His face had changed.
Whatever loyalty remained between father and son was breaking in real time.
Lauren spoke softly.
“Thank you, Charles.”
“For what?”
“For saying that exactly that way.”
Naomi ended the recording.
Lauren disconnected the call.
Ethan stood.
“He knows.”
“Yes.”
“He knows about Madison.”
“Yes.”
“He knows about the drive.”
“No.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What?”
“If he knew about the drive, he wouldn’t have called her unstable. He’d be calling lawyers.”
Naomi nodded.
Lauren continued.
“He knows Madison became a problem. He doesn’t know what she kept.”
“So we have an advantage.”
“For now.”
At 4:40 p.m., Detective Mitchell received the preliminary crash investigation.
Madison had not simply lost control of her car.
Someone had cut through part of the rear brake hose.
Not enough to cause immediate failure.
Enough that pressure would gradually disappear.
Madison had been driving for approximately sixteen minutes before the crash.
