Chapter 11 - The Man in the Garage
Grace showed the message to Detective Bell.
Immediately.
Ethan looked at her across the kitchen.
“You weren’t going to go?”
“Alone?
No.”
The question seemed to surprise him.
Grace understood why.
People loved stories about someone rushing into danger without thinking.
They didn’t have to live with the funeral.
Bell asked her to respond while an investigator watched.
Where?
Miles sent a location.
An empty parking garage near the river.
Then another message.
No police.
Bring the memory card.
Bell read it.
“He knows we found something.”
“Someone at the house?” Ethan asked.
“Or he’s guessing.
We aren’t assuming either.”
The officers reviewed who had entered, called, or sent messages.
Mrs. Alvarez brought coffee that nobody drank.
Grace typed what Bell instructed.
I can bring a copy.
Tell me what you have first.
A photograph arrived.
Olivia’s blue rabbit keychain rested in a man’s palm.
Beside it lay a hotel parking receipt dated the night before her death.
Ethan gripped the counter.
“That’s hers.”
Bell arranged a controlled meeting.
Grace would remain in a police vehicle.
An investigator would approach with an empty storage case.
No one promised Miles immunity.
No one gave him the original evidence.
They waited until darkness settled over the river.
Ethan stayed at home with Lily.
It was the first decision all day that required more courage than anger.
At the garage, Grace watched through tinted glass.
Miles appeared on the second level.
His expensive suit was wrinkled.
He kept looking behind him.
Bell spoke to him by phone.
“Mr. Barrett, put the items down and keep your hands visible.”
Miles stopped.
He turned toward the exit.
Two officers stepped into view.
For a second, Grace thought he might run.
Instead, his shoulders collapsed.
“She said it would look like a mechanical problem.”
The words came through the phone speaker.
Bell’s voice stayed steady.
“Who said that?”
Miles shook his head.
“I didn’t touch the car.
I let a man into the garage.
That’s all.”
Grace pressed her fist against her mouth.
Miles looked toward the unmarked vehicle.
“I kept the keys because I knew they’d blame me.”
Bell moved closer.
“Who hired the man?”
Miles looked down at the little blue rabbit.
“Victor.”
May you like
Then he added, barely above a whisper:
“Sabrina picked the night.”
