Chapter 4 - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON INTERSTATE 71
David didn't move.
Richard closed the door.
"You shouldn't have come here alone."
David glanced toward his phone.
Richard smiled.
"Don't."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing you can prove."
"Claire and Daniel."
Richard's face remained calm.
"It was an accident."
"Then why was Claire investigating you?"
"Because your wife had a savior complex."
David lunged forward.
Richard stepped back.
"Careful."
"You knew Daniel was going to testify."
"Daniel Carter was an electrician who thought photographs made him an engineer."
"He found code violations."
"He found things he didn't understand."
David's hands curled into fists.
Richard placed the whiskey glass down.
"Your father understood business."
"Don't say his name."
"He understood that sometimes projects move before every problem is solved."
"Families lived in Rivergate."
"And nobody died."
"Claire did."
Silence.
David stared at him.
Richard looked toward the red folder.
"That was not supposed to happen."
David's blood went cold.
"What did you do?"
Richard realized his mistake.
But it was too late.
David's phone was recording from inside his pocket.
Richard's expression changed.
Then he smiled.
"You always were slower than your father."
He turned.
David grabbed his arm.
They struggled.
The whiskey glass shattered.
Richard pushed David against the desk and ran.
By the time security reached the floor, he was gone.
Police found Richard's abandoned car near the airport that evening.
Inside was a burner phone.
Messages connected him to a former Rivergate subcontractor named Mason Briggs.
Briggs had died in prison eighteen months earlier.
But his archived messages contained references to "scaring the electrician."
Not killing him.
Scaring him.
The crash investigation was reopened.
Detectives reconstructed the events.
Daniel had been driving home.
Claire followed him because they planned to meet an attorney.
A truck connected to Briggs's shell company moved aggressively toward Daniel's lane.
Daniel swerved.
Claire swerved.
The collision that followed killed both of them.
It had begun as intimidation.
It ended in death.
Richard disappeared.
News of the investigation became public.
Harrison Global's stock plunged.
Reporters surrounded David's building.
And suddenly Emily's name appeared online.
WIDOW OF DEAD ELECTRICIAN HOLDS KEY EVIDENCE.
Her apartment address leaked within hours.
David called immediately.
"You and Lily can't stay there."
"I'm not moving into your penthouse."
"I didn't ask you to."
"Good."
"I have a guesthouse outside the city."
"No."
"Emily, reporters know where you live."
She looked through the curtains.
Two vans were parked outside.
Lily sat on the floor coloring.
Emily hated him for being right.
"One night."
"However long you need."
"One night."
"Okay."
But one night became three.
Then five.
Richard remained missing.
The police believed he might target witnesses.
The guesthouse sat behind David's estate.
Emily expected marble and chandeliers.
Instead it was warm.
Small.
Comfortable.
Lily immediately claimed the window seat.
David visited each evening.
Sometimes bringing groceries.
Sometimes files.
Sometimes nothing.
On the sixth night, Emily found him sitting alone on the back steps.
Snow fell around him.
"Can't sleep?"
"No."
She sat beside him.
For several minutes, they watched the snow.
Then David whispered:
"If Claire hadn't found those records, she'd still be alive."
Emily looked at him.
"Don't."
"It's true."
"No."
"She went after Richard because my company failed."
"Daniel went after him too."
"And?"
"If I blame your wife for Daniel's death, then you get to blame Daniel for Claire's."
David looked at her.
"Neither makes sense."
He lowered his head.
Emily continued.
"The person responsible is the person who chose to hurt them."
David's eyes filled.
He looked away.
It was the first time Emily saw him cry.
She didn't touch him.
She simply stayed.
Then Lily opened the door.
"Mommy?"
Emily turned.
Lily held a drawing.
Three people stood beside a Christmas tree.
Emily.
Lily.
David.
Above David's head, Lily had written:
SKY MAN.
David laughed through tears.
But Emily's heart became uneasy.
May you like
Because Lily was becoming attached.
And Emily knew how dangerous attachment could be.
