Page 72 of The Hardest Hit
“Shit, Evan, please don’t tell me there’s more.”
“Randall and Dad never did anything about it. They had ten years and they didn’t do anything. And then one day Genevieve and Jack get on a plane with Randall and Owen. I found an email in that box of Dad’s stuff we went through. It was dated from three days before their vacations. Randall told Genevieve they needed to talk. What else was there to talk about?”
Jackson made a dissatisfied grunt. “Did Genevieve reply?”
“Not that I found,” said Evan. “I went through everything and didn’t turn up anything. But then I went out to DevEntier. They pulled two hard drives out of storage. I’ve got them with a guy I found. But they’re encrypted and he hasn’t had any luck with opening them.”
“I’ll call Kerschel and get her on the next plane home. We’ll go to your guy tonight after work and get the hard drives. Kerschel is already familiar with some of the DevEntier stuff. Even if your guy is good, she’s going to have an edge.”
“Jackson, what do we do if…” Evan tried to get the words out. “What if this is the reason they all died?”
“What do you want to do?” asked Jackson.
“Jesus, please don’t put this on me,” said Evan, feeling a sense of panic in his chest.
“I’m not trying to. I’ll have more opinions in a bit, but I need the minute. You’ve had longer. What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” said Evan. “I thought maybe if there was something unusual about the crash I might be able to learn more, but there isn’t. I requested the file on the crash from the FAA, but there’s nothing useful in it.”
“Request the… Well, shit. Sure, just ask the FAA.”
“What?”
Jackson rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I forget I can go in the front door. There are no files on the crash anywhere. Pete pulled them all years ago and now Grandma’s got the only set under lock and key. And me, being me, I have wanted to see them. It never occurred to me to just ask the fucking FAA for them.”
“Yeah, you’re a next of kin and you can also just put in a public records request. Which is what I did. Aiden said that no one could tell if I made a public records request. Not that I told him why I wanted to know. You can have my copy if you want. It’s not very useful. It was just faulty wiring and a storm. There wasn’t anything shocking.”
Jackson seemed to puzzle over the matter, and Evan watched him, feeling an immense sense of relief at having someone else thinking about it besides him.
“OK, well, even if that is why they got on the plane, it’s not why they died. It’s like you said, faulty wiring and a storm. It was just an accident.”
“Do you think Grandma’s going to see it that way?”
Jackson sighed heavily. “No. I think she’ll feel guilty as fuck. Even if she didn’t kill Henry, she’ll still feel guilty if she thinks that’s why they all got on the plane.”
“So we can’t tell her?”
Jackson seemed to consider. “I think we don’t tell her. We look at the hard drives. If we find something out then, great, then you and I will know and we can personally feel better about it. If we don’t, then, well, as you said a few weeks ago, we have a fucked up family, and sometimes shit just is what it is and I guess we’ll have to live with that. Either way, I think we need to destroy the hard drives and move the autopsy report and whatever else you’ve got to my safe.”
“Your safe?” asked Evan.
“I have a very expensive safe in the basement at home,” said Jackson. “I could put a body in it and no one would know.”
“I don’t think that’s what safes are usually used for,” said Evan.
“No, but I like knowing that I could do it. They said even bugs couldn’t get in. A corpse would mummify in there.”
“Who sold you this safe?” demanded Evan. “I don’t think that’s something they’re supposed to be advertising.”
“I think they’re supposed to use whatever makes the sale, and that totally worked on me,” said Jackson with a grin as he put the car into gear. Evan looked out the windshield and felt a strange sense of calm as the building passed by, flashing bands of sunlight between them. He’d pictured trying to tell Jackson about the autopsy report. There had been a lot more yelling and disapproving in his head. But in reality, he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“Thanks for not being mad,” said Evan.
“Why would I be mad?” asked Jackson.
“I don’t know. I just feel like… Every time I go home lately everything is tense, and I feel like it’s my fault.”
“That’s Eleanor,” said Jackson sourly. “She’s pissed about the Granger situation and work and just… pissed.”
