Chapter 6
About an hour and a half later, my lawyer, Matteo Singleton, finally arrived.
He looked to be in his forties, with gold-rimmed glasses that gave him a sharp, capable look.
My dad had pulled some strings to get him brought in overnight from the provincial capital.
He was supposed to be a criminal law expert.
Matteo listened carefully and had me recount everything in detail from beginning to end.
He listened with great attention.
He made sure nothing slipped through the cracks.
He even asked me to recall every single conversation I'd had with Rashad.
After I finished, he sat in silence for a long moment.
"Miss Carter," he said, his face grave as he looked at me. "Legally speaking, things aren't looking good for you right now."
My heart sank.
Matteo continued, "All the circumstantial evidence comes together as a solid chain.
"The time, the place, the car, the eyewitness, Rashad, even the broken surveillance footage is considered evidence, and the phone set up in your name.
"It all fits together perfectly. There's no direct proof you were behind the wheel when it happened.
"But unless we find some new evidence, you're not getting out from under suspicion anytime soon."
His tone was calm, but brutally honest.
He didn't bother to comfort me and just laid out the facts.
"So... what should I do?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"Tell the police everything you just told me, exactly as it happened," Matteo instructed. "Stick to the facts, no speculation, no opinions.
"And about your suspicions of Rashad, don't bring it up unless you've got something to back it up. Leave everything else to me."
He stood up, getting ready to leave.
He said, "Don't worry. I'll review the case files as soon as possible and request all the relevant evidence. Especially the surveillance footage from the Nordica service center.
"Someone who looks exactly like you, that's the biggest point of suspicion here."
Matteo's words gave me some hope.
He was right, that other "me".
If I could prove the person who registered the phone card wasn't actually me, then this airtight case will finally have a hole in it.
Less than half an hour after Matteo left, the door of the interrogation room opened again.
Wyatt stepped inside.
His expression was graver than I'd ever seen.
He looked at me, his gaze unreadable, full of mixed feelings.
It was like I was some kind of alien, something he just couldn't wrap his head around.
He didn't sit down.
He just stood there, towering over me, looking down as if he was in charge.
"Cassandra." Wyatt's voice was so deep it sent chills down my spine. "We found the hit-and-run Santana."
My heart leapt into my throat.
They found it?
Did this mean I could prove I wasn't the one behind the wheel?
"Where did you find it?" I blurted out.
"Out at a demolition site on the edge of town," Wyatt replied. "The car was abandoned."
"The plates were swapped, but after checking the registration details, it's definitely the one that went missing from Safepath Institute."
Missing?
I was stunned.
"Safepath Institute's car went missing?" I blurted out.
Wyatt said, "That's right. Around 4:30 this afternoon. Rashad said he told you to practice the S-curve on your own while he went to the restroom.
"When he came back, both you and the car were gone. He thought you were upset again and just took the car to practice somewhere else, so he didn't pay much attention.
"It wasn't until we reached out to him that he realized the car was missing, and that something had happened."
My head was buzzing.
It was Rashad again.
His testimony was pushing me right back into the pit.
I was on the driving course the whole time, practicing.
He was right there, barking at me nonstop.
Since when did he go to the bathroom?
And since when did I disappear with the car?
He had been lying from the start to the finish.
"He's lying!" I shouted.
I jumped up, my hands hitting the table hard.
I said, "He hasn't said a single true word the whole time! Why is he doing this? Why is he trying to set me up?"
Wyatt just looked at me, like he'd seen this coming from a mile away.
He just stood there, watching me in silence.
He waited until I calmed down a bit.
Then, in a slow, deliberate voice, Wyatt said something that chilled me to the bone.
"We found, on the steering wheel of that car..." He paused. Each word was like an icy knife.
"We lifted crystal clear fingerprints," he said.