Chapter 8 - THE CRASH
Celeste sat on the floor.
Raffaele didn’t comfort her.
He couldn’t.
“I thought the brake warning light would come on,” she whispered.
Dante said quietly, “That isn’t how a cut brake line works.”
“I know that now.”
Raffaele stared at her.
“You were thirty-one years old. Don’t talk like you were a child.”
She looked up at him.
“I panicked.”
“Sofia had a newborn baby.”
“I know.”
“My baby.”
“I know!”
“No, you don’t.”
His voice finally broke.
“You watched me tell Lucy her mother was in heaven.”
Celeste sobbed harder.
“You watched that child grow up asking why every other girl had a mother at school events.”
“I loved Lucy.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I did!”
“You helped kill her mother.”
Celeste lowered her head.
Marcus interrupted.
“She wasn’t supposed to drive that far.”
Raffaele looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus’s face tightened.
Celeste whispered, “Tell him.”
Marcus said nothing.
“Tell him!”
Raffaele stepped closer.
“What happened after Sofia left Bellini House?”
Marcus finally answered.
“I followed her.”
Raffaele felt cold again.
“Why?”
“To stop her.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Talk to her.”
“With failed brakes?”
“I didn’t know Celeste had cut them.”
Celeste laughed through tears.
“You saw me under the hood.”
“I thought you were taking something.”
“You liar.”
Marcus slammed his fist on the table.
“Fine! I knew something was wrong with the brakes.”
Raffaele moved so quickly Dante barely caught him.
“Boss.”
Raffaele strained against him.
“You followed my wife knowing her brakes were damaged?”
Marcus yelled back.
“I thought she’d stop!”
“But she didn’t.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Marcus stared at the floor.
“I caught up to her near Hudson Ridge.”
Raffaele’s breathing became shallow.
“She was driving strangely.”
“Because she couldn’t stop.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I pulled alongside her.”
“Then what?”
“I told her to pull over.”
Celeste whispered, “Marcus…”
Raffaele’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s more.”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Raffaele stepped forward.
“What did you do?”
Marcus finally looked up.
“I hit her car.”
The room froze.
Raffaele whispered, “You what?”
“Not hard.”
Celeste stared at him.
“You never told me that.”
“She was swerving. I thought if I forced her toward the shoulder—”
“You rammed her?”
“She hit me first.”
Dante said, “The crash report mentioned paint transfer.”
Marcus looked at him.
“What?”
“Black paint on Sofia’s passenger side.”
Marcus’s car at the time had been black.
Raffaele looked like he might kill him.
Marcus raised both hands.
“It wasn’t intentional.”
“Did she go through the rail because you hit her?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she got past me.”
Raffaele frowned.
“What?”
“She drove another half mile.”
Marcus looked sick now.
“Then another car came up behind her.”
Celeste stopped crying.
Raffaele stared.
“What other car?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I never knew.”
“You saw it?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Black SUV.”
Dante and Raffaele exchanged a look.
Marcus swallowed.
“It hit Sofia from behind.”
May you like
And suddenly the case changed again.
Because if Marcus was telling the truth, somebody else had been on that road.
