I sat at the kitchen table and drank tea and waited.
At two in the afternoon, Patricia called again.
“He’s talking,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means his lawyer advised him that the evidence is substantial and that cooperation may affect the outcome.
He’s giving a version of events.” A pause.
“His version.”
“What’s his version?”
“He admits he was driving.
He claims the crash was an accident caused by wet roads and that he panicked afterward.
He denies pushing Chloe.
He says she reached for the wheel and he tried to correct, and the car went off the road.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“He’s blaming her.”
“He’s repositioning himself.
Minimizing.
It’s what they do.” Patricia’s voice was steady.
“It doesn’t change the evidence.
The photograph shows his posture and expression in the seconds before impact.
Reyes’s team is pulling the original accident reconstruction now to see if it’s consistent with Daniel’s account or Ava’s.”
