Chapter 6 - The Road Above the Ocean
Richard Vale stood at the head of the boardroom.
“Gabriel.”
His voice contained practiced sympathy.
Gabriel hated it immediately.
“Richard.”
Every director looked toward the wheelchair.
News of Gabriel standing at the party had already begun spreading, but no video had been released.
Richard glanced at the blanket.
“I heard some strange rumors.”
“People enjoy rumors.”
“So you can walk?”
Gabriel smiled.
“A little.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
“Remarkable.”
Gabriel watched him carefully.
No joy.
No relief.
Only calculation.
That told him everything.
Richard began the meeting.
Within twenty minutes, he proposed temporarily transferring Gabriel’s voting authority because of his “ongoing medical limitations.”
There it was.
Not murder this time.
A corporate execution.
Gabriel let him speak.
Then he asked one question.
“Why Harbor Point?”
Richard stopped.
Several directors looked confused.
Gabriel continued.
“Why did fourteen million dollars move through shell contractors connected to Harbor Point?”
Silence.
Richard smiled.
“You’ve been given inaccurate information.”
Gabriel placed copies of the recovered documents on the table.
Richard’s smile faded.
“I’ve been given your information.”
The meeting exploded.
Directors shouted.
Richard demanded privacy.
Gabriel remained calm.
Then he played the recording.
Adrian’s threat filled the room.
When it ended, nobody spoke.
Richard slowly sat.
“You think this proves I tried to kill you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You’re implying it.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Interesting that you went there first.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
Gabriel saw it.
Fear.
But Richard recovered quickly.
“You’re still recovering from a traumatic brain injury.”
Maya had warned Gabriel this would come.
Attack the memory.
Attack the witness.
Attack the victim.
Richard continued.
“You’ve surrounded yourself with employees feeding your paranoia.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Then you won’t mind an independent audit.”
Richard’s eyes changed.
Gabriel had found the nerve.
“Of course not.”
“Good.”
Gabriel stood.
Every director froze.
He let the blanket fall.
Then he walked slowly around the table.
Not perfectly.
But independently.
Richard watched every step.
Gabriel stopped opposite him.
“My body needed six months to recover.”
He placed both hands on the table.
“My judgment didn’t.”
Richard stared at him.
Gabriel left.
In the elevator, his knees nearly collapsed.
Maya caught him.
“You pushed too hard.”
“It was worth it.”
“No.”
She helped him lean against the wall.
“You still think standing means you have to prove something.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Maybe I do.”
“To Vanessa?”
“No.”
“To yourself?”
He did not answer.
Maya understood.
She always seemed to.
That afternoon, police recovered traffic-camera footage from the night of the crash.
The black SUV appeared.
Its license plate had been obscured.
But one frame showed damage on the front bumper.
Investigators traced repair records.
A matching vehicle had been repaired two days after Gabriel’s accident.
The owner?
A shell company.
The registered director?
Adrian Cole.
Gabriel stared at the report.
“We have him.”
The detective shook his head.
“We have his company’s vehicle.”
“Who was driving?”
“That’s the problem.”
The repair shop had no driver information.
Cash payment.
No camera footage.
Then Maya remembered something.
“The road.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“What?”
“There was another car.”
“Where?”
“Coming the opposite direction before we crashed.”
If that driver had a dash camera—
They might have recorded everything.
Police searched traffic records.
Three hours later, they found the driver.
An elderly retired teacher named Samuel Price.
Samuel still had the dash camera.
But the memory card had disappeared.
“Someone came to my house after the accident,” Samuel explained.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
Gabriel felt cold.
“What did she look like?”
Samuel described her.
Tall.
Beautiful.
Long blonde hair.
Red coat.
Vanessa.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Samuel continued.
“She said she worked for your insurance company.”
“What did she want?”
“The camera card.”
“And you gave it to her?”
“I thought I was helping.”
Gabriel thanked him.
Outside, Maya found Gabriel staring at the ocean.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe Adrian sent her.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Stop protecting her.”
“I’m not.”
“You keep looking for explanations.”
“Because you loved her.”
Gabriel turned.
“That ended.”
“Love doesn’t end because someone deserves it to.”
The words struck him.
Maya looked away.
Gabriel studied her.
“Is that why you stayed?”
She froze.
Before she could answer, Gabriel’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Vanessa.
“Gabriel.”
He said nothing.
“I have the memory card.”
His heart accelerated.
“Where?”
“I’ll give it to you.”
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
“From Adrian?”
Vanessa began crying.
“No.”
“Then from whom?”
Her voice dropped.
“Richard.”
A noise sounded behind her.
Vanessa gasped.
“Someone’s here.”
“Vanessa?”
“I have to go.”
“Where are you?”
She whispered an address.
Then the call ended.
Gabriel and Maya reached the apartment twenty minutes later.
The door was open.
Furniture had been overturned.
Vanessa was gone.
On the floor lay a broken phone.
May you like
And written across the mirror in red lipstick were five words:
STOP DIGGING INTO THE ACCIDENT.
