Chapter 13 - The Road in the Rain
Detective Samuel Ortiz had retired three years earlier.
He returned to the police station voluntarily when prosecutors reopened Rachel’s case.
He carried the original accident file under one arm.
The folder looked painfully small.
“This bothered me.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Rachel’s car rested against a highway barrier.
Rain blurred the pavement.
The passenger side was crushed.
“What bothered you?”
“The truck driver.”
I remembered.
He disappeared after the collision.
Police found the abandoned truck two days later.
The vehicle had been leased using false documents.
At the time, investigators believed it was insurance fraud connected to illegal hauling.
Ortiz opened another photograph.
“This was found inside the cab.”
A prepaid phone.
“We couldn’t unlock it in 2021.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Can you now?”
“Technology changed.”
Ortiz slid a printed report toward us.
“The device contained one recovered message.”
I read it.
6:40 TOMORROW.
SHE USES EASTBOUND 17.
My hands became cold.
Rachel took Highway 17 to Maya’s preschool every Tuesday.
The crash occurred Tuesday at 6:52 a.m.
Laura asked.
“Do we know who sent it?”
Ortiz shook his head.
“Prepaid number.”
Marcus spoke.
“We can compare tower records.”
“That’s why you’re here.”
The investigation expanded.
For two days, teams reconstructed old cellular data.
Most records had expired.
Some had not.
Corporate litigation archives saved everything connected to executives.
Daniel’s company phone records still existed because of prior regulatory audits.
At 5:16 p.m. Wednesday, Marcus entered my office.
He did not sit.
“We found something.”
I stood.
“Daniel’s phone?”
“Not his primary.”
He placed a report on the desk.
“An expense record shows he bought prepaid phones through a security vendor.”
“Why?”
“He claimed they were for international travel.”
Marcus pointed to one device number.
“It activated twenty-four hours before Rachel died.”
My vision narrowed.
“Can you place it?”
“Near Daniel’s home the night before.”
I gripped the desk.
“And the morning of the crash?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Near Highway 17.”
I closed my eyes.
It was not proof Daniel ordered anything.
But it was no longer coincidence.
Then Detective Ortiz called.
They had located the truck driver.
Alive.
Living under a different name in Nevada.
Federal agents arrested him that night on unrelated fraud warrants.
By morning, he was talking.
His name was Calvin Ross.
He insisted he had not intended to kill Rachel.
He said he was paid to frighten her.
Force her off the road.
Make her believe someone was watching.
The rain had made the vehicle spin.
“What name did he give?” I asked.
Ortiz looked at Laura.
Then at me.
“Daniel Mercer.”
The room disappeared.
I thought about Daniel standing beside me at the hospital.
Daniel holding my shoulder.
Daniel arranging Rachel’s funeral transportation.
Daniel telling me to go home and be with Maya while he handled the company.
He had not merely benefited from my grief.
He had helped create it.
I walked outside before rage made me do something irreversible.
Maya was waiting in the garden with Dr. Shaw.
She saw my face.
“Bad news?”
I sat beside her.
“Yes.”
“About Mommy?”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at the flowers.
“Did somebody hurt her?”
I could not lie anymore.
“We think someone caused the crash.”
Maya went very still.
Then she whispered.
“Daniel?”
I stared at her.
“How did you know?”
May you like
She looked at me.
“Because Isabella once said he already got rid of one woman who got in the way.”
