One showed a long scrape of silver paint along the passenger side.
Laura’s car had been silver.
For the first time, Gavin’s confidence began to cost him.
But before federal agents could move, he called me directly.
His voice was calm.
“Meet me alone tomorrow,” he said. “Or your daughter learns what really happened to her mother.”
### Part 9
Gavin selected a public place because men like him mistake visibility for safety.
He chose a marina restaurant overlooking the lake, crowded with tourists and families. Ceiling fans pushed warm air over tables sticky with spilled soda. Glasses clinked. Children shouted near the dock.
I arrived wearing a recording device Simone’s investigator had provided.
Walter sat outside in an old pickup with a directional microphone, though Gavin believed I had come alone.
Gavin occupied a corner table with his back to the wall.
He looked tired.
For the first time since I had known him, his shirt collar was wrinkled. A muscle jumped near his left eye.
“You brought police?” he asked.
“No.”
“Federal agents?”
“No.”
He searched my face.
“You always were hard to read.”
“You never tried. You preferred your own version of me.”
A waitress approached. Gavin ordered bourbon. I ordered coffee.
When she left, he leaned forward.
“Rebecca stole money.”
“No.”
“She falsified accounts.”
“Under your instructions.”
“She’s unstable.”
“You’ve used that word for every woman who frightened you. Rebecca. Laura. Your mother when she disagreed with you.”
His jaw tightened.
“Leave my mother out of this.”
“You brought her to Emma’s school.”
“I was protecting my niece.”
“You bruised her.”
He sat back and smiled.
“You keep repeating that as if it matters.”
“It will.”
“People forget bruises.”
“Records don’t.”
His smile vanished.
The waitress returned with our drinks. A cube of ice cracked inside Gavin’s glass.
He waited until she left.
“You think Laura was some investigator?” he said. “She was confused. Grieving over Dad. Convinced I was a monster because I made decisions she didn’t like.”
“She found your real ledger.”
“She stole company property.”
“And you followed her.”
“I wanted it back.”
The admission was small but clear.
“Did you hit her car?”
Gavin stared through the window toward the lake.
“She was driving too fast.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She shouldn’t have been on that road.”
“You forced her onto it?”
“I tried to make her pull over.”
“With your SUV.”
“She panicked.”
I held my coffee cup to keep my hands still.
“What happened?”
Gavin’s voice dropped.
