Chapter 6 - The Mechanic’s Testimony
The man was named Elias Thorne, a grease-stained, nervous wreck who lived in a trailer on the outskirts of the city. When Jane found him, he was packing a bag, clearly alerted by the sudden collapse of her parents' empire. She caught him before he could leave. She didn't use a weapon; she used the cold, hard leverage of the digital evidence she’d collected.
"If you run, you’re the fall guy," Jane said, her voice cutting through the thick smell of oil and stale cigarette smoke in his workshop. "My father is already pointing fingers at everyone else to save himself. If you stay, you’re a protected witness. You’re the only person who can prove this wasn't a mechanical failure, but a premeditated execution."
Elias looked at the photos of Samuel and Penelope Jane laid on his workbench. His hands shook. "I didn't know they were going to kill them," he whispered, his voice cracking. "They told me it was an insurance scam. They said the car would be totaled, that everyone would be out of town. They promised no one would be in the vehicle."
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"They lied to you," Jane said, her eyes burning into his. "They treated human lives like line items on a tax return."
The testimony was recorded in a marathon session. Elias detailed the exact modification: the bypass of the brake sensor, the installation of a remote-override chip, and the precise timing requested by Thomas. It was clinical, mechanical, and horrifyingly precise. Jane listened to every word, absorbing the technical details like a slow-acting poison. By the time the video was uploaded to the D.A.’s secure server, Jane’s father had no defense left. The narrative of an "unfortunate accident" was dead, replaced by the ugly reality of a cold-blooded murder plot.
