“I want to go over the accident,” I say.
Beau frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I watched the clip, and I need you to explain what happened.”
“If you’ve watched the video, then you know. The crane tipped over because the ground sagged due to the rain. We should have postponed the lift.”
“That’s what it looked like, but do you have a laptop? Can you watch it with me?”
“Sure, if you want, but I don’t know what you’re getting at, Miss Scott.”
“Devyn’s fine, but you can keep the gooey eyes to yourself.”
Beau flicks a glance at Talia who tamps back a smile.
A laptop sits on his desk, and he carries it to a small conference table near a wall of windows that overlooks Cedar Hill. I stand on one side, and Talia stands on the other. We’ve both seen the clip quite a few times now, and Beau brings up the one on social media that has reached over two million views.
“Don’t you have one that’s proprietary to your company?” I ask.
“It’s this one. This is the one the OSHA rep filmed. We have other angles on file, one that catches the boom falling—” and crushing Rick, but he doesn’t have to say that “—but this is the same one we have, just more easily accessible.”
He clicks Play, and we watch the beginning of the lift take place, the workers cheering as the framework is lifted into the air. The OSHA rep sweeps from the framework hanging on the hook attached to the boom, to the truck and the cab, the operator only partially visible because of the glare against the glass. The truck starts to tip, and it’s clear the ground is giving way under the truck’s tires.
“Stop right there,” I say, and he clicks Pause.
“What?”
“Why is the truck tipping that way?” I ask.
Beau’s voice is patient and maybe a little condescending. “You can see the ground, Devyn. It’s not clearly visible in the video, but it was also severely windy that day, and the wind was blowing against the boom, creating a force that helped tip the truck.”
I suck in a breath and ask the question that’s bothered me since the first time I watched the clip while sitting on Rick’s bed.
“I get that, but why is it tipping overthat way?Evenifthe ground was giving under the tires, because of course, I can see that,” I point to the screen where I do see the tires sinking into the mud, “isn’t the framework heavier than the truck?”
Beau rubs at his lips. “No. The framework weighed two tons, and the crane is always counterbalanced with weight,” he says, pointing to the area underneath the boom. “We rent out the size of the truck we need based on the weight of the load. This truck was an average fifty-ton truck.”
My heart sinks. I was wrong. “Then the counterweight balances the load.”
“Yes.”
“It really was just an accident,” I murmur.
“Not just an accident,” Beau says, playing the clip until the OSHA rep stops filming, “but an avoidable one. We should have waited. It’s why Rick took it so hard.”
I chew on my lip. I completely understand what Beau’s saying. Everything he says makes sense. No, it’s more than that. Everything he said can be proven, and that’s what’s hanging me up. I need proof.
“She’s going to need proof,” Talia says, her hand skimming over Beau’s to play the video again.
We watch it in silence, imagining the boom falling and Rick yelling at his team to clear the area.
“The proof is right here,” Beau says, gesturing to the tires sinking into the mud.
I sigh. “It falls over so fast.”
“Trucks do that,” Beau says dryly. “They’re heavy.”
The clip plays out.