Chapter 5 - The Hospital Vigil and a Clue
Back at the precinct, Natalie requested the cell phone tower pings and security camera footage from the gas station near the entrance of County Road 14.
Hours of tedious review paid off around midnight.
On the grainy security camera footage from the night Andrew disappeared, his blue pickup was visible passing the highway intersection at 8:15 p.m. Exactly two car lengths behind him was a late-model black SUV with tinted windows and a missing front license plate.
The SUV was tailgating aggressively, its high beams flashing in a menacing rhythm.
Andrew wasn't just driving home in a storm—he was being hunted.
Natalie printed the still images and rushed back to the hospital, where Adam—her husband and an investigator with the county district attorney’s office—had joined her to sit with Ashley while she slept.
“Look at this, Adam,” Natalie said, spreading the photos across the small hospital room tray table. “This isn't a simple runoff accident. Someone ran him off the road.”
Adam adjusted his glasses, examining the black SUV closely. “A late-model Tahoe with commercial fleet registration. Look at the mud flaps—that's distinctive. It’s registered out of the industrial district across town, tied to a private contracting firm called Apex Logistics.”
“Apex Logistics?” Natalie frowned. “Isn't that the company where Andrew worked as a warehouse supervisor before he was laid off?”
“Not laid off,” Adam corrected quietly, pulling a certified folder from his briefcase. “I ran a preliminary background check on Andrew this afternoon. Three weeks ago, he blew the whistle on systemic safety violations and illegal chemical dumping at Apex Logistics. The state labor board was scheduled to audit their facility the very morning he disappeared.”
The room went dead silent.
Ashley stirred in her sleep, letting out a soft sigh, her tiny hand clutching Buddy’s ear.
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“They didn't just want to silence him at work,” Natalie whispered, horror dawning on her. “They wanted to silence him permanently so he couldn't testify at the audit.”
“And little Ashley was left trapped in that house because those monsters didn't care who got caught in the crossfire,” Adam said, his jaw tightening with rage. “We need to move fast, Nat. If Andrew survived the crash and crawled out of that ravine, those men are going to finish what they started.”
