“What caused the car to lose control?” He was careful about putting the onus on the vehicle not the man’s dead wife.
Austin rubbed his left temple. “Her brakes failed. Guess it happens.”
Same thing that happened to Logan. But surely there needed to be more to rouse true suspicion. And, sure, Claire had a connection to both Rita and Logan, but that too was thin. But it was Austin’s uncertainty that had the hairs rising on the back of Trent’s neck. “Is there a part of you that believes something else caused her accident?”
Austin rubbed his forehead. “What do I know, but she had her car serviced a week ago.” His eyes were full of anguish.
Trent refused to grant Amanda eye contact, but he could feel her burning a hole in the side of his head. It was starting to feel like the conspiracy was gaining some ground. “And they looked at her brakes specifically?”
“Yes.”
Trent had heard of brake lines and knew if they were cut, it was bad news, but sabotage like that would likely be easy to spot.
“Do they know why the brakes failed?” Amanda asked.
“Some cap was missing from under the hood. I’m not a car guy so I’m sort of at their mercy and discretion.” Austin looked back and forth at the two of them, as if he was finally suspecting there might be more.
“The cap on the master cylinder,” Amanda said. “It’s where the brake fluid goes. To work, the system needs to be under pressure. Without that cap, it wouldn’t be. The brakes wouldn’t fail completely, but they would be mostly ineffective, especially if your wife was moving at a fast speed.”
“She was on the highway.”
They knew she had been on the interstate, but the cause of the brake failure wasn’t anything Trent had heard of before. Though he was certainly more handyman than he was mechanic. Set him free to work on home renovations—plumbing, wiring, construction—but don’t ask him to touch anything under the hood of a vehicle. Amanda’s knowledge on the matter was impressive, but was likely credited to her brother, Kyle, who was a licensed mechanic and from what Trent gathered, had always been into cars.
“That’s all it would take,” Amanda said, glancing at Trent. If he was reading her right, she had more to say on the topic and whatever it was, it would not be good.
“Is that something that just happens?” Austin’s eyes were full of tears.
Amanda took a deep breath, so well hidden, it would have been easy to miss. “You said your wife recently had the car serviced. It’s possible that they topped up the brake fluid but didn’t tighten the lid.”
Austin went pale. “My poor Rita.”
Trent couldn’t truly imagine what this man was going through right now. But he had a feeling there was more to this than Amanda was letting on to the widower. He’d ask her once they were back in the car. “We are investigating a case at the moment, Mr.Flynn. Have you heard of a Claire Hunter? You may have known her as Claire Ramsey.”
Austin pointed behind Trent. He turned, not knowing what he was to be looking at. “The picture on the right,” Austin added.
It was of Austin and Rita, and their wedding day with their party.
“Claire was Rita’s maid of honor,” Austin said.
Then Trent noticed the decade-younger Claire. She would have been in her early twenties at that point. Claire was smiling in the photo, but the expression didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“They were the best of friends,” Austin put in. “Nearly inseparable.”
“Do you know how they met?” Trent was thinking of the age gap between Claire and Rita, again finding it strange they’d been so close. What had bonded them?
Austin shook his head. “Not really sure, but the friendship pre-dated me by years.” Tears pooled in his eyes. “I’m going to miss that woman.”
“Do you know when Rita last saw Claire?” Trent watched as Austin’s face shadowed, then he grimaced.
“Years ago. Claire just up and left without a word to Rita. It really hurt her.”
There must have been some forgiveness, though, or Rita wouldn’t have left a picture of the wedding party that included Claire on the mantle. “Is there some way maybe your wife and Claire stayed in touch without you knowing it?”
“We told each other everything.”
Except details about her relationship with Claire…What necessitated the secrecy? And did it have anything to do with why they were both dead—one blatantly murdered, the other under suspicious circumstances?
“Did your wife have any nicknames?” Amanda inserted.
