Chapter 9 - Garrett’s Crash Gets a Second Look
Investigators revisited Garrett’s crash.
The result did not deliver the dramatic answer I feared.
There was no evidence his brakes were cut.
No evidence another vehicle forced him off the road.
No evidence Wade caused the crash.
But investigators discovered something relevant.
Garrett had driven the east road that afternoon to photograph fresh
timber activity.
His phone contained images taken less than two hours before he died.
One showed a Mercer Timber Services loader operating near our boundary.
Another showed Curtis Bell.
The weather worsened later.
Garrett drove home on a dangerous road.
His crash remained consistent with loss of control in severe conditions.
That truth was painful.
Wade’s conduct may have put Garrett on that road.
It did not mean Wade killed him.
I had to live with the distinction.
When the sheriff explained it, I cried harder than I had at the funeral.
Part of me wanted a villain large enough to hold all my grief.
Reality refused.
Garrett died in an accident.
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Wade had still been stealing timber and trying to take land.
Both truths could exist.
