CHAPTER 12 — The Accident Wasn’t an Accident
Police reopened Sarah’s original car crash investigation.
The vehicle had been destroyed years ago, but photographs remained.
A retired mechanic examined them.
The brake line had been cut.
Sarah sat beside me when Daniel delivered the news.
Her hands trembled.
“I thought I fell asleep.”
“You didn’t,” Daniel said.
“Who cut it?”
“We found a payment from Richard Bennett to an auto shop employee two days before the crash.”
The employee had died years ago.
But his widow remembered a late-night confession.
He had been paid to damage Sarah’s brakes.
He claimed he didn’t know she had a newborn.
Sarah stood and walked to the motel window.
“He tried to kill me three days after I gave birth.”
I wanted to comfort her.
But I didn’t know how.
After a few seconds, I moved beside her.
Our shoulders touched.
She began to cry quietly.
I let her.
My father was arrested that afternoon on fraud, kidnapping-related charges, conspiracy, and attempted murder.
But before police could transfer him, he complained of chest pain.
At the hospital, he escaped.
A guard had been bribed.
His first destination was Bennett Clinical Systems.
By the time police arrived, the company’s financial servers had been wiped.
Millions had been transferred overseas.
Professor Hughes called me.
“There’s another problem.”
“What now?”
“The university board is meeting tomorrow.”
“To clear my name?”
“To vote on permanently revoking your degree.”
I almost laughed.
“My father is wanted for attempted murder, and they still think I cheated?”
“Grant’s confession remains evidence.”
“Grant is awake.”
Professor Hughes went silent.
“He woke up an hour ago.”
“Then he can tell them the truth.”
“He can’t speak.”
“Why?”
“Doctors believe the drug caused neurological damage.”
I closed my eyes.
My father had destroyed another witness.
Then Daniel entered.
He placed Grant’s encrypted flash drive on the table.
“We broke the encryption.”
“What’s on it?”
He looked at me grimly.
“A video of Richard Bennett discussing your research.”
“Then we have him.”
“Not exactly.”
Daniel opened the laptop.
May you like
The video showed my father handing Dean Grant a folder.
But standing beside them was Professor Hughes.
