Chapter 17 - The Words After the Crash
Elena listened in a quiet interview room with Dana beside her and Pierce across the table. The audio was difficult. There was rushing water, broken glass, then Marcus struggling for breath.
"If anybody hears this," he said, "please tell Elena I tried."
Elena folded forward. Dana laid a hand between her shoulders. The recording continued. Marcus described Victor's SUV veering toward him. He said he swerved to avoid it and went through the guardrail. He could hear another car stop above. He shouted for help. Footsteps came close, then went away.
The last audible words were almost drowned by water. "Don't let them take it from the kids."
Elena cried without hiding her face. Not because Marcus was a martyr. Because he had been scared, because he had wanted to live, because he'd used his final strength to think about strangers counting on scholarships that should have been theirs.
Pierce stopped the playback. "We have to verify the file's authenticity and account for its history. But we're pursuing charges. You should know before it becomes public."
"Was it an accident?" Elena asked.
"The evidence suggests Victor forced Marcus toward the rail during a confrontation. The exact charges are for prosecutors and a jury. Bellamy's role in suppressing evidence is being investigated separately."
At home Elena made the cereal Marcus loved and couldn't eat more than two spoonfuls. She poured the rest into the trash and sobbed again. Grief had no sense of dignity, and she no longer needed to give it one.
The next morning she appeared at a private hearing to give a victim-impact account for the investigation. She did not exaggerate. She described Marcus as the brother who once fixed her leaking sink with a borrowed wrench, the man who called their mother every Sunday, the auditor who refused to sign off on numbers he couldn't explain.
When Elena left, a reporter pushed a microphone toward her. "Do you forgive Victor Ward?"
"This isn't about my forgiveness," she said. "It's about accountability."
Behind the reporter, another camera light blinked red. A black car rolled to the curb. Through its tinted window, Elena saw Celia Ward watching her.
May you like
Celia lowered the glass and said, "We should talk about what your brother really wanted."
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