Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Remembered the Crash|
The photograph led us to a retired private investigator named Samuel Brooks.
He had worked for Richard Reed during the final months of my mother's life. Daniel found his name in a surviving payment ledger, along with an address in Queens.
Cameron wanted to send his security team.
I insisted on going with him.
“If someone knows what happened to my mother, I need to hear it myself.”
“Then we go together,” he said. “But if anything feels wrong, we leave.”
Samuel lived in a modest house with peeling paint and a small garden. He opened the door with a cane in one hand and suspicion in his eyes.
When he saw Cameron, he tried to shut it.
“I told your father everything I knew.”
“My father is dead,” Cameron replied. “And I think you know more than you told him.”
Samuel looked at me.
“Margaret's daughter?”
I nodded.
He stepped aside.
Inside, the house smelled of old books and peppermint tea. Samuel sat across from us and listened while I explained the documents, the recording, and my mother's letter.
When I finished, he stared at his hands.
“Your mother was a brave woman,” he said. “Braver than the people who were supposed to protect her.”
“Who was driving the car?”
“I never learned his real name. I was paid to locate Margaret, document her meetings, and report who she spoke to. I wasn't told to hurt her.”
“Did you know someone intended to?”
He closed his eyes.
“Not until afterward.”
He explained that on the night of the accident, he had followed Margaret from a restaurant where she had met Andrew Reed's former attorney. A second vehicle had appeared behind her. Samuel had watched it follow her through several intersections.
Then his instructions changed.
A call came from Martin Hale.
Samuel was told to stop following Margaret and return to his hotel.
When he arrived, an envelope containing a substantial payment waited for him.
The next morning, he learned she had died.
“Why didn't you go to the police?” I asked.
“Because the police report said the driver was never identified. I had a wife, two children, and a mortgage. I convinced myself that I hadn't caused anything.”
His voice broke.
“I've regretted it every day since.”
Samuel gave Daniel a statement and handed over an old appointment book containing the number of the man who had hired him. The number belonged to a security contractor who had worked for Charles Whitmore.
It was a significant lead, but still not enough to establish who had caused the crash.
Before we left, Samuel asked me to wait.
“There was another woman,” he said. “A nurse at the hospital. She called me after Margaret died. She claimed your mother had tried to tell someone something before she lost consciousness.”
“What did she say?”
“She wouldn't tell me over the phone. She said the hospital had changed part of the record.”
“Do you know her name?”
“Dr. Evelyn Shaw. She was a resident back then. She may still be practicing.”
Cameron wrote down the name.
Outside, the sky had turned dark.
I was halfway to the car when a black SUV pulled alongside the curb.
The rear window lowered.
Vanessa Whitmore sat inside, looking immaculate and furious.
“Emma,” she called. “Get in. We need to talk.”
Cameron stepped between us.
“You can talk to our attorney.”
Vanessa ignored him.
“If you want to know what really happened to your mother, you need to stop trusting the man standing beside you.”
May you like
She looked directly at me.
“Because Cameron already knows who ordered the accident.”
