Chapter 13 - THOMAS ON THE ROAD
Thomas denied following Emily.
Then investigators showed him traffic-camera images.
His car appeared two intersections behind hers.
He stopped denying it.
“I followed her for three miles.”
“Why?”
“To convince her not to go to Daniel.”
“Did you hit her vehicle?”
“No.”
“Did you force her off the road?”
“No.”
“Did you see the crash?”
“No.”
He claimed he turned off toward his home before Emily reached the highway.
Traffic data partially supported that.
His car was captured exiting at Oak Street.
Emily continued straight.
Her crash occurred twelve minutes later.
Thomas lied about following her.
But the evidence suggested he was gone before the crash.
That changed the assumption again.
Then the recovered audio from Emily’s car continued.
“Thomas turned off.”
A pause.
Then:
“Vanessa is still behind me.”
I felt the room tighten.
Emily had seen both cars.
Thomas first.
Vanessa after.
Detectives pulled old traffic footage from municipal archives.
Most was gone.
One camera snapshot survived in an insurance litigation database.
Emily’s sedan.
Behind it, a dark SUV.
Plate unreadable.
Model consistent with Vanessa’s.
Consistent.
Not definitive.
Then an old toll record placed Vanessa’s vehicle on a road leading toward the crash route.
She had always claimed she went home after the warehouse.
She lied about that.
I sat across from Detective Marcus Hale, who had taken over the review.
“Does this prove she caused the crash?”
“No.”
“Does it prove she followed Emily?”
“It supports that conclusion.”
“What do you need?”
“More.”
I appreciated his restraint even when I hated it.
Then another piece emerged.
Emily’s car event-data recorder showed sudden braking three seconds before impact.
Steering sharply right.
No mechanical failure.
No tire blowout.
No evidence of contact with another vehicle.
She may have swerved to avoid something.
Or someone.
That left multiple possibilities.
Vanessa could have frightened her without touching the car.
An animal could have entered the road.
A vehicle could have cut her off.
We did not know.
The investigation remained open.
Meanwhile, Vanessa’s financial records showed something else.
Two days after Emily died, she deposited $150,000 from an account linked to Thomas.
Vanessa called it consulting compensation.
Thomas called it hush money.
“For what?”
Thomas looked at investigators.
“For not telling Daniel about the warehouse.”
“Why pay that much?”
“Because she threatened to expose everything.”
So Vanessa profited from Emily’s death.
That was ugly.
Not proof she caused it.
Then Detective Hale found the document that changed our family again.
Three weeks after Emily died, Vanessa applied for a new job.
Employer:
Carter Foundation.
Reference:
Michael Carter.
My brother stared at the form.
“I never wrote that.”
Another forged identity.
But this time the reference letter included a private phrase only Michael and I used.
May you like
Someone had access to our personal emails.
📖 Vanessa had been reading our family communications for years, and the source of that access was someone still inside my home. 👇
