Chapter 11 - What Happened to Claire
Vanessa was taken into custody for questioning, but her lawyer fought every step.
Without the original video and with Marcus still missing, the case was strong but not complete.
Adrian did not sleep.
At sunrise, he sat in Oliver's hospital room and replayed Marcus's words.
Ask Vanessa who loosened the brake line.
Maria stood by the window. "He wants you to blame her."
"Maybe because she did it."
"Or because he did."
Adrian looked at his sleeping son.
"Either way, I brought both of them into our lives."
Maria shook her head. "You trusted people who worked hard to be trusted. That's different."
Grant arrived with news from Claire's old crash file.
The original police report noted brake failure but classified it as mechanical deterioration. No criminal inspection had been requested because Claire's car had been destroyed after the insurance settlement.
But Claire had taken her car to a private mechanic the morning before the crash.
The mechanic was still alive.
They found him in a small garage outside the city.
He remembered Claire immediately.
"She was scared," he said. "Said the brakes felt soft. I checked them. They were fine when she left."
"Did anyone come by after?" Adrian asked.
The mechanic hesitated.
"A man did. Said he was her husband. Asked what I'd found."
Adrian showed him a photograph of Marcus.
The mechanic's face changed.
"That's him."
Grant leaned forward. "You're sure?"
"Positive."
Then the mechanic remembered something else.
He had a security camera in the shop lot. Old footage was long deleted, but he had once copied a still image for an insurance dispute.
He searched a dusty computer.
The photograph showed Marcus beside Claire's car.
And next to him stood a woman with long dark hair.
Vanessa.
Adrian stared at the timestamp.
It was taken fourteen hours before Claire died.
The mechanic swallowed.
"There's one more thing. Your wife gave me an envelope and told me to mail it if she didn't come back within two days."
Adrian's pulse spiked.
"Did you mail it?"
"I tried. But someone broke into the shop that night."
He opened a drawer.
"They missed this."
May you like
He handed Adrian a tiny memory card.
"She hid it inside a tire-pressure gauge."
