“No, not really. It would mean the end of Astra and we’d just become another cog in a much bigger wheel. That was never the vision I had for Astra. I want to retain control over it and grow it, partner with other players in a consortium, each of us with our own specialty. This deal would mean we would be swallowed up into the larger company and would lose control. It’s not for us.”
“You two made your decision?” I said, going to the stove and putting the ribs in to keep them hot until we were ready to eat.
“We did,” Luke replied. “The CEO offered John a plum position and stock options to try to get him to convince me to accept the offer but we both agreed it wasn’t what either of us wanted for Astra. So, no go.”
I nodded and sipped my glass of soda. “Too bad, but if it’s not what you want, it’s not a good deal, no matter how big it is.”
“Agreed.”
I watched Luke take a big sip of his beer and then he exhaled like he was still disappointed that the deal fell through. Or, that he had to reject the deal.
“There’ll be others,” I said and held out my glass of soda for a toast. “To Astra. May it find bigger and better partners in the future.”
“Real partners,” Luke added. “Not the kind that want to swallow you up, absorb your assets, and then spit out what they don’t like.”
“Hear hear,” Candace said.
We all toasted Astra and then prepared for our supper of ribs, seasoned fries and coleslaw.
All in all, it was a lovely dinner and evening. We took turns holding Leif on our laps and then, after Luke gave Leif a bath, I fed Leif and put him down for the night.
Candace stood in the doorway and watched the crib, smiling at the stars circling on the ceiling overhead and the rocket mobile.
“What a great nursery,” she said. “That kid will grow up to be an astronaut.”
* * *
We went backto the patio, and I placed the baby monitor on the table beside my reclining lawn chair. Together, the three of us watched the stars rise and enjoyed the evening.
“I had other news today,” Luke said, his voice sounding conspiratorial.
“Oh, do tell,” I said and turned to him. “More about the accident? You met with the PI, right?”
“What accident?” Candace frowned.
I turned to Luke. “I haven’t told Candace the details yet, wanting to talk to you first about whether I should.”
“It’s about my parent’s deaths,” Luke replied. “You can tell her.”
“There’s a PI?” Candace turned to me, her eyes wide. “What’s going on?”
I took in a deep breath. “Luke was contacted by a private investigator who is looking into the deaths and thinks it might not have been an accident.”
Beside me, Luke exhaled heavily. I could tell that he was troubled by what he’d learned during his meeting with the PI earlier in the day.
“The PI says that the FBI were briefly involved in the case, because the man in the other vehicle was apparently a mafia heavy. At first, they thought it might not have been an accident and that the man might have targeted my parents,” Luke said. “But they got out of the case soon after, and ruled it was accidental. My PI thinks it wasn’t.”
“Wow — the FBI were involved? So, they initially thought he might have what — run them off the road?”
“As far as I know. A witness said that it appeared that the two cars collided when the mafia guy’s car passed my parents. Since he was connected to a business in direct competition with my father’s company, they thought it was a hit.”
“You think your family’s company was mobbed up?” Candace asked, her eyes wide.
Luke shrugged. “No. The opposite. The fact that they weren’t going along with the mob might have been a reason why they were targeted. Maybe one of the executives was mobbed up and the FBI was interested in the crash because of that.” Luke turned to Candace, his voice solemn. “This can’t leave this room, okay? If it is what my PI thinks, it might be that there were some mafia ties and that was why my parents were killed.”
“Oh, my God,” Candace said, covering her mouth with a hand. “That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
Luke shrugged. “The big question is, who set it up? An inmate who has terminal cancer and wants to repent says that he tampered with the brake line, thinking it was a simple insurance fraud case. He never imagined that it would result in a crash that killed two people.”
“What did he think would happen when the brake line was punctured?” Candace said, her voice incredulous. “Of course, the brakes would fail, and the car would crash.”
“Especially if another vehicle was trying to run theirs off the road. The inmate said he thought it was just so they could get insurance for the vehicle. You know, write off the cost of a new car or something. Thing is, he didn’t question. He just did it for the money.”
Candace shook her head. “I dunno. I’ve watched enough crime shows to know that cops don’t look on jailhouse confessions very well. I mean, they have incentive to lie in order to get their sentences reduced. Why come forward now?”
Luke shrugged. “Because he’s sick and dying so he wanted to come clean about his past crimes.”