Chapter 15 - The Passenger

The recovered footage showed Hannah entering the garage with June Parker. The two women argued briefly with Victor Sloane, then drove away in Hannah’s own car. A second vehicle followed. Investigators matched its plate to the number hidden in the watch.

Ellie watched the video with her hands pressed together. June had told her she was taking a late shift at the clinic that night. Instead, she had been helping Hannah. Gabriel remembered Hannah’s last text: Running late. Kiss Noah for me. He had never answered it. The guilt threatened to swallow him, but Ellie gently said, "You didn’t know what she was facing." Gabriel replied, "I should have listened when she said something was wrong."

June appeared in the security footage for less than twelve seconds. Ellie replayed the moment when her sister tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was a gesture Ellie knew from childhood. She almost reached toward the screen. Gabriel asked if she wanted him to stop. "No," she said. "I want to see her walk out of that garage one more time."

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The storage unit smelled of dust and damp cardboard. Foster brought a technician, and nobody touched the drive until its serial number had been photographed. The video showed the garage at 9:14 p.m., the night Hannah died. Gabriel watched his wife cross the concrete floor with a folder under one arm. She paused, glanced toward a security camera, and tucked something into the pocket of her coat. "She knew she was being watched," Ellie said. Samuel appeared on the footage, arguing with Conrad near the exit. A timestamp jumped forward by six minutes. The technician frowned. "This isn't a continuous recording." Gabriel's pulse raced. "Can you recover the missing part?" "Maybe. But look at the reflection in that windshield." In the dark glass, a second person was visible, standing close enough to Hannah to reach her.

The detective paused the footage on the second vehicle’s driver. It was not Samuel. It was Victor Sloane. And beside him sat someone wearing Margaret’s silver coat.