Chapter 8 - ETHAN
Ethan Cole was arrested at his apartment two days later.
Not because police dramatically kicked down a door.
Because his attorney arranged surrender once investigators obtained a warrant.
He looked nothing like the man Daniel wanted to hate.
That complicated the rage.
Ethan was twenty-three.
Young.
Scared.
Still capable of looking like the graduate student who had washed dishes beside Daniel after Thanksgiving.
Daniel sat in his truck outside the courthouse afterward and tried not to think about killing him.
He succeeded.
Barely.
Lily eventually wrote Ethan a statement she never sent.
Not forgiveness.
Not closure.
Just accuracy.
You did not hit me because you lost control for one second. You hit me after weeks of helping people convince me I was confused. The punch happened fast. The betrayal took longer.
That was the line Daniel understood best.
Ethan later admitted he knew the data had been manipulated.
He rationalized it as correcting noisy instruments because Dr. Kline insisted the concentrations were transient anomalies.
Then he learned the sponsor wanted cleaner progress reports.
By then Ethan’s research funding, doctorate track, and future job depended on Kline.
He stayed quiet.
Then became useful.
He accessed Lily’s university account because she once logged into a lab workstation he administered.
He sent the cancellation email to Professor Foster.
He warned Kline about the anonymous report.
He agreed to meet Lily.
His lawyer would later argue the strike itself was impulsive.
Possibly.
May you like
Everything before it wasn’t.
That mattered.
