Chapter 24
Daniel’s phone records showed Rebecca had called him.
Eleven minutes before she entered Mercer’s building.
Their conversation lasted four minutes.
Daniel admitted it.
“She told me she was confronting him.”
“Why didn’t you call police?”
“I did.”
Bell checked.
He had.
A non-emergency call reporting a possible confrontation at Mercer’s apartment.
Police arrived an hour later.
Mercer was already dead.
“Did you go there?” I asked.
“No.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes.”
Security cameras placed Daniel at the Baltimore warehouse during the entire window.
One suspicion gone.
Ten remained.
Mercer’s death became the center of the case.
If Rebecca and Diane hadn’t killed him, who had?
Forensics found a partial fingerprint inside the tampered medication bottle.
Not Rebecca.
Not Diane.
Not Ryan.
Not Daniel.
Martin Shaw.
When Bell told us, I almost laughed.
Martin.
The man who followed Dad.
Worked for Grandfather.
Watched Diane.
Knew Mercer.
And had suddenly become cooperative.
Police called his attorney.
Martin had disappeared.
Again.
This time, his abandoned car was found near a train station.
Inside was a handwritten note.
I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED HIM THE FIRST TIME.
Bell read it aloud.
Ryan looked sick.
“The first time?”
“Thomas,” I said.
Martin had known Mercer killed Thomas.
Maybe he had suspected it for thirty years.
Maybe guilt finally caught up.
Police issued an alert.
Martin called me before they found him.
I answered on speaker.
“Did you kill Mercer?”
His breathing was rough.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Everyone froze.
“Why?”
“Because he was going to do it again.”
“Do what?”
“Kill.”
“Who?”
“You.”
My stomach dropped.
Ryan stood.
Martin continued.
“Mercer knew the old evidence was surfacing. He knew your trust could fund lawsuits, investigations, restitution.”
“How did he know?”
“Diane contacted him months ago.”
Ryan swore.
I looked toward Diane through the interview-room window.
She stared back.
Martin said, “She wanted answers about Thomas. Mercer realized she had found Emily.”
“So he planned to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Proof?”
“His office safe.”
“Police searched it.”
“Wrong safe.”
Of course.
“Where?”
“Behind the kitchen wine cabinet.”
Bell sent officers immediately.
I asked, “Why didn’t you tell police?”
“Because I didn’t trust the files to survive.”
“So you murdered him?”
Martin sighed.
“I changed his medication two weeks ago.”
The admission was cold.
Planned.
Not a moment of rage.
“You could have warned me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“That isn’t an excuse.”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
He was silent.
“Martin.”
“I’m going to turn myself in.”
“Then do it.”
“I needed you to know something first.”
“What?”
“Your grandfather didn’t just bury Thomas’s murder.”
I closed my eyes.
“What now?”
“He used it.”
“How?”
“Mercer became afraid Victor would expose him.”
“So Grandfather blackmailed him.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Control.”
The Carter empire had been built on fraud.
Then protected by blackmail.
Perfect.
Martin continued.
“Henry discovered that three years ago.”
“Dad knew Grandfather had blackmailed Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why he was reopening everything.”
“Yes.”
“And Mercer killed Dad.”
Martin was quiet.
“I believe so.”
“Believe?”
“I saw his vehicle.”
“Diane said the same.”
“But I didn’t see him force Henry off the road.”
“Then we still need proof.”
“Yes.”
Bell’s phone buzzed.
Officers had opened Mercer’s hidden safe.
Inside:
A handgun.
Cash.
Passports.
A burner phone.
And a folder marked E.C.
My name again.
The folder contained photos of me.
Schedules.
Security details.
And one typed page.
OPTION A: LEVERAGE THROUGH HAYES MARRIAGE.
OPTION B: ACCIDENT.
Ryan turned white.
I looked at him.
“Did you work with Mercer?”
“No.”
“Did your mother?”
Diane shouted through the glass.
“No!”
Bell ordered her door closed.
Martin’s voice came through the phone.
“Ryan didn’t know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mercer hated him.”
Ryan flinched.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Again.
Martin continued.
“He knew Ryan was his biological son.”
Ryan’s face twisted.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“And never contacted me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Thomas loved you. Mercer didn’t.”
Cruel.
Simple.
Devastating.
Ryan walked out.
I let him.
Bell asked Martin where he was.
This time, Martin gave an address.
Police arrested him twenty minutes later.
No chase.
No drama.
Just an old man carrying three decades of guilt into custody.
The burner phone contained messages.
Many were deleted.
Technicians recovered some.
One exchange was from four months earlier.
Unknown number to Mercer:
THE BOY IS CLOSE TO HER.
Mercer:
MARRIAGE?
Unknown:
LIKELY.
Mercer:
GOOD. KEEP IT MOVING.
My stomach turned.
Ryan had been manipulated too.
But that did not make him innocent.
Bell recovered the unknown number.
It belonged to a prepaid phone purchased with cash.
Security footage from the store still existed.
A woman bought it.
Not Diane.
Not Rebecca.
I stared at the image.
She looked familiar.
May you like
Then Daniel whispered,
“That’s Claire.”
