Chapter 8 - Richard Hayes Tried to Destroy Daniel Again
Richard’s attorneys attacked everything.
Delaney was a liar.
Marcus was protecting himself.
Daniel had been reckless.
The accident site had documented safety issues.
The Caster evidence was “manufactured by a bitter family.”
Sarah expected that.
What she didn’t expect was Richard going after Lily.
Through attorneys, he argued that Daniel’s hidden evidence had been improperly preserved and possibly altered by family members.
Then his public-relations team leaked claims that Daniel had trained Lily to be violent.
The school hallway footage destroyed that narrative.
Tyler attacked first.
Lily defended herself.
Then stopped.
Exactly as she had been taught.
Sarah watched the footage once.
It hurt.
But she noticed something new.
Marcus’s face when he read CASTER.
Not guilt alone.
Recognition.
Then something behind him.
A school employee.
An older custodian.
The man stared at the patch too.
Sarah asked the school to identify him.
Name:
George Miller.
Former Ashford Academy maintenance supervisor.
Sarah’s pulse jumped.
George had worked at the school during the original fraud scandal.
She contacted him.
He refused.
Then Lily saw his photograph.
“I know him.”
Sarah froze.
“How?”
“He gave Dad something once.”
“When?”
“Before Dad died.”
Lily had been five.
The memory was fuzzy.
George had come to their house.
Daniel told Lily to play upstairs.
She remembered George handing Daniel a brown envelope.
Sarah called again.
This time she said:
“Daniel kept what you gave him.”
George agreed to meet.
He looked terrified.
The envelope had contained maintenance access records from Ashford Academy.
Records showing Richard Hayes personally used a restricted office the night Daniel’s whistleblower evidence disappeared.
George had copied them before the originals were deleted.
“Why did you wait years?”
“I had kids.”
Sarah understood fear.
She didn’t excuse silence.
But she understood.
George also remembered Richard saying something about Marcus.
“My son will clean this up.”
That supported Daniel’s claim that Marcus knowingly participated.
Marcus had already admitted that.
Then George produced one more thing.
An old photograph.
Richard Hayes.
Frank Delaney.
Standing together at Daniel’s construction site.
Taken three days before the fatal fall.
Richard had claimed he had never been there.
Now investigators had proof he lied.
The case strengthened.
Richard’s confidence began cracking.
Then he made a mistake.
He called Marcus.
The call was recorded under legal supervision.
Richard said:
“You’re going to let a dead thief destroy your son’s future?”
Marcus answered:
“Daniel wasn’t the thief.”
Silence.
Richard snapped:
“He should’ve taken the deal.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“What deal?”
Richard realized too late.
Marcus pressed.
“What did you offer him?”
Richard disconnected.
Investigators immediately searched old financial files.
They found a draft settlement.
Daniel had been offered $1.5 million to accept responsibility for the Ashford losses and sign a permanent confidentiality agreement.
He refused.
May you like
Three weeks later, he changed his surname.
Four years later, he died while preparing to reopen the case.
