Chapter 6 - The woman who made sure I saw the video
Carol didn't deny knowing the Cains.
She denied working for them.
We met with state investigators present.
“Your father asked me to watch Evelyn.”
I blinked.
“For him?”
“Yes.”
After his disappearance.
Dad knew he might never return.
Carol had once worked as an investigative analyst for a federal contracting office.
Retired.
She agreed to quietly keep an eye on Mom.
“Why not tell her?”
“Because Frank asked me not to.”
My father's name sounded strange in her mouth.
“Why send me the video?”
“Because Evelyn was no longer safe.”
“Why only twelve seconds?”
“I didn't record it.”
“Kayla did.”
“Then how did you get it?”
Carol became silent.
There.
She received it from someone else before Kayla came to me.
Who?
“Caleb Morrison.”
My mother's brother.
Alive.
I stared.
Carol claimed Caleb had been feeding her information for years.
He wasn't Wade's partner anymore.
He was trying to expose him.
“Everyone in this town is secretly working against someone they openly work with.”
Carol smiled sadly.
“That is what corruption does.”
Fair.
Then where was Caleb?
Missing.
Three days.
Last message to Carol:
Nicole must come home now.
So the assault on Mom hadn't simply triggered events.
Someone had anticipated it.
Did Caleb know Travis would attack her?
Carol said no.
But he knew pressure was escalating.
Why?
Cain Realty had finally received preliminary approval for a major development behind the diner.
Not houses.
Not shopping center.
A logistics facility.
Federal contractor interested in leasing it.
Company name:
Redstone Strategic Transport.
Matthew nearly swore.
Redstone had current defense contracts.
If Cain Realty obtained the Turner parcel, old contamination and buried infrastructure assessments would be required.
Meaning excavation.
Wade needed the rear land before federal contractors discovered whatever Dad had hidden there.
The pressure suddenly made sense.
Then state investigators executed a warrant based on property coercion evidence.
Not against Wade yet.
Against the county assessor's office.
Files disappeared the night before.
Someone tipped them off.
Sheriff Harper blamed me publicly.
Said my “military intimidation” was destabilizing local institutions.
Good strategy.
Turn my rank into the scandal.
I refused interviews.
Then my command called.
A formal complaint had been filed alleging I had misused military personnel for a private dispute.
Who filed it?
Senator Calvin Cain's office.
Matthew's appearance at the diner had been authorized for an unrelated records matter.
But optics were ugly.
I temporarily stepped back from command responsibilities while review occurred.
That was correct procedure.
Mom was furious.
“They're attacking your career.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“They're testing whether I'll panic.”
I wouldn't.
Then Carol's house exploded.
Not movie-style.
A gas-line fire.
She survived because she wasn't home.
Investigators initially called it accidental.
Then we found a package she'd left in my mother's diner safe.
Inside:
Dad's missing flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
Nicole, if anything happens to me, do not trust Caleb.
May you like
He is not trying to expose Wade.
He is trying to replace him.
