Children.
Injured workers.
Money he believed had reached them.
“How do you know?”
Raymond looked toward Aaron.
“Because my father died last month.”
“He left records.”
“I started tracing them.”
“Then Dean suddenly contacts Aaron.”
“I knew exactly why.”
Aaron said:
“So you tried to take the ledger.”
“I wanted proof before your uncle burned it.”
“He gave it to me.”
“And you wouldn’t answer my calls.”
“I didn’t know who you were.”
Raymond nodded.
“Fair.”
Cole looked at the approaching police lights.
Then at Raymond.
“Your employee nearly killed my son.”
Raymond’s confidence disappeared slightly.
“I know.”
“You saying sorry?”
“No.”
“I’m saying he’s going to jail if the deputies find the damage matches his truck.”
“That’s on him.”
Cole stepped closer.
“That’s your employee.”
Raymond did not retreat.
“Yes.”
“And I’ll answer for telling him to follow them.”
That answer, at least, was honest.
Two sheriff’s cruisers entered the station lot.
Lights painted the wet building red and blue.
Everything after that became slower.
Statements.
Questions.
An ambulance.
Paramedics examined Aaron.
Possible fractured ribs.
Severe knee sprain.
Concussion concerns.
Maya refused to leave his side until a paramedic explained through Cole that she could sit in the ambulance.
Cole watched them load his son onto the stretcher.
Aaron looked toward him.
Cole stood several feet away.
Not sure if he was invited.
Aaron noticed.
“Come on.”
Cole stared.
“What?”
“You know sign.”
He nodded toward Maya.
“She’ll need somebody when they take me for scans.”
It was not forgiveness.
It was not “Dad.”
It was something smaller.
An opening.
Cole climbed into the ambulance.
Maya sat between them.
At the hospital, Cole stayed.
All night.
Dean arrived under deputy supervision shortly after midnight and gave a formal statement. Investigators took the ledger.
Raymond Voss was interviewed separately.
The employee who allegedly struck Aaron’s truck was arrested before dawn after deputies found damage matching paint transfers from Aaron’s vehicle.
By sunrise, the danger that had sent Maya into Miller’s Diner had become evidence bags, police reports, and insurance photographs.
The family danger was harder.
Aaron had three cracked ribs.
No internal bleeding.
Concussion.
His knee required a brace but no surgery.
Doctors wanted him observed until afternoon.
Maya fell asleep curled in a chair beside the bed.
Cole sat near the window.
Aaron stared at the ceiling.
For nearly twenty minutes, neither spoke.
Then Aaron said:
“How long did Mom know?”
Cole looked over.
“What?”
“That Dean had problems.”
Cole thought.
“Hannah knew he gambled.”
“Not about the money.”
“I don’t think so.”
Aaron nodded.
Silence again.
Cole said:
“Maya looks like her.”
Aaron’s expression softened instantly.