Chapter 21
Hospital security showed Rebecca entering Diane’s room wearing a nurse’s spare scrub jacket.
Ten minutes later, both women left through a service elevator.
Diane in a wheelchair.
Rebecca pushing her.
No force.
No struggle.
They looked like partners.
I watched the video twice.
Claire stared at the screen.
“So the kidnapping story…”
“Could still be partly true,” Bell said.
“Or completely staged.”
My anger returned.
I was tired of being manipulated by people old enough to know better.
Then another camera angle showed something important.
As Rebecca pushed Diane through the loading area, Diane handed her a small black notebook.
Thomas’s diary.
The missing evidence.
Rebecca had taken it.
Daniel had been telling the truth about that.
At least about one thing.
Police traced the vehicle.
Rental SUV.
Fake identification.
Gone.
I called Rebecca.
No answer.
Diane.
No answer.
Ryan sat across from me, stunned.
“They’re working together?”
“Looks that way.”
He shook his head.
“My mother hates Rebecca.”
“Maybe hate is flexible when prison is possible.”
Ryan stared at the hospital footage.
“She can barely walk.”
“Apparently she can plan.”
He looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t answer.
“What?”
“For all of it.”
“You’ve said that.”
“I know.”
“Then stop making me carry your apology.”
He looked confused.
I explained.
“Every time you say sorry, you look at me like you want relief.”
His face fell.
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“Then don’t say anything.”
He nodded.
That was the first boundary he obeyed without argument.
Detective Bell returned with new information.
Thomas’s diary had been photographed before disappearing.
Hospital security had captured Rebecca opening it while Diane slept.
One overhead camera had enough resolution to enlarge several pages.
Not all.
Enough.
A date from thirty years earlier.
Thomas wrote:
Diane told me Ryan may be Mercer’s.
I don’t care.
He is my son.
But if Mercer thinks that gives him leverage, he is wrong.
Another entry:
Henry is frightened of Robert.
Robert says Victor will bury us all.
Another:
If anything happens to me, Diane must take the copies to Henry.
Not Victor.
Henry.
I looked at Ryan.
His eyes filled when he read Thomas’s words.
I don’t care.
He is my son.
Ryan turned away.
Bell scrolled to another enlarged page.
This entry had been written the day before Thomas died.
Mercer offered me money.
I refused.
Robert came afterward.
Said I was putting Diane and Ryan in danger.
He said accidents happen to men who embarrass powerful families.
The room went cold.
There it was.
Not murder proof.
But motive.
Threat.
Connection.
Then the final visible line:
I told Henry. He says he will help me.
Dad had tried.
Too late.
Maybe not enough.
But he had tried.
Bell’s phone rang.
Again.
Every call seemed to bring another disaster.
He answered.
“Yes.”
Pause.
His eyes shifted toward me.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Secure the scene.”
He hung up.
I didn’t want to ask.
“What?”
“Charles Mercer is dead.”
Silence.
Ryan stared.
“How?”
“Found in his apartment.”
“Natural?”
Bell’s face answered first.
“No.”
My stomach twisted.
“When did he die?”
“Sometime last night.”
“Before Diane woke up?”
“Probably.”
“Rebecca?”
“Unknown.”
Claire said, “This is becoming a homicide investigation.”
Bell nodded.
“It already was.”
I thought of Dad.
Thomas.
Now Mercer.
Old secrets had become fresh bodies.
“Cause?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Bell’s phone buzzed.
He read.
Then added, “There was a message written on his desk.”
“With what?”
“Marker.”
“What did it say?”
He looked directly at me.
HENRY WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT.
Ryan whispered, “Who wrote it?”
Bell said, “We’ll find out.”
My phone rang.
Daniel.
This time I answered.
“Where are you?”
His voice was urgent.
“At the warehouse.”
“Police want to talk to you.”
“I know.”
“Then stay there.”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“A second archive.”
My pulse quickened.
“Where?”
“Behind the false wall in Grandfather’s records room.”
“What’s inside?”
“Audio tapes.”
“Of?”
“Robert and Mercer.”
My entire body went still.
“Don’t touch anything.”
“Too late.”
“Daniel.”
“I listened to one.”
I closed my eyes.
“What did you hear?”
May you like
His voice shook.
“My father arranging Thomas’s death.”
