Chương 8
When the light changed, he crossed.
The ordinary care he took not to tilt the box made Megan furious.
“What happens now?”
“We’re continuing to collect evidence.”
“That sounds like nothing.”
“It isn’t.”
“Are you arresting him?”
“I can’t discuss charging decisions before they happen.”
“He searched how long a car stays cool.”
“Yes.”
“He knew.”
“We have strong evidence he knew Noah was in the vehicle.”
“He locked him in.”
“Yes.”
“What else do you need?”
“To establish the full sequence.”
“You have video.”
“We need more than a terrible-looking piece of video if we want a case that survives.”
The sentence stopped Megan.
Morales came closer but kept several feet between them.
“If we move too quickly and miss something, his attorney gets to use that. If there’s another explanation for any piece of evidence, we need to find it before they do.”
“There isn’t another explanation.”
“Maybe not.”
“Maybe?”
“Megan, I’m not asking you to doubt what you saw. I’m asking you to let us build it correctly.”
Megan turned toward her.
“My son doesn’t get more dead if you make a mistake.”
Morales’s expression tightened.
“No.”
“So I’m supposed to be patient.”
“I’m not going to tell you how to feel.”
“Everyone else does.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
Megan almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
“What about Vanessa?”
“She’s cooperating.”
“She left him too.”
“We’re examining her actions separately.”
“Is she going to walk away?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does she have a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
Morales hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
Megan stared.
“Every time you say that, my life gets worse.”
“I know.”
“What?”
“The SUV has an app.”
Megan frowned.
“David used it?”
“His phone had the manufacturer’s app installed.”
“What does that mean?”
“It can provide vehicle status information depending on settings and connectivity.”
“Did it warn him?”
“We’re waiting on records from the manufacturer.”
Megan looked back toward the window.
Another possibility.
Another piece of technology that might show David not merely failing to remember but receiving a warning and choosing what to do with it.
She felt suddenly tired.
“Can I ask you something that isn’t evidence?”
Morales nodded.
“Do people ever just tell the truth?”
The detective considered it.
“Sometimes.”
“When?”
“Usually after lying gets harder.”
Two weeks after the funeral, David came to Megan’s apartment.
She saw him through the peephole.
He wore jeans and a gray polo.
No tropical shirt.
No cruise bracelet.
He looked thinner.
Megan opened the door but did not move aside.
“What?”
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
His eyes shifted toward the hallway.
A neighbor’s television played behind another door.
“Megan, please.”
“No.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Talk.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“I didn’t mean for Noah to die.”
Megan’s body went still.
David looked at the carpet between them.
“I know how that sounds.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“I made a mistake.”
She waited.
He looked up.
“I panicked.”
“About what?”
“The trip. Everything.”
“Noah wasn’t everything.”
“I know.”
“Say what you panicked about.”
David swallowed.
“We were going to miss boarding.”
Megan felt something inside her become very quiet.
He continued.
“Eric wasn’t answering.”
“Eric was in Tennessee.”
“I thought he could arrange someone.”
“You told Vanessa he was coming.”
“I thought he might.”
“No.”
“Megan—”
“No. You don’t get to sand down the words.”
David looked away.
“I called him.”
“You knew he wasn’t coming.”
“I hoped he’d call back.”
“So Noah sat in the car while you hoped.”
“It was a garage.”
She stared at him.
David closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No, say it again.”
“What?”
“The thing you were about to say.”
“I wasn’t—”
“You were going to tell me the garage was cooler.”
“No.”
“You searched it.”
His face changed.
There it was.
He had not known she knew about the searches.
Megan leaned against the doorframe.
“Did your lawyer tell you to come here?”
“No.”
“Does your lawyer know you’re here?”
Silence.
She almost smiled.
“Of course not.”
“I needed you to hear it from me.”
“Hear what?”
“That I didn’t think he was going to die.”
Her breath caught.
The hallway blurred.
David stepped closer.
She raised one hand.
He stopped.
“You left him there knowing he was trapped.”
“I was coming back.”
“When?”
“Before departure.”
“You boarded.”
“I was going to get off.”
“You didn’t.”
“I tried.”
“Did you?”
“I did.”
“When?”
David looked exhausted.
“Megan.”
“When?”
“Around one.”
“Vanessa said you disappeared.”
His eyes flicked.
“She talked to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“Answer me.”
David rubbed the back of his neck.
“At one-something I went to guest services.”
“Why?”
“To ask if I could leave and come back.”
“And?”
“They said I could leave before final boarding.”
“So you left.”
“No.”
Megan waited.
“I was going to.”
“But?”
He stared at her.
The answer was already in his face.
“What happened?”
“Vanessa found me.”
“And?”
“I couldn’t tell her.”
“Why?”
“She would’ve—”
He stopped.
“She would’ve what?”
“She would’ve freaked out.”
Megan laughed.
The sound made David flinch.
“She would’ve freaked out.”
“I was trying to handle it.”
“You were trying to keep her from finding out.”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“How?”
“I called the garage.”
Megan froze.
“What?”
“I called security.”
“Did you tell the police that?”
“My lawyer—”
“Did you tell them?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it sounds bad.”
She stared at him.
He heard himself.
For once he seemed unable to escape his own words.
“What did you tell the garage?”
“I said there might be a kid in a car.”
“Might?”
“I didn’t give my name.”
“Of course.”
“I panicked.”
“What level?”
“Four.”
“Spot?”
“I didn’t know the number.”
“Make?”
“I told them.”
“Color?”
“Yes.”
“License plate?”
“I couldn’t remember it.”
“You owned the car for five years.”
“Do you know your plate?”
“Yes.”
David blinked.
Megan did.
Because she had written it on the police form.
Because it was the last place Noah existed.
May you like
David’s voice dropped.
“I thought they’d find him.”
