Chapter 3 - THE TRUCK
Daniel’s entire case had started with a truck.
A white Ford F-150.
His company truck.
Or, more accurately, the truck belonging to Wallace Home Renovations, where Daniel had worked for eleven years.
At 2:17 a.m. on a Tuesday, that truck had been caught on camera outside a pharmacy during an armed robbery.
The plate was clear.
The company logo was clear.
And according to Daniel’s supervisor, Daniel had taken the truck home that night.
One problem.
Daniel swore he hadn’t.
“I left the keys in the office lockbox,” he had told detectives.
His boss, Richard Wallace, said otherwise.
“Daniel asked to keep the vehicle overnight,” Wallace had claimed.
There was no paperwork.
No witness.
No signed checkout sheet.
But Daniel’s fingerprints were all over the truck because he drove it every day.
And the surveillance footage showed a man with Daniel’s height and build wearing a hood.
That was enough to put him behind bars while prosecutors built their case.
Now Officer Collins stood with her radio pressed against her ear.
“Where?”
Static.
Then: “Abandoned lot off Mercer Street.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Collins raised a finger.
He waited.
Barely.
Another voice came through.
“Detectives found blood inside. Doesn’t match Reyes.”
Elena gasped.
Daniel’s chest tightened.
Officer Baker appeared annoyed rather than relieved.
“So what? Could belong to the pharmacist.”
“No,” Collins said. “The pharmacist wasn’t injured.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You know my case?”
“I know enough.”
Baker crossed his arms.
“You know more than you should.”
Collins turned.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means detention officers aren’t detectives.”
“No. We’re just the people watching innocent men lose months of their lives while everybody else goes home at five.”
Baker’s expression hardened.
“Careful.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Both officers looked at him.
“My family is standing right there.”
He lowered his voice.
“Tell me what this means.”
Collins exhaled.
“It means transport is delayed until detectives review new evidence.”
“Delayed?”
“Not canceled.”
Hope appeared in Elena’s face and disappeared just as fast.
Daniel looked at his children.
Mateo was still holding a plastic fork covered in blue frosting.
He looked terrified.
Daniel forced himself to smile.
“Hey.”
Mateo stared at him.
“They found something good, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Then you can come home?”
Daniel hated that question.
He hated how easy children made hope sound.
“I don’t know yet.”
Mateo dropped the fork.
“I hate this place.”
Nobody corrected him.
Daniel crouched.
“So do I.”
Then the door opened.
A man in a gray suit stepped inside.
Detective Warren Pike.
Daniel recognized him immediately.
Pike had arrested him.
Pike had questioned him for six hours.
Pike had looked Elena in the eye and said, “Your husband is lying to you.”
Daniel stood.
Pike held a folder under one arm.
“Reyes.”
Daniel’s hands curled into fists.
“You.”
Pike glanced at the family.
“This isn’t a good time.”
Daniel laughed once.
“You put me in here. I think any time is a good time.”
Pike looked at Collins.
“We need the room.”
“No,” Daniel said.
Pike stared at him.
“That wasn’t a request.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then arrest me.”
A strange silence followed.
Pike opened the folder.
“Someone else’s blood was found in the truck.”
Daniel’s heart hammered.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know.”
“You ran it?”
“We’re running it.”
Elena approached.
“What about my husband?”
Pike looked at her.
“We also found a second set of fingerprints.”
Daniel held his breath.
Pike hesitated.
And Daniel knew immediately there was more.
“Whose prints?”
Pike looked straight at him.
“Your boss’s son.”
Daniel blinked.
“Evan?”
Pike nodded.
May you like
Then he said the sentence that changed everything.
“And Evan Wallace disappeared three days after you were arrested.”
