Chapter 10 - The Mechanic Who Ran
Eddie refused to meet in the city.
He chose a truck stop seventy miles away and made Daniel come alone.
Daniel ignored the last part. Rebecca followed in another car while Detective Ramirez, now officially involved because of the forged medical records and child coercion, waited nearby.
Eddie looked older than his employee photograph. Thin. Nervous. Always watching the door.
“Mason paid me to loosen a pressure fitting,” he said.
Daniel felt the table disappear beneath his hands.
“Why?”
“He said the car needed to fail inspection the next morning. Said he was proving the garage was careless for an insurance dispute.”
“You believed that?”
“No. I believed the ten thousand dollars.”
Daniel wanted to hit him.
Instead he asked, “Did you know Hannah was driving that night?”
Eddie’s eyes filled.
“No. I swear.”
“What happened after the crash?”
“Mason came back. Told me I had caused a death and would go to prison unless I disappeared. He gave me cash and a bus ticket.”
“Did Victoria know?”
Eddie looked toward the parking lot.
“She was there when he paid me.”
Daniel’s breath caught.
“She said, ‘Once the brakes fail, Hannah will miss the meeting.’ That’s what I heard.”
“The meeting?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel leaned forward. “Did they mean to kill her?”
Eddie shook his head rapidly.
“I don’t know. But after she died, they weren’t shocked enough.”
Ramirez entered and identified himself.
Eddie immediately stood.
“You set me up.”
“I brought you someone who can protect you,” Daniel said.
Eddie laughed bitterly. “Nobody protected Hannah.”
He reached into his jacket.
Ramirez’s hand moved toward his weapon.
“Easy.”
Eddie pulled out a small digital recorder.
“Mason called me the night after the crash. I recorded it because I knew he’d bury me.”
Daniel stared at the device.
“What’s on it?”
Eddie put it on the table.
“Mason telling me never to say Victoria’s name.”
Ramirez took the recorder.
Eddie’s phone suddenly lit up.
One message.
May you like
NO MORE RUNNING, EDDIE.
A second later, the truck stop windows exploded inward.
