Chapter 5 - Daniel Cross
Daniel Cross did not look like the man Ava remembered.
The gray work shirt was gone.
The easy smile was gone.
The strong hands that had once carried a clipboard into her kitchen now rested motionless on the blanket covering his legs.
He sat in a wheelchair near the window of the long-term care facility while rain streaked the glass behind him.
Ava remained in the hospital, so Ethan went with Detective Ruiz and David Chen.
Lena stayed with Ava under police protection.
Ruiz had wanted Daniel interviewed alone, but he had refused to speak unless Ethan was present.
"I want him to hear it," Daniel said.
His voice was rough from an old throat injury.
Ethan sat across from him.
"Hear what?"
Daniel gave a tired smile.
"How his family buys people."
Ruiz placed a recorder on the table.
"Mr. Cross, I need you to tell this in order."
Daniel looked at her.
"Order is a luxury."
"Try anyway."
He glanced at Ethan again.
"Your mother came to my shop five days before Ava crashed."
Ethan's shoulders tightened.
"Why?"
"She knew I did private work for Mercer Holdings."
"What kind of work?"
"Fleet repairs. Pickups. Emergency service. Things executives did not want waiting three weeks at a dealership."
Ruiz nodded.
"What did Margaret ask you to do?"
Daniel looked toward the window.
"She wanted Ava's car picked up while Ethan was out of town."
"Using Ethan's credentials?"
"Yes."
Ethan leaned forward.
"You knew I had not approved it."
"I knew your mother had your authorization code."
"That is not what I asked."
Daniel's eyes returned to him.
"Yes."
He did not hide from it.
"I knew."
The admission filled the room with a different kind of silence.
Ethan's anger rose instantly.
"Then what did you do to her car?"
Ruiz lifted a hand.
"Mr. Mercer."
Daniel did not look away.
"What I was paid to do."
"Which was?"
Daniel's jaw moved once before he answered.
"Install a tracking device and make the car react badly if Ava tried to stop suddenly."
Ethan stood so fast the chair legs scraped the floor.
David caught his arm.
"Sit down."
"He sabotaged her car."
Daniel flinched but did not deny it.
"Sit down," Ruiz repeated.
Ethan remained standing for another second.
Then he forced himself back into the chair.
"Why?"
Daniel looked at his useless legs.
"Money."
The honesty made the answer uglier.
"I owed people."
His fingers tightened around the blanket.
"My shop was two months from closing."
"How much did she pay you?"
"Twenty thousand before."
Ruiz's pen moved.
"Before what?"
"Before I touched the car."
"And after?"
Daniel laughed without humor.
"There was not supposed to be an after."
Ethan stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked toward the recorder.
"Margaret said she only wanted to frighten Ava."
"Frighten her into what?"
"Leaving."
Ethan felt his stomach tighten.
"Leaving me?"
"Leaving the family."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"She said Ava was turning you against your parents."
"That is insane."
"It sounded insane then too."
"But you took her money anyway."
Daniel's face hardened.
"I have spent three years in this chair thinking about that."
Ethan fell silent.
Ruiz stepped back in.
"What exactly did Margaret say would happen that night?"
"She said Ava would drive, get scared when the car did not respond the way she expected, pull over, and find a note in the glove compartment."
"What note?"
"I never saw it."
"Who placed it?"
"Margaret said she would handle that."
Ruiz leaned forward.
"Did you know Ava would be driving in heavy rain?"
"No."
"Did you know someone would follow her?"
Daniel's eyes changed.
"Not when I did the work."
Ethan noticed the phrasing.
"But later you did."
Daniel looked at him.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because Margaret called me after midnight."
Ruiz stopped writing.
"The night of the crash?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
Daniel rubbed his thumb against the edge of the blanket.
"She told me the plan had gone wrong."
Ethan's heart pounded.
"What plan?"
"She said Ava had not pulled over."
Daniel swallowed.
"She said Ava panicked and kept driving."
"How did Margaret know?"
"I asked her the same question."
"What did she say?"
Daniel's face tightened.
"She said someone was behind Ava making sure she did not turn around."
Ruiz's voice became very calm.
"Who?"
Daniel shook his head.
"She would not tell me."
Ethan leaned forward.
"Did you see anyone when you serviced the car?"
Daniel hesitated.
Ruiz noticed.
"Mr. Cross."
"Raymond Hale came by."
David's head lifted.
"The attorney?"
"Yes."
"While Ava's car was at your shop?"
"For maybe fifteen minutes."
"Did he touch the vehicle?"
"Not that I saw."
"What did he do?"
Daniel gave Ethan a strange look.
"He brought an envelope."
"For you?"
"For Margaret."
"What was inside?"
"I did not open it."
"Did you see anything?"
Daniel thought.
"A photograph slid out when she took it."
Ruiz waited.
"A photograph of what?"
Daniel's eyes moved to Ethan.
"Ava with a man."
Ethan's face changed.
"What man?"
"I did not know him."
"Were they touching?"
"No."
"Kissing?"
"No."
"Then why did it matter?"
Daniel shrugged.
"Ask your mother."
Ethan's anger returned.
"You are very comfortable telling me to ask people who lied to me."
Daniel leaned back.
"And you are very comfortable acting like you were the only person she lied to."
The words stopped Ethan cold.
Daniel looked down.
"After the crash, your father came to me."
Ruiz exchanged a glance with David.
"Thomas Mercer?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Two days later."
"What did he want?"
"The truth."
"Did you give it to him?"
Daniel's eyes filled with shame.
"Not all of it."
Ethan's voice dropped.
"What did you tell my father?"
"That Margaret paid me to install a tracker."
"And the other work?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because Margaret had already called me."
"And?"
"She said if I told Thomas everything, I would lose more than my shop."
Ruiz leaned in.
"Did she threaten you?"
Daniel looked at his legs again.
"I did not believe threats from rich people until I woke up in a ditch six months later."
The room went still.
"Tell me about the hit-and-run," Ruiz said.
Daniel inhaled slowly.
"I had been drinking coffee at a diner off Route Six."
"Were you intoxicated?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"I left around ten."
His eyes unfocused as the memory returned.
"A dark SUV came up behind me."
Ethan felt the words in his chest.
"SUV?"
Daniel nodded.
"It stayed close for five miles."
Ava had said almost the same thing about the night of her crash.
"Then it hit me."
Daniel's voice flattened.
"Once."
He breathed in.
"Then again."
Ruiz asked quietly.
"Did you see the driver?"
"No."
"Plate?"
"Partial."
"Did you tell police?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Daniel smiled bitterly.
"The report says I lost control on a dark road."
Ethan looked at Ruiz.
She was already writing.
"Exactly like Ava," he said.
Daniel nodded.
"Exactly like Ava."
Ruiz asked for the partial plate.
Daniel recited it from memory.
Then he reached beneath the cushion at his side and pulled out a battered envelope.
"I kept this because I knew one day somebody would call me a liar."
He handed the envelope to Ruiz.
Inside was an old printed photograph.
It showed Ava's sedan inside Daniel's repair bay.
The image had been taken from outside through a dusty window.
A dark SUV was parked behind the building.
Ruiz turned it over.
A date was written on the back.
Five days before Ava's crash.
"Who took this?"
"One of my employees."
"Why?"
"He thought it was funny that Mercer people were using our little shop."
Ethan stared at the SUV.
"Can you read the plate?"
"Not all of it."
Daniel looked directly at him.
"But I recognized the vehicle after the accident."
Ethan's pulse slowed in a way that felt dangerous.
"Whose was it?"
Daniel did not answer immediately.
Ruiz moved the photo closer to the light.
The first letters of the plate were visible.
So was a small silver emblem near the rear window.
Ethan knew that emblem.
His father had ordered it for the executive fleet.
Daniel finally spoke.
"The SUV was registered to Thomas Mercer."
Ethan's father had died believing Ava's crash was no accident.
May you like
Now the first physical evidence from the days before it placed his own vehicle beside the sabotaged car.
