Chapter 12 - MASON SAID HE NEVER MEANT FOR ANYONE TO DIEMason asked to speak with Wade.
The request came through attorneys.
Wade refused twice.
On the third request, Lena asked:
“Why not?”
“Because I’ll hate everything he says.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“It’s a good one.”
“He may talk.”
“Talk to detectives.”
“He wants you.”
Wade stared.
“He always knows which person to use.”
Lena nodded.
“Then know that before you walk in.”
Wade agreed.
Interview room.
Attorney present.
Recording active.
Mason looked smaller without the garage, the charity sweatshirt, the crowd around him.
Gray jail uniform.
No patch for Liam.
No performance except what remained in his face.
“You okay?” Mason asked.
Wade almost laughed.
“Don’t.”
Mason looked down.
“I’m sorry about the road.”
“Which part?”
“Kara.”
“Darnell.”
“All of it.”
“You paid fifteen thousand dollars.”
“I know.”
“To have five people surround me.”
“I told them no violence.”
Wade stared.
Mason’s eyes filled.
“I did.”
“You keep saying that like it’s kindness.”
“It matters.”
“It matters legally.”
Mason flinched.
“You think I wanted you dead?”
“I think you wanted my phone badly enough to let criminals decide what happened if I said no.”
Silence.
Wade continued.
“Did you know Darnell carried weapons on other jobs?”
Mason looked away.
“That’s your answer.”
“I never told him to use one.”
“Stop.”
Wade leaned forward.
“You outsourced consequences and called that innocence.”
Mason closed his eyes.
“I panicked.”
“Raymond?”
Mason’s face changed.
“What about him?”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did Darnell?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Raymond?”
“I don’t know.”
“You met him after the ambush.”
“Yes.”
“Machine shop.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
Mason looked ashamed.
“He was angry.”
“I imagine.”
“He said he had copies.”
“And?”
“I wanted them.”
“What did you do?”
“Threatened him.”
“With Erin.”
Mason began crying.
“Yes.”
Wade’s voice hardened.
“What happened after?”
“Darnell drove him away.”
“Where?”
“I thought home.”
“You thought home.”
“Yes.”
“His motorcycle was stripped.”
“I know.”
“When did you know?”
“Later.”
“Did you ask Darnell?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That Raymond left.”
“On foot?”
Mason didn’t answer.
Wade felt rage rise.
“You knew something happened.”
“I didn’t know he was dead.”
“We don’t know he’s dead.”
Mason looked up quickly.
Hope?
Or fear?
Wade noticed.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Mason.”
He shook his head.
“I heard Darnell say Raymond got away.”
Wade froze.
“When?”
“Two days later.”
“Got away from where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exact words.”
Mason thought.
“Old man got away before we could fix it.”
Wade’s pulse increased.
Alive.
At least after the machine shop.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Mason stared.
“Because then I had to explain everything else.”
There.
Always the same.
One secret protected another.
Wade changed direction.
“Why the charity?”
Mason looked confused.
“What?”
“Why destroy the thing you built?”
His face collapsed.
“It didn’t start like that.”
“I know.”
“After Liam died…”
Wade’s jaw tightened.
Mason continued anyway.
“I watched Sarah choose between rent and funeral bills.”
Liam’s widow.
“I hated that.”
“So did I.”
“We raised money.”
“Real money.”
“Yes.”
“We helped people.”
“Yes.”
Mason cried.
“That part was real.”
Wade said nothing.
Then Mason described the garage failing.
A business expansion.
Bad loan.
Personal gambling.
He took twenty thousand from the fund.
Planned to repay.
Then thirty.
Then invoices.
Travis helped.
Darnell offered stolen parts.
Mason accepted because the garage needed inventory.
The line disappeared slowly.
“Why rob volunteers?”
“The first one wasn’t supposed to be robbery.”
Wade stared.
“Celia?”
“No. Another rider.”
Mason arranged for Darnell to recover cash after a volunteer threatened to keep it.
The intimidation worked.
Nobody reported.
Mason learned fear was efficient.
“Then Raymond noticed.”
“Yes.”
“And me.”
“Yes.”
Wade looked at him.
“When did you decide I was no longer your friend?”
Mason cried.
“I never did.”
That answer was worse.
“You sent them anyway.”
“Yes.”
“So friendship survived inside your head while you arranged an ambush.”
Mason covered his face.
Wade sat back.
There was no satisfying psychology.
Mason compartmentalized.
He loved Wade.
He used Wade.
Both existed.
Then Wade asked:
“Why was Liam listed as pressure?”
Mason looked up.
“What?”
“Your file.”
Mason’s face went white.
“You saw that.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Explain.”
Mason swallowed.
“Every time you questioned the fund, I reminded you why it existed.”
“You wrote down that it worked.”
“Yes.”
Wade felt something inside him break cleanly.
Not violently.
Permanently.
“Thank you.”
Mason looked confused.
“For what?”
“For finally making one thing simple.”
Wade stood.
Mason panicked.
“Wait.”
Wade turned.
“Raymond used a bus station.”
“What?”
“Darnell said the old man ran to a bus station.”
“Which?”
“I don’t know.”
“He left Ohio?”
“Maybe.”
“Why wouldn’t he contact Erin?”
Mason looked ashamed.
“Because Darnell threatened her too.”
Wade stared.
Mason whispered:
“If Raymond is alive, he may still think Erin dies if he comes home.”
May you like
And suddenly the missing man was no longer only a victim to recover.
He was a father who may have spent seven months staying away because he believed distance kept his daughter alive.
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