Chapter 5 - WALTER BOONE’S STORY
Walter did not leave after giving his statement to the state police.
He waited outside the emergency department until Rachel’s sister arrived.
Then he asked a nurse to give Rachel his phone number.
Rachel called him the next morning.
“Mr. Boone?”
“Walter.”
“Walter. I need you to tell me exactly what you saw.”
He hesitated.
“You should probably have an investigator there.”
“I already gave permission for the police to speak with you.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me.”
Walter exhaled slowly.
He had pulled his truck into a turnout around eleven that morning because the steering felt slightly loose.
The overlook sat approximately half a mile above the place Rachel eventually crashed.
From there he saw a dark blue sedan parked near the shoulder.
A teenage boy stood near the front wheel.
Walter assumed there was a flat tire.
Then a gray SUV arrived.
A man stepped out carrying a small red tool case.
The man and boy spoke.
At one point the boy shook his head.
The man grabbed his shoulder.
Not violently.
Firmly.
The way a father might steady a nervous child.
Then the man opened the red case.
Walter returned to checking his truck.
Several minutes later the gray SUV drove away.
The boy remained.
Then Rachel arrived from the direction of the gas station.
She walked toward the sedan carrying coffee.
The boy quickly moved away from the wheel.
“Did you see what Ethan did?”
“Not clearly.”
“Did you see Daniel cut anything?”
“No.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
That mattered.
Walter was a witness.
Not magic.
He could establish presence.
Tools.
Behavior.
But not the exact act.
“What happened next?”
“You put your bag in the car. The boy hugged you.”
Rachel’s eyes opened.
“What?”
Walter sounded uncomfortable.
“He hugged you before you left.”
Rachel remembered.
Ethan had walked up awkwardly and put one arm around her shoulders.
She had been so surprised she laughed.
“What was that for?”
“No reason,” he said.
She had believed, for one foolish second, that months of hostility were ending.
Now the memory made her nauseous.
Walter continued.
“You drove away. The boy got into a small crossover parked farther up. I thought that was strange.”
“Why?”
“Because if he’d been fixing your car, why not ride with you?”
Walter finished adjusting his truck and pulled out several minutes later.
He came around the downhill curve and saw Rachel’s sedan strike the guardrail.
He braked.
Ethan’s vehicle was already stopped beyond the wreck.
“He beat me to you.”
“So he followed me.”
“Looks that way.”
Rachel swallowed.
“To make sure.”
Walter did not answer.
He did not need to.
Then he said something Rachel had not expected.
“I knew your husband looked familiar when he came back.”
“From the turnout?”
“Before that.”
“Where?”
“The gas station.”
Walter had fueled at the same station.
He saw Daniel kiss Rachel goodbye beside the pumps.
Then Daniel drove toward the mountain.
Rachel left in the opposite direction briefly to pick up coffee.
Daniel had not gone home.
He had doubled back.
May you like
The plan, Rachel realized, had not been spontaneous.
Her husband had kissed her goodbye before driving up the mountain to help prepare the car that might kill her.
