gave the instructions."
