Chapter 9: The Witness at the Railway Station

At 11:45 the following morning, I was sitting in the back of Mr. Bennett's car outside the old railway station.

Thomas sat beside me.

He had insisted on coming, despite the instruction to meet Robert alone.

Mr. Bennett had also arranged for Detective Harris to be informed of our location.

Nobody trusted anyone anymore.

The railway station had been closed for renovations years earlier. Its brick walls were covered in ivy, and the platform was almost empty.

A cold wind moved through the abandoned tracks.

I held my grandfather's note in my pocket.

"Do you think he'll come?"" I asked.

Thomas looked through the window.

"If he believes your grandfather left something important with you, he'll come.""

"What if he's lying?""

"Then we leave.""

At exactly noon, a black car pulled into the parking lot.

An older man stepped out.

He carried a wooden walking stick.

A pale scar began pounding.

"What did he look like?""

"Gray hair. A scar near his left eyebrow. He carried a walking stick.""

Thomas looked at me.

"I remember him.""

"From where?""

"He was standing outside the courthouse the day I was arrested.""

Mrs. Collins crossed herself.

"He left something for Miss Maya.""

She hurried upstairs.

A few minutes later, she returned with a small wooden box.

"I found it in the pantry after Mr. Hayes died. I was told not to open it.""

The box had my name written on top.

Inside was a photograph of a younger Robert Vance.

Beneath it lay a folded note.

I opened it.

Maya,

Your grandfather paid me to keep quiet about something I witnessed on October 16.

I have carried that guilt for sixteen years.

If you want to know who ordered the accident, meet me at the old railway station tomorrow at noon.

Come alone.

I read the final sentence twice.

Then I noticed the handwriting beneath it.

It wasn't Robert's.

It was my grandfather's.

*If he contacts you, do not go alone.*

I looked at Thomas.

"Why would Grandpa leave two opposite instructions?""

Thomas studied the note.

Then his expression changed.

"Because one of them was written after the other.""

He turned the paper over.

In the lower corner was a date.

Three days before my grandfather died.

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And beneath that date was a final sentence.

*Robert Vance is not the man you should be afraid of.*