Chapter 9 - The scratch Helena blamed on Leo
The Aston Martin had factory telematics.
Crestline obtained records under contract rights after learning the vehicle might have been used commercially.
The scratch was first documented by a Nightstar customer.
Text:
Small issue on passenger rear. Sending photo now.
Timestamp:
Sunday, 1:16 a.m.
The car was parked at a hotel forty-eight miles from my house.
Photo showed the same scratch.
Helena replied:
Bring it back. I’ll handle.
Then:
Do not file anything with your insurer yet.
Customer:
My deposit covers?
Helena:
We’ll settle internally.
The car returned:
10:08 a.m.
Leo was at a children’s museum with his nanny and two friends until 3:40 p.m.
Receipts.
Photographs.
Nanny statement.
No uncertainty.
Helena knew he could not have scratched it.
At 4:05 p.m. she photographed the damage in my garage.
At 4:17 she added:
Aston scratch $4,900
to Leo’s ledger.
At 5:02 she texted her accountant:
Likely household damage. Keep outside Nightstar.
There.
Then that evening, I came home early.
She had Leo cleaning the car.
Why not simply pay the customer deposit?
Nightstar had held:
$7,500.
Helena could have used it.
Instead records showed she refunded:
$6,000
and retained:
$1,500
for “administrative damage assessment.”
Repair estimate:
$4,900.
She was going to pay some herself.
So why involve Leo?
The answer appeared in a message to Cody.
Finance inspection is next month. I need a household explanation for the bodywork if it comes up.
Cody:
Use the kid scratch?
Helena:
He already damaged the Bentley. Pattern is believable.
There.
Pattern.
A true childhood accident turned into an explanation for adult commercial misconduct.
Then another:
Carmine will pay without questions if Leo thinks it’s his fault.
That sentence changed the shape again.
She intended to present the repair to me eventually.
Not necessarily insurer.
Me.
If Leo believed he caused it, he might confess.
I would pay.
The finance company would hear:
Household child damage.
No Nightstar rental.
And the car-business secret stayed hidden.
Then Cody:
This is getting weird with the kid.
Helena:
He washes cars. He is not in a coal mine.
That was how she saw it.
Not cruelty.
Efficiency.
Then investigators found Nightstar’s customer roster included a corporate executive scheduled to rent another financed vehicle the following weekend.
Helena’s side business was still active when I walked into the garage.
May you like
She had not been winding it down.
She had been expanding it.
