Chapter 3
The officer separated Rachel from Daniel’s bed.
Mia screamed and reached for her father.
“Please don’t make me leave him!”
Rachel pulled her daughter close.
“She’s frightened,” Rachel said. “Give her a minute.”
The officer’s expression was firm but not cruel.
“Mrs. Mercer, I need you to come with me.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not yet.”
Claire folded her arms.
“She should be.”
Rachel ignored her.
She looked at the nurse.
“His forehead is bruised. Was he injured when he arrived?”
The nurse glanced at Judith.
Judith answered for her.
“Daniel fell at home.”
“Whose home?”
Judith’s lips tightened.
“Mine.”
“You told the hospital he collapsed at my house.”
Claire stepped forward.
“No one said that.”
“The nurse just told me medication was supposedly found in my bathroom. Why would police search my bathroom if he collapsed at Judith’s house?”
The officer turned toward Claire.
“That is a fair question.”
Claire’s confidence slipped.
Judith recovered quickly.
“Daniel became ill at my home, but he said Rachel had given him pills earlier.”
Daniel couldn’t speak.
He hadn’t spoken since his admission.
Rachel knew it.
The officer appeared to realize the same thing.
“When did Mr. Mercer make that statement?” he asked.
Judith looked at Claire.
Claire answered, “Before he lost consciousness.”
“Were there other witnesses?”
“No.”
Rachel held out the bracelet.
“Claire had this today. My daughter took it from her. Claire put Mia in a pit and told her to stay there.”
“That is ridiculous,” Claire said.
The officer crouched in front of Mia.
“What’s your name?”
“Mia.”
“Did someone put you in a hole?”
Mia nodded.
“Aunt Claire.”
Claire laughed sharply.
“She was playing.”
Mia’s lower lip trembled.
“She said bad little girls disappear.”
Silence filled the room.
The officer stood.
“Ms. Mercer, I’ll need to speak with you too.”
Judith’s face darkened.
“This family funds half this hospital.”
“That doesn’t change procedure.”
Judith looked at Rachel with open hatred.
“This is your fault.”
Rachel almost stepped toward her.
The officer raised a hand.
“Enough.”
A doctor entered the room.
He was tall, with tired eyes and a badge that read DR. EVAN COLE.
“What is happening?”
“I’m Daniel’s wife,” Rachel said. “I need to know his condition.”
Dr. Cole looked at the chart.
“His sister is the authorized medical contact.”
“Based on what document?”
Claire pulled a folded paper from her purse.
“His health care directive.”
Rachel took one look at the signature.
“That isn’t Daniel’s.”
“It was notarized.”
“He puts a line through the number seven. He has since college. There are two dates on that page, and neither seven has a line.”
Claire pulled the document away.
The officer noticed.
“So did Dr. Cole.
“I want the original examined,” Rachel said.
Judith moved closer.
“You want to upset everything because you cannot accept that Daniel stopped trusting you.”
Rachel looked at Daniel.
His fingers were still.
His chest rose only with the machine.
“If he stopped trusting me, he could have told me himself.”
She turned to the doctor.
“What was in his blood?”
“I can’t discuss that without authorization.”
“Then look me in the eye and tell me whether his condition makes sense.”
Dr. Cole said nothing.
That silence told Rachel enough.
The officer escorted everyone into the hallway.
Another officer took Claire aside to ask about Mia.
Judith called a lawyer.
Rachel sat with her daughter near the elevators.
“Mommy,” Mia whispered, “Grandma was there.”
Rachel looked down.
“Where?”
“When Aunt Claire put me in the hole.”
“Grandma Judith?”
Mia nodded.
“She was in the red car.”
Rachel’s breathing slowed.
“Did Grandma see you?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“She said Aunt Claire needed to hurry.”
Rachel hugged Mia.
The police officer returned.
“Mrs. Mercer, I’m Detective Sam Ortiz. I’m investigating your husband’s poisoning.”
“Then investigate Claire and Judith.”
“I intend to investigate everyone.”
“Look in Claire’s shed. Daniel’s briefcase is there.”
Ortiz’s eyes sharpened.
“What briefcase?”
“He took it on the trip he never made. His assistant says it contained financial records.”
Claire was watching them from across the corridor.
Rachel lowered her voice.
“Please send someone now. If Claire calls anybody, the briefcase will disappear.”
Ortiz stepped away and made a call.
Judith’s lawyer arrived fifteen minutes later.
Grant Holloway had represented the Mercer family for more than twenty years.
He greeted Judith first.
Then he looked at Rachel with disappointment, as though she were a child who had broken something valuable.
“Rachel, this situation has gone far enough.”
“My husband is unconscious.”
“And you are making the circumstances more difficult.”
“By finding him?”
“You were asked to stay away.”
“I was never asked anything.”
Grant opened his leather folder.
“Daniel filed for separation three weeks ago.”
Rachel felt as though he had struck her.
“No.”
Grant handed her a document.
Her name was printed at the top.
Daniel’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Rachel read the first page twice.
She could barely understand the words.
Irreconcilable differences.
Emergency custody concerns.
Fear for his personal safety.
“This is fake.”
Grant’s expression did not change.
“It was filed with the court.”
“Daniel slept beside me the night before he supposedly signed this.”
“People hide their intentions.”
Rachel looked at Claire.
She was smiling.
Not broadly.
Just enough.
Rachel ripped her eyes away before anger took control.
“Why wasn’t I served?”
“Daniel became ill before service could be completed.”
“How convenient.”
Grant’s face tightened.
“You should be careful.”
“So should you.”
Rachel handed the document to Detective Ortiz.
“Compare that signature to the medical directive.”
Grant reached for it.
Ortiz kept it.
“I’ll return it after it’s copied.”
Judith objected, but Ortiz walked away.
Rachel’s phone rang.
Anna.
Rachel answered immediately.
“I found something,” Anna whispered.
“What?”
“Daniel emailed himself copies of the trust transfers.”
“Send them to me.”
“I tried. His account has been locked.”
“By whom?”
“Grant Holloway.”
Rachel looked at the family lawyer.
He was standing beside Claire now.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Anna, leave the office.”
“Why?”
“Because they may know you accessed the account.”
The line went silent.
Then Anna said, “Someone just opened Daniel’s office door.”
“Get out.”
“I’m using the back stairwell.”
“Call the police.”
Rachel ended the call and told Ortiz.
He dispatched officers to Mercer Development.
Grant watched from a distance.
His face gave away nothing.
An hour later, a child services worker arrived.
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
The woman introduced herself as Dana Brooks.
“We received a report that Mia may be unsafe in your care.”
Claire looked almost pleased.
Rachel stood.
“My daughter was placed in a dirt pit by Claire.”
“I understand there are conflicting accounts.”
“There is dirt all over her dress. There are marks on her arms from trying to climb out.”
Dana knelt beside Mia and gently examined her.
Mia told the story again.
She described Claire lowering her into the pit.
She described Judith waiting in the red car.
She described Claire saying her mother would never find her.
Judith called her confused.
Mia burst into tears.
Rachel wrapped both arms around her.
Dana’s expression hardened.
“She will not be leaving with either of those women.”
Claire’s smile disappeared.
Judith took a furious step forward.
“That is my granddaughter.”
“And she has identified you as a witness to her confinement.”
“I saw nothing.”
Mia buried her face in Rachel’s chest.
Detective Ortiz returned.
“The shed is empty.”
Rachel looked up.
“What?”
“No briefcase. No rope. No bags of lime.”
“It was all there.”
Claire gave a sad little shake of her head.
“She is desperate.”
Ortiz held Rachel’s gaze.
“The pit is there. We photographed it. But the shed was cleaned out.”
Rachel looked at Claire’s phone.
She had called someone after Rachel left.
“Who moved everything?”
Claire said nothing.
Ortiz continued.
“We did find tire tracks behind the property. Someone left recently in a large vehicle.”
Grant’s black SUV was parked outside the hospital.
Rachel looked at him.
He looked back without blinking.
Then another officer approached and whispered to Ortiz.
The detective’s expression changed.
He turned to Rachel.
“We searched your vehicle.”
“Why?”
“Claire stated that you might be carrying medication.”
Rachel’s pulse began to race.
Ortiz held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a prescription bottle.
Daniel’s name was on the label.
“So?”
“The pills inside appear to match the sedative found in your husband’s blood.”
“I have never seen that bottle.”
“It was under your driver’s seat.”
“Claire was near my car before I left.”
“Did she enter it?”
“I don’t know.”
Ortiz took out his handcuffs.
Mia began screaming.
“Don’t take my mommy!”
Rachel backed away.
Dana reached for Mia, but Mia clung to Rachel’s waist.
Claire watched from the end of the corridor.
Judith stood beside her.
Neither woman looked surprised.
Rachel finally understood.
Finding Daniel had not ruined their plan.
May you like
It had triggered the next part.
And this part had been prepared for her long before she discovered the pit.
