Chapter 3 - THE FIRST LIE
Detective Rachel Moreno arrived eleven minutes later.
By then, Daniel had already photographed the cylinder, copied the threatening messages to cloud storage, locked Lily in Garcia’s office, and moved everyone away from the windows.
Anna watched him work.
“You still do that.”
Daniel looked up.
“Do what?”
“Get very calm when you’re terrified.”
“I’m not calm.”
“You look calm.”
“That’s different.”
For the first time since he entered the diner, the corner of Anna’s mouth moved.
Not quite a smile.
But close.
Moreno entered with two uniformed officers.
Early forties.
Dark hair pulled back.
Gray blazer.
Sharp eyes.
She introduced herself, then looked from Daniel to Anna.
Recognition came quickly.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
Her attention shifted to Anna.
“Anna Mercer?”
Anna hesitated.
“Anna Cole.”
Moreno’s eyes narrowed.
“I worked homicide-adjacent cases with Samuel Price.”
Daniel recognized the name.
Price had been one of the detectives assigned after Anna’s crash.
“You knew him?”
“He was my partner before I transferred.”
Anna went pale.
“Samuel Price.”
Moreno caught it.
“You knew him?”
Anna looked at Daniel.
“He contacted me.”
Moreno stopped writing.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Moreno stared.
“That’s not possible.”
Anna’s expression hardened.
“I know what I heard.”
“No.”
Moreno shook her head.
“I mean it is literally not possible.”
“Samuel Price died six years ago.”
The room went silent.
Daniel looked at Anna.
“You said he called you.”
“He did.”
“What number?”
Anna still had it saved.
Moreno ran it.
Her expression became more serious.
“It was Price’s old departmental number.”
Daniel frowned.
“Could someone reactivate it?”
“Not without access.”
Anna asked, “How did he die?”
Moreno hesitated.
“Vehicle accident.”
Daniel almost laughed at the absurdity.
“Of course.”
Moreno ignored the comment.
“What did Price say?”
Anna looked at Lily’s closed office door.
“He said he knew I was alive.”
“He said he knew what happened at Hawthorne.”
“He wanted to meet.”
“Where?”
“Union Station.”
“Did you?”
“I went.”
“He never showed.”
Moreno tapped her pen.
“Anything else?”
“He said one name.”
“What name?”
“Jennifer Hale.”
Moreno stopped again.
“You know her?”
“No.”
“But I know her brother.”
“Victor?”
Anna nodded.
Moreno looked at Daniel.
“That’s the man in your description?”
“Yes.”
Moreno turned to one of the officers.
“Run Victor Hale.”
The officer moved away.
Daniel asked, “Why do you know his name?”
Moreno looked at him.
“Because Jennifer Hale was reported missing the same night Anna’s car went off Hawthorne Road.”
Daniel felt a cold pressure in his chest.
Anna whispered, “I told you she was with me.”
Moreno’s attention sharpened.
“You remember her being in the car?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t know.”
Moreno crouched slightly.
“Anna, this matters.”
“I know.”
“Try.”
Anna closed her eyes.
“I pulled into the gas station.”
“Jennifer got in.”
“She had a split lip.”
“She kept looking through the rear window.”
“She had a red folder.”
Daniel glanced at her.
“Red?”
Anna opened her eyes.
“Yes.”
“I forgot that.”
Moreno wrote it down.
“What happened to the folder?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then?”
“A black truck appeared behind us.”
“Was Victor driving?”
“I didn’t see.”
“I remember Jennifer yelling at me to go.”
“I drove.”
“Then headlights.”
“Something hit us.”
“After that…”
She shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Moreno asked, “What were you wearing?”
Anna frowned.
“Why?”
“What color coat?”
Anna looked confused.
“Red.”
Daniel stared.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“When police recovered the vehicle, the coat in the front seat was black.”
Anna’s expression changed.
“I didn’t own a black coat.”
Moreno looked between them.
“Was there a body in the car?”
Daniel answered.
“Burned remains.”
“Identification?”
“Dental.”
“Wedding ring.”
“Blood matched Anna.”
Anna shook her head.
“My ring was missing before the crash.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“I lost it three days earlier.”
“You never told me.”
“I was trying to find it before you noticed.”
Daniel almost smiled despite everything.
“That is incredibly you.”
Anna looked away.
“It was insured.”
“You hated the replacement policy.”
“It wasn’t about the money.”
“I know.”
Moreno interrupted.
“Who knew the ring was missing?”
Anna thought.
“I told Marcus.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“Why Marcus?”
“He saw me looking under my desk.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Anything else?”
“Maybe my assistant.”
Moreno asked, “Who was your dentist in 2019?”
“Dr. Feldman.”
Daniel said, “Police file listed Evelyn Shaw.”
Moreno’s expression changed again.
“That’s enough for me to reopen identification.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How quickly?”
“I can request exhumation.”
Anna went completely still.
“My grave.”
Moreno softened.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Anna swallowed.
“It’s just strange hearing it.”
Daniel could not stop thinking about the grave.
He had stood there hundreds of times.
He had talked to someone.
Who?
The officer returned.
“Victor Hale.”
Moreno turned.
“What?”
“Former private security contractor.”
“Worked three years for Mercer Freight executive protection.”
Daniel stared.
“My company?”
“Technically your family company.”
“Reported resignation in 2019.”
“Jennifer was his younger sister.”
“Any criminal history?”
“Nothing major.”
“Two sealed civil cases.”
Moreno looked at Daniel.
“Who hired him?”
Daniel already knew the likely answer.
“Marcus ran security procurement.”
Anna looked away.
Daniel felt anger build.
Moreno raised a hand.
“That does not mean your brother is involved.”
“He just called me before somebody broke into wherever he was.”
“We don’t know that.”
Daniel’s phone remained silent.
“Can you track him?”
“If he’s missing, yes.”
“He’s missing.”
“We don’t know that either.”
Daniel stood.
“I do.”
Moreno looked at him.
“How?”
“Because Marcus always answers me twice if I hang up angry.”
Anna blinked.
“What?”
Daniel almost smiled.
“When we were kids, our mother made us call each other back.”
“Even after fights.”
“Marcus still does it.”
“It’s been twelve minutes.”
“He hasn’t called.”
Moreno considered.
Then nodded to the officer.
“Check.”
Anna sat with Lily while police processed the diner.
Daniel stood alone near the shattered window.
Moreno joined him.
“You never remarried.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Public records.”
“No.”
“Why?”
He stared outside.
“That relevant?”
“Sometimes.”
Daniel understood the question beneath it.
What kind of husband was he?
Had he moved on?
Was there another motive?
“I dated.”
“Nothing lasted.”
“I spent too much time comparing women to a dead person.”
Moreno nodded.
“That sounds unhealthy.”
“It was.”
“You in therapy?”
“Eventually.”
“Good.”
He looked at her.
“You’re unusually direct.”
“I investigate murder for a living.”
“Small talk wastes time.”
A car pulled up outside.
A forensic technician entered.
Moreno moved away.
Anna approached Daniel.
“Lily wants to know if she can ask you something.”
Daniel looked toward the office.
“She doesn’t need permission.”
Anna’s eyes lingered on him.
“She doesn’t know that yet.”
The words landed hard.
Daniel walked into the office.
Lily sat on Garcia’s chair swinging her feet.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
She looked at him.
“Mom says there’s going to be police.”
“There already are.”
“I mean more police.”
“Probably.”
She was quiet.
Then:
“Did you know about me?”
Daniel’s chest hurt.
“No.”
“Not even a little?”
“No.”
“So you didn’t leave?”
Daniel crouched.
“No.”
“Would you have?”
He stared at her.
“If I knew you existed?”
She nodded.
“No.”
Her lip trembled.
“You promise?”
Daniel could not promise the past.
But he could promise the truth.
“I would have come for you.”
Lily leaned forward.
“Okay.”
That was all.
She believed him faster than he believed himself.
She opened her backpack.
“I have something.”
She pulled out a folded picture.
Daniel expected a school drawing.
Instead it was a photograph.
Anna with a newborn baby.
Lily.
Behind them was a woman Daniel did not recognize.
Gray-haired.
Kind face.
“This is Grandma June.”
Daniel stared.
“Nurse June?”
Lily shrugged.
“Mom calls her June.”
“She said she helped when I was born.”
Daniel turned the photograph over.
There was writing.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, FIND THE RED FOLDER BEFORE VICTOR DOES.
Daniel’s pulse jumped.
“When did June give you this?”
“She didn’t.”
“Mom has it in the box.”
“I borrowed it.”
“Why?”
Lily looked guilty.
“Because Mom cries when she looks at these pictures.”
Daniel looked toward the office door.
Anna stood there.
She had heard.
Her face had gone pale.
“June wrote that?”
Anna asked.
Lily nodded.
Anna took the photograph.
“I never saw the back.”
Daniel stared.
“The red folder.”
Anna’s breathing changed.
“That’s what Jennifer had.”
Moreno entered.
Daniel showed her.
She read it.
“Did June know where the folder went?”
Anna shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Can we search your apartment?”
“Yes.”
Anna looked at Daniel.
“If Victor wants the folder, he thinks Jennifer gave it to me.”
Daniel nodded.
“And if you don’t remember where it went…”
“We need to remember.”
The officer returned.
“Detective.”
Moreno saw his face.
“What?”
“We found Marcus Mercer’s car.”
Daniel stood.
“Where?”
“Underground garage at his office.”
“Any sign of him?”
The officer hesitated.
“Blood in the driver’s seat.”
Anna looked at Daniel.
“And?”
The officer continued.
“There was a message written on the windshield.”
Moreno asked, “What message?”
The officer looked directly at Daniel.
“YOUR BROTHER REMEMBERED TOO LATE.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“Remembered what?”
Nobody answered.
Then Anna whispered:
“The ring.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“The night I lost my wedding ring…”
She stared into the distance.
“I didn’t lose it.”
Daniel watched memory return to her face.
“Jennifer gave it back to me.”
“What?”
“She had it.”
“How?”
Anna’s hands started shaking.
“I don’t know.”
“I asked her.”
“She said…”
Anna stopped.
Daniel moved closer.
“What did she say?”
Anna looked at him.
May you like
“She said, ‘Ask Marcus why he gave this to Victor.’”
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