Chapter 9 - Michael’s Death Was Still An Accident
The discovery of Michael’s records created an ugly rumor.
People began asking whether Victor caused Michael’s fatal crash.
Laura refused to believe speculation.
Police reviewed the original case.
The other driver had run a red light.
Traffic-camera evidence supported it.
The driver was intoxicated and had been convicted.
There was no evidence Victor arranged Michael’s death.
Daniel struggled with that conclusion.
“If Mike hadn’t come to my apartment—”
Laura interrupted.
“No.”
“He left because we fought.”
“The other driver caused the crash.”
“I made him angry.”
“You did not run the light.”
Daniel cried.
For three years, he had turned correlation into guilt.
Laura had done something similar.
She blamed Daniel emotionally even when she never said it aloud.
Maybe he sensed that.
Maybe he invented some of it himself.
Either way, Michael’s death did not need a conspiracy to be tragic.
The business deception was real enough without rewriting the accident.
That distinction became important to Evan too.
He had begun imagining his father as a man murdered for discovering
corruption.
Laura corrected him gently.
“Your dad found something wrong at work. Then he died in an unrelated
crash.”
“That’s less dramatic.”
“Yes.”
“Still sad.”
May you like
“Yes.”
Truth did not owe anyone a better story.
