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“Thanks!” I manage to blurt, before she smiles, and continues on her way.
I sigh with relief. “Let’s just get out of here,” I mumble, gripping Sebastian’s hand tightly.
“Agreed.”
We find the exit, and step outside, to the busy street beyond. There are taxis, busses, and a scrum of people here, too, but Sebastian leads me a couple of blocks away from the station, to a quiet side street where I can finally relax.
“That deserted island is looking pretty good about now,” I comment, trying to shake off the tension.
“Having second thoughts?” Sebastian checks.
I shake my head. “No. And I’ve been thinking,” I add. “We need to get the forensics guy on our side. He said he wouldn’t testify about what he found, but without him, we have zero proof. He didn’t keep a copy of the accident report, so it’s just our word that the brakes were cut.”
Sebastian nods. “I know. Perhaps if I talked to him myself, I could convince him to come forward and tell the truth. Either that, or I cut a large enough check that it would make up for the attention,” he adds.
“You really think a payoff would work?” I ask, surprised.
“It did for Richard,” he points out. “But either way, it’s worth trying.”
I agree, so we find a car rental service, and book a vehicle. It’s not far to Brian’s place, but we can’t have anyone tracking our location, and it helps to spend the drive alone, away from prying eyes. I think about calling ahead and telling him we’re on our way to see him, but I decide against it. The last thing we want is him panicking and refusing to even talk.
I glance over and see Sebastian frowning as he drives. “Everything OK?” I ask gently.
He sighs. “I’m just trying to put everything together in my mind. All this time. I believed the worst about myself, that it was all my fault,” he says softly. “I killed my father, I hurt Scarlett… It’s haunted me every minute of every day for over fifteen years. And now, it’s hard to wrap my head around the truth. It wasn’t my fault.”
I put a supportive hand on his arm. “No, it wasn’t.”
“But Richard let me believe it was.” Sebastian’s jaw tightens. “I knew he was jealous of my dad for building Wolfe Capital into an empire, but I never would have believed he could do that to his own brother. The idea that jealousy would drive him to murder…”
I nod, chilled. “It’s awful.”
“It makes me sick to think about it.” Sebastian’s tone turns steely. “And he didn’t even stop there. Richard stole my father’s whole life. His company. Hiswife. What kind of man does that?”
I ache for the pain he must be going through.
“He won’t get away with it,” I vow. “We’ll find a way to expose him. If Brian won’t come forward with the truth, then we’ll find someone else involved in the cover-up. Someone must have evidence.”
Sebastian nods, as he pulls over outside Brian’s house. There’s only one car in the driveway, and as we approach the house, I can’t hear the sound of the children like before.
“Hopefully, the kids are still in school, so that we can have time alone to talk.” I say, as I ring the doorbell. Despite his pledge not to help any further, I feel hopeful we can talk him around. Surely between the two of us, we can find a way to convince him to help us expose Richard.
But there’s no answer at the door. Sebastian rings it again, but still… No answer. No other signs of life, except the lights are on inside, and I can hear music too, maybe from the radio.
“What do you think?” Sebastian asks.
I look around. “I think he could be avoiding us,” I say. “Let’s go check.”
I lead him around the side of the house, looking in the windows as we go. It looks like someone’s home, judging from the view into the kitchen: There’s a lunch plate on the table, with a half-eaten sandwich, and the kettle is whistling on the stove, with documents spread nearby, as if—
Wait a minute.
“That’s weird,” I remark, feeling like something is wrong.
“What is?” Sebastian asks.
“The tea kettle. You wouldn’t just leave it boiling like that. Not when it’s making such a noise.”
We pause, waiting, listening to the high-pitched whistle.
