Chapter 13 - The Driver Who Disappeared
Daniel’s investigators found Patrick Nolan before the police did.
He was sixty-eight.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
And terrified.
Patrick refused to enter the Mercer mansion.
He agreed to meet Emily and Daniel in a church parking lot.
“I knew this day would come.”
Those were his first words.
Daniel leaned against the hood of the car.
“Did Charles Vale kill my father?”
Patrick looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“You were his driver.”
“I was supposed to drive him that night.”
“But you called in sick.”
Patrick swallowed.
“I wasn’t sick.”
Emily watched his hands.
They shook constantly.
“Who told you not to drive Robert?”
Patrick looked at her.
“Vanessa.”
Daniel stiffened.
Patrick explained that Vanessa called him that afternoon.
She said Robert wanted privacy.
She offered Patrick five thousand dollars to stay home and tell no one.
Patrick accepted.
The next morning, Robert was dead.
“I panicked.”
“Why disappear?”
“Because Charles came to my house.”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“What did he say?”
“He told me the police might misunderstand the money.”
Patrick looked ashamed.
“He said if I cared about my family, I would leave.”
Emily asked the most important question.
“Did you ever see Robert that night?”
Patrick nodded.
“Earlier.”
“Was he alone?”
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
Patrick looked directly at Emily.
“Your mother.”
Emily’s breath caught.
Patrick had driven Robert to the Hawthorne Hotel that afternoon.
Anna entered the car carrying a blue folder.
Robert told Patrick they were finally going to the authorities.
They planned to meet a federal investigator the following morning.
That meeting never happened.
“What happened to Anna?”
“I don’t know.”
Patrick said Robert dropped Anna at a bus station around seven.
Then Robert ordered Patrick to go home.
Later Vanessa called with the money offer.
Daniel stared at him.
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I was a coward.”
Emily thought of Margaret.
Everyone in this story seemed to have a reason for silence.
Money.
Fear.
Shame.
Loyalty.
And every silence had made Charles stronger.
Patrick reached into his coat.
“There’s something else.”
He handed Daniel an old parking receipt.
The timestamp was 9:18 p.m.
Robert’s car had entered a private garage in downtown Denver hours after Patrick last saw him.
Daniel looked at the address.
The building had belonged to Vale Automotive Holdings.
Patrick whispered, “Your father didn’t drive straight to the mountain road.”
Emily turned the receipt over.
Someone had written a license plate number on the back.
Patrick said the plate belonged to the vehicle that left the garage behind Robert’s car.
Daniel’s investigators searched the number.
The registration belonged to Charles Vale.
But there was another detail.
According to archived traffic-camera records, Charles’s vehicle was not driven by Charles that night.
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A grainy image showed a young woman behind the wheel.
Vanessa.
