Chapter 6 - Mark Delaney
Mark Delaney had serviced Daniel's truck the week before Daniel died.
Officially, Daniel suffered a heart attack while driving home from Nashville.
His truck left the road at low speed.
No major crash.
No autopsy beyond routine toxicology.
Caleb had always disliked the timing.
Now he reopened his notes.
Daniel complained his truck smelled strange.
He reported dizziness twice.
Mark had replaced the fuel filter.
A hospital blood sample still existed from Daniel's emergency treatment.
Maria requested testing.
It showed trace carbon monoxide exposure.
Not enough to prove murder.
Enough to reopen questions.
Mark's phone records placed him near Daniel's office on the night he died.
Then he disappeared.
His trailer was empty.
His tools gone.
But police found a hydraulic brake-line cutter beneath his workbench.
Microscopic residue matched the alloy from my Subaru's brake line.
The crash became attempted murder.
Elaine's attorney claimed Mark acted alone.
Maria did not believe it.
Neither did I.
Then Evan received a text.
COME HOME.
WE CAN STILL FIX THIS.
The sender used a prepaid number.
Evan looked at me.
"What do I do?"
For the first time, he was asking instead of deciding.
Maria prepared a controlled reply.
WHERE?
The answer came.
MILLER'S RIDGE DINER.
MIDNIGHT.
Caleb smiled without humor.
"That's where Evan recognized me."
The place had never been random.
It was one of Elaine's meeting points.
At 11:58 p.m., we watched from surveillance vehicles.
Elaine entered alone.
She sat in a booth.
Five minutes later, someone joined her.
Not Mark.
Miriam Grant.
The attorney who had prepared Rebecca's cabin deed.
May you like
And Miriam handed Elaine a folder labeled DANIEL MERCER - ORIGINAL WILL.
