Chapter 23
Rebecca had lied.
Again.
She had told us she left before Dad drove away.
Daniel said she had been at the crash scene.
With Dad’s missing phone.
Why?
Police already had an arrest warrant for questioning related to Mercer’s death and the hospital escape.
Now the search intensified.
Diane’s role remained unclear.
Accomplice.
Witness.
Victim.
Maybe all three.
Then forensic evidence from Mercer’s apartment returned.
No sign of forced entry.
Security footage showed one visitor entering at 8:14 p.m.
A woman in a hood.
She stayed forty-three minutes.
Image enhancement revealed her face.
Rebecca.
I watched the footage in silence.
Ryan sat beside me.
“She killed him.”
Bell said, “We don’t know that.”
“Who else?”
“The building has a service entrance with no camera for twelve minutes during a system reboot.”
Claire frowned.
“Convenient.”
Bell nodded.
“Very.”
Mercer’s preliminary cause of death was medication toxicity.
His prescription bottle had been tampered with.
That required access before his death.
Maybe Rebecca had it.
Maybe someone else did.
Then the lab found prints.
Diane’s.
On Mercer’s whiskey glass.
Ryan closed his eyes.
“My mother too?”
Bell said, “The prints could be older.”
“At his apartment?”
“Maybe she visited previously.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“Everyone in my life had a secret relationship with everyone else.”
I understood.
Police finally located Diane and Rebecca that evening.
Not hiding.
Walking into a federal courthouse with an attorney.
They surrendered together.
And turned over Thomas’s diary.
Along with thirty years of financial evidence.
Their lawyer issued one statement.
Both women had cooperated to secure evidence before it could be destroyed.
I nearly threw my phone.
“Cooperated?”
Claire read the statement.
“They’re saying the cottage incident was an argument that escalated, not a kidnapping.”
“What about Rebecca’s photograph?”
“Diane says Rebecca agreed to help stage it.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“To pressure you into opening box 317.”
My blood boiled.
“They traumatized me to make me open a locker?”
“Yes.”
“Why not ask?”
Claire gave me a look.
“Would you have trusted them?”
“No.”
“Apparently they chose insanity instead.”
At the courthouse, investigators questioned both women separately.
Rebecca asked to speak with me afterward.
I almost refused.
Then I went.
She sat across from me with her attorney present.
No dramatic lighting.
No threats.
Just exhaustion.
“You lied to me,” I said.
“Yes.”
“About the cottage.”
“Yes.”
“About my father’s crash.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why were you there?”
“Henry told me to follow him from a distance.”
“Why?”
“He thought Mercer was coming.”
“Daniel said you were beside him after the crash.”
“I was.”
“With his phone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Henry gave it to me.”
“He was conscious?”
“For a moment.”
“What did he say?”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“He said, ‘Don’t let Victor erase this again.’”
I looked away.
“What was on the phone?”
“Recordings.”
“The flash drive?”
“No. Different files.”
“Where is the phone?”
“Gone.”
“You took it.”
“Yes.”
“Where did it go?”
“Your grandfather.”
I stared at her.
“You gave it to him?”
“No.”
“He took it from me.”
“How?”
“I went to his house the next morning.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I was terrified.”
“You trusted him?”
“No. But Henry was dead. Daniel was lying. Diane had disappeared with the case. I thought Victor might protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone protected me by hiding everything.”
“I know.”
“What did Victor do?”
“He listened to the recordings.”
“And?”
“He destroyed the phone.”
“You watched?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
Rebecca’s face broke.
“Because Victor threatened Daniel.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He said if I exposed the family, he would make sure Robert’s crimes became Daniel’s crimes.”
“Could he?”
“Back then? Probably.”
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Fifteen years before Dad died?”
“No. I had already been away from the family. After Henry died, I left the country.”
I leaned back.
“What did the recordings say?”
“One was Henry confronting Mercer.”
“About Thomas?”
“And about property fraud.”
“Anything about the crash?”
“No.”
“Anything about Daniel?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Henry told Mercer Daniel had copied everything.”
I frowned.
“Copied what?”
“Mercer’s private accounting records.”
Daniel had never mentioned that.
Rebecca continued.
“That’s why Mercer wanted Daniel controlled.”
“Did Dad trust him?”
“At the end?”
She looked uncertain.
“I think he wanted to.”
I asked the question that had haunted me.
“Did you kill Charles Mercer?”
Her attorney shifted.
Rebecca stared directly at me.
“No.”
“Did Diane?”
“No.”
“You both visited him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To confront him.”
“About Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He laughed.”
Her face hardened.
“He told Ryan’s mother that Thomas had died because he was weak.”
Ryan, watching through the glass, lowered his head.
I asked, “Did you threaten him?”
“Yes.”
“Did Diane?”
“Yes.”
“Did you touch his medication?”
“No.”
“Who else knew you were going?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Daniel.”
I stared.
“How?”
“I called him.”
“When?”
“Before we went.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted him to hear Mercer confess.”
“Did he come?”
“No.”
May you like
Rebecca looked toward the glass.
“Or at least, he told me he didn’t.”
