Five blocks from Adrian Cole’s office.
“Dad lied,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grandma took a slow breath.
“Because your mother was not coming home from the grocery store. She was coming home from signing the final trust papers.”
My stomach rolled.
“And Valerie knew,” Grandma said.
I looked up.
“How?”
Grandma pulled out one more page.
A parking garage receipt.
Two license plate numbers were highlighted.
One was Mom’s.
The other was Valerie’s.
“They were both there?”
“Valerie followed her.”
My ears rang.
“Why wasn’t this in the police report?”
“It was. Briefly. Then nobody pursued it because Valerie told the officer she had coincidentally parked there earlier that day for lunch. Jack confirmed it.”
Dad had confirmed it.
Of course he had.
“There’s dashcam footage,” Grandma said.
I looked at her.
“From Mom’s car?”
“No. From the car behind her.”
She stood and crossed to her desk, then came back with her laptop.
“I wasn’t able to get this until last week. The driver’s insurance company had it archived. Adrian Cole helped me subpoena it after your phone call.”
My whole body went numb.
Grandma opened the video.