Chapter 7: The Things He Said Out Loud
I put the call on speaker.
Clara's hand came up immediately — a sharp gesture.
*Don't tell him.*
I nodded.
"I understand you've been in contact with Clara," Garrett said.
His voice was measured.
Practiced.
The voice of a man who had talked his way out of things before.
"I want you to know that I have a great deal of sympathy for what you've been through.
Losing a sister.
Losing your mother.
That kind of grief is real, and I don't minimize it."
"What do you want, Mr.
Holloway?"
"I want to help you understand the situation before it becomes something that hurts your family further." A pause.
"Clara has been through a very difficult time.
She suffered a serious head injury in that accident.
There were years of instability afterward — I know because I tried to help her during that period.
I was very fond of her." Another pause.
"But the story she's been telling herself about what happened that night is not accurate.
And if she goes forward with whatever she's planning, she's going to face a very painful legal process that will call her credibility into serious question."
Clara's jaw was tight.
She said nothing.
"What story is she telling herself?" I asked.
"That I was responsible for the accident.
That I left her intentionally." His voice stayed smooth.
"Sarah, I was not in that car.
I was not on that road that night.
I identified her remains because the authorities asked me to and because I cared about her.
What I saw was devastating.
I have lived with that for ten years."
"You identified her remains," I said slowly.
"Yes."
"And you're saying you weren't at the scene."
"Correct."
"Then how did you know to identify them?
How did you even know she was g\*ne before the family was notified?"
A half-second of silence.
Small.
But there.
"I was contacted by someone who knew we had been close," he said.
"I don't remember exactly who at this point.
It was ten years ago."
"You don't remember."
"It was a very traumatic time."
Clara closed her eyes briefly.
"Mr.
Holloway," I said, "why are you calling me instead of Clara?"
"Because I think you're the reasonable one." His tone shifted slightly — warmer, more confidential.
"I think Clara has convinced herself of something that isn't true, and I think you have the ability to see that.
I'm asking you, as someone who loved her, to help her step back from this before it becomes a legal matter that damages her far more than it damages me."
"And if she doesn't step back?"
"Then I'll have no choice but to defend myself." The warmth left his voice.
"And defending myself will require me to present evidence about Clara's mental state during the years after the accident.
Her history of instability.
The name she was living under.
The fact that she chose to stay hidden rather than return to her family." A pause.
"That's not a story that makes her look credible, Sarah.
It's a story that makes her look like someone who constructed a false narrative to explain a decade of choices she's ashamed of."
Clara opened her eyes.
She looked at the phone.
Then she leaned forward.
"Hello, Garrett," she said.
Silence.
"You told me once," she said, "that you would always be three steps ahead.
Do you remember that?
You said it the second time you called me.
After you found me at the hospital." She kept her voice very calm.
"I want you to know that I recorded that call.
I recorded all of them."
Nothing from the other end of the line.
"The one where you describe leaving the scene," she continued.
"The one where you tell me what you saw when you looked at me in the grass.
The one where you say you made a decision that night that you would make again." She paused.
"I have all of them, Garrett.
Nine recordings.
And they're no longer in my possession."
"You're lying." His voice was different now.
Thinner.
"Am I?" She sat back.
"Then don't worry about it."
The line went d\*ad.
Clara and I sat in the car for a long moment without speaking.
Then her phone rang.
Not a call.
An alert.
She looked at it.
Her face went carefully still.
"What?" I asked.
She turned the phone to show me.
A notification from the cloud storage account where she kept her backup files.
*Someone attempted to access this account from an unrecognized device.
Access was denied.*
He had just tried to find the recordings.
May you like
Which meant he believed they existed.
Which meant everything Grace had told us was already in motion — whether we were ready or not.
