Chloe cried after the call ended. She had never met Dominic, but his death had become entangled with the opening of her own future. She wondered whether the strange collision of their stories gave her a responsibility to his memory. Marisol reminded her that she could honor him without carrying a debt she had not chosen. The dead deserved truth and remembrance, not another young person's entire life.
The grand jury investigation expanded from the missing biker to a broader inquiry involving bribery, racketeering, falsified records, and violence used to protect the freight operation. Sheriff Walter Briggs appeared before investigators with a lawyer. So did Dale Mercer and a contractor named Preston Vale, whose company had leased trucks and warehouse space under several names. The official announcements remained cautious. Allegations were allegations, and the prosecutors knew that public excitement about the Ghost Harley story would not substitute for proof.
Chloe's connection to the case made her both valuable and vulnerable. The federal team advised her not to discuss her testimony publicly and helped arrange secure communication with the prosecutor assigned to the matter. She was asked to identify the layout of the trailer and describe the late-night conversation she heard three years earlier. She answered what she remembered, then said plainly when she could not remember more. It was difficult not to fill the empty spaces with what she had learned since.
"If you're not sure," Vargas told her, "say you're not sure. That's not weakness. The case is stronger when every witness stays within what they actually know."
Chloe took the advice seriously. At the workshop, she was learning to test an engine rather than decide in advance which part she wanted to be broken. In the investigation, she realized, the same principle applied. Richard had spent years building stories around whatever made him look powerful. Chloe wanted nothing she said to give his lawyers an opportunity to claim she had learned to do the same.
One morning a letter arrived from an attorney representing Richard Croft. It advised Chloe to preserve any records of the motorcycle transaction and hinted that her decision to ride an unregistered salvaged vehicle could affect how her credibility was judged. The language was carefully formal, but the message felt familiar: if she pursued the truth, every imperfect thing she had done would be held up as proof that she deserved whatever happened. Chloe carried the letter to Marisol rather than trying to answer it herself. Together they forwarded it to the legal team handling the case.
The attorney assigned to support Chloe explained that she should expect difficult questions about the salvage purchase and her relationship with the riders. Those questions did not erase her allegations, but they were part of the adversarial process. The most useful response was to be truthful about the desperation that had led her to take the motorcycle, the warnings Arthur had given, and the dangerous choices she knew she had made. Chloe did not like hearing that her decisions would be examined. She liked even less the idea of pretending they were flawless.