We got back in the car.
I sat for a moment with the envelope on my lap.
“What now?” Ava asked.
I started the engine.
“Now we go see a lawyer,” I said.
The lawyer’s name was Patricia Hale.
She had been recommended by my sister three years ago for a property matter I’d never ended up needing her for.
I had kept her card.
She saw us the same afternoon, cleared a cancellation, and listened without interrupting for forty-five minutes.
When I finished, she looked at the photograph, the note, and Marcus’s written record.
She read each one twice.
“This is enough to reopen the investigation,” she said.
“The photograph places Daniel at the wheel.
The note establishes Chloe’s state of mind and her fear.
Marcus’s record documents a call in which Daniel explicitly directed the false narrative before police arrived.”
“Is it enough to charge him?” I asked.
“That’s for the prosecutor to decide.
But I can tell you this — a detective I trust will take this seriously.” She looked at Ava.
“Your original statement.
Were you coached on what to say before the police interviewed you?”
“Yes,” Ava said.
“He told me in the ambulance.
He said if I didn’t say I was driving, he would tell them I’d stolen the car and he’d press charges.
He said I’d go to juvenile detention.
He said no one would believe me anyway.”
Patricia wrote steadily.
“Did anyone else hear him say this?”
“No.
It was just the two of us.”
“That’s fine.
Your testimony combined with the physical evidence and Marcus’s corroboration creates a strong foundation.” She set down her pen.
“I have to ask you both something, and I need honest answers.
Is there anything in either of your histories that Daniel could use to discredit you?
Anything he might bring up to make this look like a personal attack?”
I thought about it.
“He’ll say Ava is unstable.
That she’s been resentful.
That she fabricated this to punish him for something.”
“And you?”
“He’ll say I’m grieving and not thinking clearly.
That I’ve been manipulated by a troubled girl.” I met Patricia’s eyes.
“He’s going to fight this.”
“He will,” she agreed.
“Which is why we move before he knows we’re moving.” She closed her notepad.
