Chapter 9
The Crash Was Never Just Weather
Illinois State Police reopened Amelia's crash file within forty-eight hours.
Victor hated how quickly old facts changed when someone finally looked at them with suspicion.
A mechanic's report buried deep in the file noted irregular wear on a rear brake line.
At the time, investigators attributed it to damage from the crash.
Now a forensic engineer disagreed.
The line had likely been weakened before impact.
Not cut cleanly.
Abraded carefully enough to fail under pressure.
"That still doesn't prove murder," Clara warned.
Victor knew.
But he also knew Amelia had been driving downhill on ice when she lost braking power.
Someone had chosen a method that would resemble bad luck.
Exactly the sort of risk Evan Shaw once made disappear.
Daniel denied everything through his attorney.
He insisted Victoria had fabricated their conversations and claimed he had never met Brutus Kane.
Then Clara found a photograph from a private golf club outside Naperville.
Daniel and Brutus stood three people apart at a charity event eleven months earlier.
Not proof of conspiracy.
But another lie had acquired a crack.
Victor called an emergency meeting of the Morgan Holdings board.
He did not tell them why.
When Daniel arrived, Victor watched him greet everyone with practiced ease.
Daniel was forty-one, handsome in the polished, frictionless way that made investors trust him immediately.
He hugged Thomas.
He asked Victor how Lily was doing.
That almost broke Victor's restraint.
Instead, Victor projected Amelia's financial photographs onto the conference-room screen.
Daniel stopped smiling.
"Recognize those transfers?" Victor asked.
"No."
"Your approval code is on four of them."
"Codes can be copied."
Thomas looked at his nephew.
"Enough."
Daniel's expression changed.
For years he had played the loyal cousin, the calm CFO, the man willing to clean up Victor's ambitious messes.
Now a colder person appeared beneath that surface.
"You want enough?" Daniel said to Thomas. "You spent thirty years teaching us that losing was a moral failure. Now you're shocked somebody learned the lesson."
Thomas stiffened.
Victor said, "Did you hire Evan Shaw?"
Daniel looked at him.
The pause lasted half a second too long.
"Evan Shaw is dead."
Nobody in the room moved.
Clara had never found a death certificate.
Victor stepped closer.
"How do you know?"
Daniel realized the mistake instantly.
Then the fire alarm sounded.
Red strobes flashed across the conference room.
A voice announced an evacuation.
Clara touched her earpiece.
"This is not a scheduled drill."
Victor's phone buzzed.
It was Grace.
He answered immediately.
All he heard was Lily crying.
May you like
Then a man's voice said, "You should have left the bracelet buried with the past."
The call ended.
