Chapter 7 - THE MECHANIC
Thomas Vale had disappeared eighteen months earlier.
Not dead.
Not officially missing.
Just gone.
His garage closed.
House sold.
Phone disconnected.
Daniel hired a private investigator while Detective Mills pursued legal channels.
By the next morning, they had a location.
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Thomas was living under his middle name.
Sarah flew there with another detective.
Daniel wanted to go.
She refused.
“You stay with Lily.”
For once, Daniel listened.
Lily needed routines.
Breakfast.
Cartoons.
Baths.
Normal things.
Daniel canceled every business meeting for the week.
His assistant asked when he planned to return.
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel, the board needs—”
“My daughter needs me.”
He hung up.
That afternoon, Lily was coloring when she looked at him.
“Daddy stay?”
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Next tomorrow?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
It was the first real smile he had seen since finding her on the floor.
Then she asked, “Ness come?”
“No.”
“Grandma?”
“No.”
Lily went back to coloring.
“Good.”
One word.
That word made Daniel feel worse than anything else.
At 6:40 p.m., Sarah called from Oklahoma.
“We found Thomas.”
Daniel stood.
“And?”
“He ran.”
“Why?”
“People usually don’t run because they’re innocent.”
They caught him two blocks away.
During questioning, Thomas denied everything.
Then Sarah showed him the photograph.
His face changed.
“You knew Margaret Carter.”
“No.”
“You’re sitting beside her.”
“Lots of customers.”
“She wasn’t your customer.”
Thomas stopped talking.
Sarah showed him Melissa’s service record.
“Brake inspection. One day before the crash.”
“I did hundreds.”
“And you wrote that the brake system was safe.”
“It was.”
“Then why did investigators find a severed rear brake line?”
Thomas stared at her.
That detail had never been public.
His lips parted.
Sarah leaned forward.
“We never said what failed.”
Thomas’s face drained.
After six hours, he asked for a deal.
Daniel received the call just after midnight.
Sarah’s voice was grim.
“He says Margaret paid him.”
Daniel sat down.
“For what?”
“To damage the brake line.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The room vanished around him.
“He says he thought Melissa would have a minor accident. Enough to scare her.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“He cut the brakes.”
“Yes.”
“And she died.”
“Yes.”
Daniel pressed his fist against his mouth.
“What about Vanessa?”
Sarah hesitated.
“Thomas says Vanessa delivered the cash.”
Daniel stood so fast the chair fell over.
“She helped kill Melissa?”
“He says she gave him an envelope. We don’t yet know what she knew.”
Daniel remembered Vanessa holding Lily as a baby.
Vanessa comforting him.
Vanessa sleeping beside him in the bed he had shared with Melissa.
He ran to the bathroom and threw up.
When he returned, Sarah was still on the phone.
“There’s more.”
Daniel wanted to scream.
“There’s always more.”
“Thomas kept something.”
“What?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Margaret?”
“He recorded one of their conversations.”
Daniel sat slowly.
Sarah continued.
“We listened to part of it.”
“What does she say?”
A pause.
Then Sarah told him.
“She says, ‘If Melissa won’t sign, then scare her until she understands who owns this family.’”
Daniel closed his eyes.
That was enough.
May you like
Then Sarah added quietly:
“And Vanessa answers, ‘What if scaring her isn’t enough?’”
