Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT DANIEL CRASHED
The storage facility still had records.
Daniel expected nothing more than a gate log.
Instead, the manager remembered his car.
"Black SUV? Rear bumper sticker from the state university?"
"Yes."
"Came through twice that month."
Daniel felt the room narrow.
"Who was driving?"
The manager turned his monitor toward Detective Cole.
"We keep exterior video for a year."
June 14 appeared on-screen.
Daniel's SUV entered at 6:37 p.m.
Olivia was driving.
Luke swore under his breath.
Daniel leaned closer.
The passenger seat looked empty.
Then the rear door opened.
Daniel himself stepped out.
Unsteady.
He gripped the roof as if the ground were moving.
Olivia came around the vehicle and took his arm.
Daniel whispered, "I don't remember this."
The video showed Olivia guiding him toward Unit 418.
She unlocked it.
They disappeared inside for eleven minutes.
When they came out, Daniel could barely walk.
Olivia put him in the passenger seat.
She drove away.
Cole froze the frame.
"Your crash report says you were driving."
"I was. I woke up behind the wheel after impact."
Luke looked sick.
The next camera answered how.
At 7:28 p.m., the SUV stopped in a dark turnout less than two miles from the crash site.
Olivia got out.
She walked around the vehicle.
Opened the passenger door.
Pulled Daniel toward the driver's seat.
He moved like a sleepwalker.
She buckled him in.
Then she walked away.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"She left me there."
Nine minutes later, the SUV began moving.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
The manager whispered, "Jesus."
Daniel did not answer.
He watched his own vehicle leave the frame.
Minutes later, he had slammed into the barrier.
Cole turned toward him.
"This changes the investigation."
Daniel pointed toward Unit 418.
"What's in there?"
They obtained the rental name.
Not Olivia Carter.
Not Luke Mercer.
The unit had been rented to a company called Northbridge Consulting.
Daniel had never heard of it.
Luke had.
"That's the company Olivia asked me to send the thirty thousand to."
Cole's eyes sharpened.
"You said you gave her money for an apartment."
"That's what she told me."
A warrant took hours.
By evening, officers opened Unit 418.
There was no furniture.
No boxes.
Only a folding table, a locked file cabinet, and a cheap laptop.
On the wall hung photographs.
Daniel going to work.
Daniel at the grocery store.
Daniel picking Ethan up from school.
Evelyn leaving the bank.
Luke standing outside his office.
And Ethan.
Dozens of photographs of Ethan.
Daniel moved toward them.
Cole blocked him.
"Don't touch anything."
Then Daniel saw the whiteboard.
Across the top, Olivia had written one word.
AFTER.
Underneath were three columns.
DANIEL.
EVELYN.
ETHAN.
Beside Daniel's name was one sentence.
May you like
ACCIDENT IF NECESSARY.
