Chapter 5 - The Racetrack Was Changed Too Quickly
The real track had been renovated six months after Adrian died.
Luciano remembered approving the work.
That realization made him angry with himself.
Bernadette said she could not bear looking at the curve where her husband died.
Marcus argued the old service lane was unsafe.
Luciano, grieving and exhausted, signed the renovation approval without questioning either of them.
The white gate disappeared.
The maintenance lane was rerouted.
The retaining wall was rebuilt.
New landscaping covered the old access point.
A physical scene had been erased under the respectable name of improvement.
Luciano drove down to the track with Hank Dwyer, the estate’s retired maintenance chief.
Hank had worked there the night Adrian died.
He stood beside the newer hedge line and stared at the ground for a long time.
“I told police the service gate was open.”
Luciano turned sharply.
“What?”
“They asked if I knew who opened it. I didn’t.”
“Why don’t I remember that?”
“It never made the final family summary.”
That phrase angered Luciano immediately.
“Family summary?”
“Marcus handled communication with the investigator after Bernadette said she couldn’t manage it.”
Of course he did.
“What happened to the gate log?”
Hank shook his head.
“Old mechanical latch. No digital log.”
“But you saw it open?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After the crash.”
“Could Adrian have opened it?”
“Not from the track side without stopping and getting out.”
Luciano looked toward the curve.
“Could another vehicle have entered?”
“Yes.”
Hank’s answer came without hesitation.
“From the garden service drive.”
The mansion.
The model showroom.
The garden service road.
They all connected.
Theo’s memory of headlights where cars were not supposed to be suddenly seemed possible.
“Did anyone mention another vehicle?”
Hank hesitated.
“I saw fresh tire marks on the maintenance lane.”
Luciano felt his pulse climb.
“Why was that not in the report?”
“I photographed them.”
“Where are the pictures?”
“Marcus took the memory card.”
Silence.
“He said police already had enough photographs and Bernadette didn’t want pictures of Adrian’s death floating around.”
Luciano stared.
“You gave him the only photographs showing the service lane?”
“At the time, he was Adrian’s closest friend.”
No.
At the time, Marcus was the man controlling what everyone saw after Adrian died.
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And now he was helping Bernadette physically rewrite the miniature version too.
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