Page 111 of Only Fate

“Tell your mom to withdraw from his case. He’s guilty. End of story.”

“That’s not in my power.”

“What’s in your power, then?”

“Deciding whether I help the PEP.”

“Help by convincing them of his guilt. In fact, I have no problem helping you with that.”

“Does that mean you’ll work with me?”

“I’m not an attorney, but I’ll fucking become one if it means protecting my sister.”

“Cool. Let’s get to brainstorming, then.” I’m not wasting a moment of this.

He rubs his hands. “Let’s get this done.”

“What makes you so certain he committed the crime?”

“All the evidence was there in black and white.”

The details are fresh in my mind since I reread them repeatedly last night.

I drain my drink. “Earl’s night began here, at Down Home.”

He nods.

“He realized he was too drunk to drive and called his grandmother, Esther, for a ride. Esther had a friend drive her to the pub so she could drive Earl and his truck home. Earl was so intoxicated that he needed help getting out of the pub and into the truck.”

River nods again.

“Earl lived with his grandmother. In her statement, she said they went home and Earl didn’t leave for the rest of the night.”

“She could have been covering for him, or he’d snuck out, and she didn’t know.” He makes asimple as thatmotion.

“This man, who couldn’t even walk out of a bar, somehow drove from their home in the middle-of-Blue-Beech nowhere, tracked down Essie and Ethan, waited until no other cars were around, and then played a traffic game with them?”

River shuts his eyes.

I can tell he’s playing out the scene in his head.

“The grandmother also said she hid the keys,” I continue. “They were still in the place she’d hidden them when the police arrived less than an hour after the accident. It took them over twenty minutes to wake Earl up.”

“They found a spare key under the truck’s floor mat,” River argues.

“Earl’s prints weren’t on that key, and the grandmother, who drove his truck regularly, said she’d never seen it before.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t use it.”

“There was a logo on the key from the machine where it was copied. The PEP reviewed Earl’s bank and credit card statements. They couldn’t find a charge for it.”

“Cash.” River snaps his fingers and slams his hand on the table.

“The machine doesn’t accept cash. Only credit. There was nothing on the grandmother’s bank statements either.”

“He could’ve found another way. A prepaid card. Paid someone to make a copy for him. The key isn’t a deal-breaker on the case.” He signals the server for another round of drinks. Instead of a beer for him this time, he orders a whiskey shot.

“All right, moving on from the key. Why would he target Ethan or Essie? Neither of them was involved in the prank.”

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