Chapter 5 - The Man Who Finally Talked
Travis Boyd was found twelve hours later.
Alive.
Terrified.
He walked into Sheriff Ross’s office at 4:17 a.m. and asked for protection.
Hannah arrived twenty minutes later with Ethan.
Travis sat behind the interview-room glass.
“What happened to him?” Hannah asked.
Daniel folded his arms.
“He finally learned what it feels like when somebody more powerful decides you’re disposable.”
“Rusk?”
“He won’t say yet.”
Ethan looked through the glass.
“Let me talk to him.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You’re not law enforcement.”
“Hannah, then.”
“Absolutely not.”
Hannah opened the door.
Daniel sighed.
“Hannah.”
“What? Arrest me afterward.”
She entered.
Travis looked up.
His face tightened.
“Get her out.”
Hannah sat opposite him.
“Morning.”
“I said get her out!”
“You’ve spent six years telling everybody you weren’t afraid of me.”
“I’m not.”
“Great. Then talk.”
Travis looked toward the glass.
Hannah leaned forward.
“My father.”
“No.”
“Who ordered his brake line cut?”
Travis stared at the table.
“Who?”
“I didn’t do it.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“Calvin never told me anybody would die.”
Hannah stopped breathing.
Behind the glass, Ethan went still.
Travis continued.
“He said scare Jack. Take the ledger. Make him stop.”
“And the truck?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Who was?”
“Calvin’s brother, Dean.”
Hannah’s voice dropped.
“Dean Rusk died four years ago.”
“I know.”
“Convenient.”
“I swear.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because Calvin is trying to kill me now.”
Travis looked up.
“He knows you found the ledger.”
“Then why hasn’t he run?”
“Because he thinks he can still destroy it.”
Ethan entered.
Daniel followed, clearly annoyed.
Ethan placed his phone on the table.
“The ledger has already been copied.”
Travis stared.
“Copies won’t be enough.”
“Why?”
“There’s another record.”
Hannah leaned forward.
“What record?”
“County archive basement. Old payment vouchers.”
Daniel frowned.
“We checked county records.”
“Not official records. Calvin kept originals from the shell companies because he didn’t trust his partners.”
“Where?”
“Behind the electrical cabinet in Archive Room B.”
Daniel immediately called a deputy.
Hannah stood.
Travis grabbed her wrist.
Ethan moved instantly.
Hannah didn’t.
She looked down at Travis’s hand.
He released her.
“Your dad tried to help me once,” Travis whispered.
Hannah’s anger shifted.
“What?”
“I was nineteen. Owed money. Calvin had me collecting debts.”
Travis swallowed.
“Jack told me I could still walk away.”
“And you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Then you spent years helping the man who killed him.”
Travis looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Hannah walked toward the door.
“Hannah.”
She stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked back.
“You don’t owe me an apology.”
Travis seemed confused.
“You owe Mrs. Bell one.”
Ethan smiled despite himself.
Two hours later, deputies entered the county archive with a warrant.
The cabinet was empty.
Someone had beaten them there.
Daniel came outside furious.
“Rusk.”
Ethan looked toward the courthouse.
“Where is he?”
“His office says he left twenty minutes ago.”
Hannah’s phone rang.
Her mother.
“Hannah?”
“Mom?”
Carol sounded frightened.
“There’s a man outside.”
Hannah was already moving.
“Lock everything.”
“I did.”
“Call 911.”
“I already—”
Glass shattered over the phone.
“Mom!”
The line died.
Hannah ran toward her truck.
Ethan caught the passenger door.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan—”
“Hannah, you’ve spent your whole life running toward danger alone.”
He climbed inside.
“Drive.”
She stared at him for one second.
Then started the truck.
When they reached the Cole property, the front door was open.
Hannah jumped out.
“Mom!”
Ethan followed.
A chair lay overturned.
Carol’s phone was shattered on the floor.
Then they heard a voice from the garage.
“Hannah!”
They ran.
Carol stood beside the workbench.
Unhurt.
A deputy had Calvin Rusk against the wall.
Sheriff Ross emerged from behind a shelf.
Hannah stopped.
“What happened?”
Carol pointed toward an old metal cabinet.
“He came looking for this.”
The cabinet door stood open.
Inside was a false wooden back panel.
Behind it sat several folders.
Hannah stared.
“Dad’s?”
Carol nodded.
“I never knew.”
Calvin shouted, “Those documents prove nothing!”
Daniel smiled.
“That’s an interesting thing to say before we’ve opened them.”
Calvin realized his mistake.
Ethan looked at Hannah.
She walked to the cabinet.
Her hands trembled as she lifted the first folder.
Inside were copies of county payments.
Property transfers.
Names.
And a handwritten letter.
Hannah recognized her father’s handwriting.
Across the envelope:
For Hannah, if I don’t get the chance to explain.
Her knees almost gave out.
Ethan steadied her.
May you like
This time, she didn’t pull away.
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