Chapter 6 - THE CASE THAT WAS CLOSED
Samuel Grant placed the brown envelope on Daniel’s desk.
The detective was sixty-one now.
Gray hair.
Weathered face.
The same sharp eyes Daniel remembered from the night Elena died.
Grant opened the envelope.
Inside were photographs Daniel had never seen.
One showed Elena’s wrecked car.
Another showed the severed brake line.
A third showed a small electronic device attached beneath the dashboard.
Daniel stared at it.
“What is that?”
“A remote ignition interrupt.”
Grant sat down.
“Someone modified Elena’s vehicle.”
Daniel felt cold.
“You told me the crash was driver error.”
“I didn’t.”
“The final report did.”
Daniel looked at him.
Grant continued.
“My original findings said mechanical interference could not be ruled out.”
“Three days later, my report was replaced.”
“By whom?”
“My captain.”
“Why?”
“He received documents from Reed family counsel showing the vehicle had recently failed inspection.”
Daniel frowned.
“Elena’s car was six months old.”
“I know.”
Grant slid another page across the desk.
“The inspection document was fake.”
Daniel stared at the signature at the bottom.
OWEN PIERCE.
The Reed family attorney.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Another person he had trusted.
Grant continued.
“I challenged it.”
“I was removed from the investigation.”
“Two months later, I was transferred.”
“Three years later, I retired.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“I tried.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Three times.”
“You never returned my calls.”
Daniel remembered nothing.
Grant reached into his coat and removed an old phone.
“I kept this because something never felt right.”
He played a voicemail.
Ethan’s voice filled the office.
Detective Grant, my brother is grieving.
Do not contact him again about conspiracy theories concerning Elena.
All communication goes through me or Mr. Pierce.
Daniel stared at the device.
Ethan stood across the room between two guards.
“That proves nothing.”
Grant looked at him.
“No.”
“But this might.”
He removed a sealed plastic bag.
Inside was a memory card.
“This was recovered from Elena’s vehicle.”
“The official evidence log says it was destroyed in the fire.”
“It wasn’t.”
Daniel looked at Grant.
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“My lab couldn’t recover the data four years ago.”
“Technology has improved.”
Adrian took the card.
“I know someone.”
Daniel nodded.
“Do it.”
Grant looked toward the open office door.
“Before we go further, you need to understand something.”
“The crash wasn’t the only strange event that week.”
Daniel turned.
“What else?”
“Two days before Elena died, she came to my precinct.”
Daniel stopped.
“She spoke to you?”
“No.”
“She asked for me.”
“I was in court.”
“She left before I returned.”
Grant opened his notebook.
“She told the desk officer she believed someone inside her family was stealing from her daughter’s future.”
Daniel glanced at Ethan.
Grant continued.
“And she left something in a sealed envelope.”
“What?”
“It disappeared from the evidence room the night she died.”
Daniel’s voice was barely audible.
“File 17.”
Grant nodded.
“That was the label written on the envelope.”
Vanessa spoke from the corner.
“I know where the original is.”
Everyone looked at her.
Ethan’s face drained of color.
May you like
Vanessa smiled.
“Because Elena didn’t leave only one copy.”
