Chapter 13 - Harbor Mile Seventeen

The police report called it driver fatigue.

My father had been traveling home after midnight. His SUV broke through a barrier on Harbor Road and rolled down an embankment.

He survived the crash.

He died six weeks later from complications.

All my life, I treated it as tragedy.

Richard treated it as a secret.

"Talk," I said.

We were alone in the captain's office now.

Richard stared at the floor.

"Daniel called me that night. He said he had proof against Sterling. He wanted to meet at a diner near Mile 17."

"Did you go?"

"Yes."

"Was Sterling there?"

"Not when I arrived."

"That isn't what I asked."

Richard looked up.

"He came later."

My hands went cold.

Richard said Sterling demanded the files. My father refused. They argued in the parking lot. Richard left first.

"I was a coward," he said. "I told myself it wasn't my fight anymore."

"Then my father crashed."

"Yes."

"And you never told police Sterling had confronted him that night?"

"Sterling threatened Margaret. He threatened my children."

I slammed my palm against the desk.

"So you protected yours by sacrificing mine."

Richard flinched.

Good.

He deserved to.

But anger did not answer the bigger question.

"Did Sterling cause the crash?"

"I don't know."

Then he added, "But there was another car."

The original report never mentioned another car.

Richard had seen a dark sedan follow my father out of the parking lot.

He remembered part of the plate.

Captain Hale ran it through an old marina security archive connected to the hotel across the road.

Against all odds, the hotel still had a digitized backup from that year.

At 12:41 a.m., my father's SUV passed the camera.

Four seconds later, a black sedan followed.

The registered owner was a company called Harbor Shield LLC.

Evan searched state records.

The manager of Harbor Shield was Mason Pike.

The same man who stole the recorder.

The same man who threatened Celeste.

The same man sitting in county custody.

Then my phone buzzed.

A message from an unknown number.

May you like

Billionaire’s Wife Kicked a Waitress in Front of 300 Elites—One Slap Exp...

The billionaire’s wife tried to kick a waitress in the face in front of 300 wealthy guests. But seconds later, she whispered three...

My Mother Grabbed My Wife by the Hair Over Cold Soup—But What My Father...

My mother grabbed my wife by the hair over a bowl of cold soup. And the most shameful part? For one terrible second, I almost defe...

My Parents Kicked My 6-Year-Old Daughter and Me Out on Christmas—Then I...

My mother kicked my six-year-old daughter out of Christmas dinner, never realizing I was the only reason she still had a house to...

Mason wants immunity.

He says he can prove who ordered the crash.