Chapter 11 - THE SHOT ON THE LAKE ROAD
The bullet had entered the car from behind at a shallow angle.
It passed through the trunk panel and lodged near the rear seat.
The original crash team missed it beneath crushed metal and road debris.
Ballistic testing could not immediately match it to Robert’s pistol because the weapon had been cleaned and the recovered bullet was damaged.
It established that the crash was not simply caused by ice.
Someone fired at the car.
Beatrice accelerated.
Then she lost control.
Nathan Vale surrendered to police through an attorney.
His injuries came from two men who entered his motel room after the wedding. He could not identify them because they wore masks.
He had hidden in an abandoned rental property rather than seek help because he feared arrest for his part in the old fraud.
Nathan admitted driving the dark Miller Hospitality vehicle on the night of the crash.
“Who was with you?” Alvarez asked.
“Robert.”
Frank closed his eyes during the recorded interview.
Robert denied it.
Nathan said Robert ordered him to follow Beatrice and frighten her into returning the memory card.
“He said no one would be hurt.”
“Who fired?”
“Robert.”
Nathan heard the shot from the passenger seat.
After the crash, Robert told him to continue down the road and wait near the marina.
Frank arrived separately.
Nathan claimed he did not see what happened beside the wreck.
Later, Frank and Robert brought Beatrice to the marina in another car.
She was alive, conscious, and bleeding.
“Why not call an ambulance?”
“Robert said the police would find the ledgers and the gun.”
Nathan helped place Beatrice in Robert’s boat.
He believed they intended to take her across the lake to a private clinic owned by a friend.
Instead, the boat returned forty minutes later without her.
Frank sat inside, covered in blood.
Robert told Nathan that Beatrice had died and fallen overboard during the crossing.
Her body was found on land, not in water.
Nathan knew the story was false.
He accepted money and created inspection companies to hide the marina records.
“Did Frank kill her?” Alvarez asked.
Nathan shook his head.
“When the boat left, Beatrice was asking for Katherine.”
Frank requested a private meeting with prosecutors.
He was ready to cooperate if they considered reduced charges for obstruction and fraud.
Grace called the request cowardice.
Frank answered, “Cowardice is why I stayed silent. It is not a reason to stay silent longer.”
Before his formal proffer, Robert’s attorney released a statement accusing Nathan and Frank of creating a false story to save themselves.
Then Robert disappeared.
His lake house cameras showed him leaving before dawn with the metal case Caleb had already taken.
The case police held was a duplicate.
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Robert still possessed the original ledgers.
And according to Grace, he also had Beatrice’s missing phone.
