Chapter 12 - Five Minutes of WindThe audio file would not open.
For two days, technicians worked on it.
Meanwhile, Walter went on television.
He stood outside Mercer Ridge Lodge surrounded by reporters.
“My grandson suffered a terrible accident.”
Tessa watched from Elliot’s hospital room.
Walter looked devastated.
“I love that boy more than I can express.”
Elliot turned away from the screen.
Tessa muted it.
“You don’t have to watch.”
“Why is he lying?”
“Because telling the truth would cost him something.”
Elliot stared at his cast.
“Will people believe him?”
“Some will.”
“More than me?”
Tessa sat beside him.
“Maybe.”
His face tightened.
“That’s not fair.”
“No.”
“What if everybody thinks I lied?”
“I don’t.”
“Dad?”
“He believes you.”
“Grandma?”
“She believes you too.”
Elliot was silent.
“Detective Ortiz?”
“Yes.”
“Then why isn’t Grandpa in jail?”
Tessa struggled with the answer.
“Because believing you and proving something in court are different.”
Elliot frowned.
“So we need proof.”
“Yes.”
He stared at the damaged watch.
“I turned the recorder on.”
Tessa froze.
“What?”
“Before we got to the edge.”
“Why?”
“Grandma told me something.”
Diane looked up from across the room.
“What did I tell you?”
Elliot swallowed.
“You said if Grandpa started asking about the envelope, I should remember exactly what he said.”
Diane covered her mouth.
“So I used the voice recorder.”
Tessa’s heart pounded.
“You deliberately recorded him?”
Elliot nodded.
“I got scared and forgot it was running.”
That changed everything.
The file might contain the entire confrontation.
Detective Ortiz accelerated the forensic request.
Walter’s attorney learned about it within hours.
No one knew how.
By evening, a motion was filed claiming any recording was illegally obtained.
Ortiz almost laughed.
“Colorado is a one-party-consent state. Elliot was part of the conversation.”
Tessa asked, “So it’s admissible?”
“If we authenticate it.”
Another obstacle.
Always another obstacle.
That night, Caleb sat alone in his car outside the lodge.
The company had once felt like his inheritance.
Now it looked like a monument to every compromise he had made.
Walter came outside.
He had known Caleb was there.
He opened the passenger door and sat down.
Caleb did not stop him.
For a minute, neither spoke.
Then Walter said, “Your mother is destroying everything.”
Caleb laughed.
“You pushed my son off a cliff.”
“No.”
“He recorded you.”
A flicker in Walter’s eyes.
Small.
But real.
Caleb saw it.
“You didn’t know.”
Walter looked out the windshield.
“Children imagine things.”
“Are you afraid?”
Walter smiled.
“Of a ten-year-old?”
“You should be.”
Walter turned.
“Do you know why you’ve never beaten me?”
Caleb’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“Because every time you’re close, you start needing to feel righteous.”
Walter leaned back.
“People like me don’t need righteousness.”
“What do you need?”
“Results.”
“My son almost died.”
“And because he didn’t, you have the luxury of moral outrage.”
Caleb stared at him in disbelief.
Walter opened the door.
“Walk away from the board fight.”
“No.”
“Convince Tessa to stop.”
“No.”
“Get Diane to withdraw her statement.”
“No.”
Walter stepped out.
Then bent toward the open door.
“If you keep going, the truth about 2023 becomes public.”
“It already is.”
“Not all of it.”
Caleb’s pulse changed.
Walter smiled.
“You still haven’t told Tessa who suggested the reversion clause, have you?”
Caleb stared.
Walter closed the door.
May you like
For the first time, Caleb understood that the agreement he signed might not be his worst secret.
And Walter knew it.
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