"To do what?"
"Say I couldn't identify the vehicle."
Scott felt cold.
"Who offered it?"
Patrick shook his head.
"I never saw his face."
"Then how do you know it was connected to Dylan?"
"I don't."
Patrick paused.
"But the man knew details about my case that weren't public."
That changed everything.
Scott returned home that evening and told Dana.
"This isn't just Gwen being angry."
Dana looked at him.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying somebody may be trying to manipulate the entire situation."
Grace overheard them.
She walked into the room.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you."
Scott turned.
"What?"
Grace looked frightened.
"I saw Dylan talking to someone two days before the accident."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Where?"
"Behind the shopping center."
Scott sat down.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I wasn't sure it mattered."
Grace's voice trembled.
"But now I think it does."
She described the man.
Middle-aged.
Gray jacket.
Dark baseball cap.
A silver watch.
Scott wrote everything down.
Then Grace added one detail.
"The man gave Dylan an envelope."
Scott stopped writing.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"Brown."
"Did you see what was inside?"
"No."
The next morning, Scott received an email.
The sender was unknown.
There was only one attachment.
A photograph.
It showed Grace standing near the shopping center on the afternoon of the accident.
Below the photograph were five words:
She doesn't know everything.
Scott stared at the image.
Whoever had sent it had been watching his daughter.
That meant the problem had moved beyond damaged property.
His family's privacy was being invaded.
And whoever was behind it wanted Scott to know.
The following Monday, Scott contacted an attorney named Sarah Bennett.
She was not connected to the original investigation.
That was intentional.
Scott wanted someone who could look at the situation without emotional involvement.
Sarah listened to everything.
When he finished, she asked one question.
"Have you retaliated against Gwen?"
"No."
"Have you threatened her?"
"No."
"Have you contacted Dylan?"
"No."
"Good."
She leaned back.
"The strongest position you can have right now is restraint."
Scott nodded.
"Then what should we do?"
"Document. Preserve evidence. Communicate only when necessary. And most importantly, don't allow anyone to provoke you."
Scott asked about the anonymous messages.
Sarah examined the photographs.
"Don't respond to them."
"Even if they threaten us?"
"Especially then."
She explained that every message, photograph, damaged object, and incident should be preserved exactly as received.
Scott followed her instructions.
Then Sarah discovered something interesting.
The anonymous photograph had been uploaded to a cloud server before being sent.
She couldn't identify the person responsible.
But she could establish that the image was not old.
It had been captured recently.
Someone had been watching Grace.
Scott left the office angry but controlled.
On his way home, he noticed a gray sedan parked across the street.
The driver was watching the Merritt house.
Scott didn't approach.
He took a photograph.
The sedan drove away.
Later that evening, Grace said something that changed the direction of the investigation.
"I know the man."
Scott looked at her.
"The man from the photograph?"
"No."
She opened her laptop.
She had searched old social media photographs from the school.
Then she pointed at a picture.
A man stood in the background.
Gray jacket.
Silver watch.
Scott stared.
"Who is he?"
"His name is Martin Cole."
"How do you know him?"
"I don't. But Dylan does."
Scott called Sarah.
She asked him to send the photograph.
Within twenty-four hours, she discovered that Martin Cole had worked as a consultant for a private transportation company.
That company had previously employed Dylan's father.
Suddenly, the situation looked different.
Gwen might have been angry.
Dylan might have been afraid.
But perhaps someone else had a reason to keep the truth hidden.
The next day, Scott received a call from Gwen.
"I want to talk."
"About what?"