Chapter 7 - The Last Camera File
The final dashcam file was short and badly damaged. A specialist had recovered fragments from the device's memory card, documenting what could and could not be read reliably. The first recovered clip overlapped the home backup. The second began after the collision, when the truck's electrical system briefly powered the camera again.
The image showed raindrops sliding down the windshield, the angle crooked from the impact. A tow truck stood ahead on the shoulder with its amber light spinning. Its driver approached Ben's damaged pickup, reached through the open door, and looked toward the camera. His face was partly hidden by the hood of his raincoat. He removed something from the glove compartment, then turned away.
Reyes paused the recording.
"We need to identify this person independently. I don't want you to assume it's Walter because the truck belongs to his company."
"But he took something from Ben's cab."
"The image supports that he reached inside and carried an object away. We need to learn what and why. The collision itself is not visible in this recovered segment."
Lena understood. Still, her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
The third fragment contained audio. Someone said, "Call the highway patrol." Another voice answered, "Walter said wait for the yard truck." The recording ended before anyone made a call.
That sequence didn't prove that North Creek caused Ben's injuries. It did raise serious questions about why a driver at the scene delayed reporting and removed property. The detective told Lena he was pursuing those questions, and she did not ask how far the investigation had gone.
At home she listened to an old voicemail Ben had left when she was working late, telling her he'd bought oranges because he'd promised to make dinner. The ordinary tenderness nearly undid her. It was easier to look at a damaged vehicle than to imagine the person he'd expected to be when he drove it home.
Lena agreed to a formal interview about Ben's records and the shop finances. She told investigators about his questionable invoice approval, the later attempt to correct it, and their marital argument about money. She gave the truth in its inconvenient entirety.
North Creek responded publicly to the city contract review, saying it cooperated with every legitimate inquiry and had corrected routine billing errors. Its attorney disputed any suggestion of deliberate intimidation. Lena refused to make a television interview accusing Walter of murder, despite a reporter's repeated requests. She did not know that to be true.
The towing company also sent the shop a notice ending their repair arrangement. North Creek's business had never been a large share of Lena's income, but the lost work mattered. Two suppliers began asking for shorter payment terms after hearing rumors that the shop was under investigation.
Rosa gathered the team around the office table.
"If anyone wants to leave, I won't take it personally," Lena said. "I can't promise the next few months will be comfortable."
Their youngest apprentice, Marco, raised his hand. "Are we still doing the old safety checks?"
"Of course."
"Then I'd rather work here than a place that tells me to ignore a truck I know has bad brakes."
The room softened with quiet laughter. Emilio, who had worked for Ben before Lena bought into the shop, offered to move one of his regular customers to the morning shift so they could fit in more repairs. Rosa proposed offering discounted winter inspections to attract new business.
Lena was grateful, but she didn't mistake loyalty for immunity from payroll. She called the bank, disclosed the difficulties, and negotiated a temporary line of credit that required a personal guarantee. It was a financial risk she considered carefully with Priya and their accountant.
At the end of the week Reyes informed her that the man on the recording had been tentatively identified as a North Creek driver named Charlie Frost. Charlie had left the company months earlier. Investigators were attempting to interview him.
Lena found one of Ben's notes on Charlie's old truck: Brake pulling left. Fix before road service. Walter says send anyway.
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She placed it beside the video transcript.
Her husband had been warning people about that same tow truck before the night he died.
