Chapter 14
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The diner on 4th Street was a dimly lit, rundown establishment that smelled permanently of stale coffee and fried grease. It was the last place you would expect to find a corporate engineer, which was precisely why it was chosen.
I sat in a corner booth facing the door, clutching my coffee mug to stop my hands from shaking. The bell above the door chimed, and a man walked in, his shoulders hunched against the rain. He wore a heavy trench coat and a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
He slid into the booth across from me, glancing nervously at the other patrons before taking off his cap.
"David?" I breathed, recognizing Evan's former junior analyst. He had attended Evan’s funeral, standing quietly in the back, looking completely devastated.
"Keep your voice down, Claire," David whispered, his eyes darting toward the window. "I’m the one who sent you the box. I kept it hidden in my garage for three years."
"You had his journal this whole time?" I asked, a mix of anger and desperate relief washing over me. "Why didn't you give it to the police? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the police detective who handled the crash report was on Julian Cross's payroll!" David hissed, leaning over the table. "They ruled it an accident before the car was even fully cold. If I had come forward with that journal, I would have ended up in a ditch next to Evan."
I stared at him, the reality of the conspiracy finally sinking in.
"What happened, David? Tell me everything," I demanded.
"Vanguard grossly underbid the Silver Creek Bridge contract to win it," David explained, his voice trembling. "To make a profit, Julian ordered the procurement team to use a cheaper, substandard concrete blend. Evan ran the stress tests. He found out that under maximum load and severe winter weather, the concrete will fracture. The bridge will collapse, Claire. Hundreds of people will die."
"And Evan refused to sign the safety certification," I realized, tears pricking my eyes.
"He didn't just refuse," David said. "He downloaded all the original test data onto a flash drive and told Julian he was going to the federal authorities the next morning. That night, his brakes failed on the mountain pass."
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"Where is the flash drive?" I asked urgently.
"Evan hid it," David shook his head. "He didn't tell me where. The journal is the only physical proof left of his calculations. But Julian knows you have it now. You need to hire protection, Claire. Julian Cross will not let you destroy his empire."
