Chapter 11 - Mercer House
Mercer House was not a home.
Not really.
It was a monument to a family that believed permanence could be purchased.
Thirty-two rooms.
Gray stone.
Four chimneys.
A ballroom no one had used in years.
Thomas Mercer had grown up there.
Daniel had spent summers there.
After his father's death, ownership transferred to the Mercer Foundation.
Richard used it for board retreats and political fundraisers.
The basement archive occupied the oldest wing.
Daniel entered with a key he had not used in thirteen years.
The lights flickered on.
Rows of metal shelves disappeared into darkness.
Claire looked around.
"This family has a basement for paperwork?"
Emily answered.
"This family has a basement for secrets."
Daniel almost objected.
Then decided she was right.
They found the 2007 ledgers.
Or rather, the empty space where they should have been.
Marcus pointed toward dust outlines.
"Removed recently."
Emily swore quietly.
Claire looked surprised.
Emily glanced at her.
"Sorry."
Claire smiled.
"My parents swear too."
"Good."
Daniel noticed tire marks near the service elevator.
The maintenance crew had taken boxes.
Marcus contacted traffic-camera sources.
The truck belonged to a document destruction company.
Destination:
Industrial recycling plant.
Daniel's phone rang.
Richard again.
Daniel answered on speaker.
"Looking for something?"
Emily's face hardened.
Daniel said, "You forged my daughter's death certificate."
Richard sighed.
"Daniel, you are simplifying events you don't understand."
"Then explain."
"Your father believed you were throwing your future away."
"My daughter wasn't an obstacle."
"To you, perhaps."
"She was a baby."
"And Thomas was terrified."
"Of what?"
"Of losing you."
Daniel stared at the empty shelf.
Richard continued.
"You were twenty."
"Ready to abandon school."
"Ready to marry a girl you barely knew."
Emily laughed bitterly.
"I can hear you, Richard."
A pause.
"Emily."
"You always did underestimate speakerphone."
Richard's voice cooled.
"Thomas made the decision."
"And you helped him."
"I helped my brother."
"You stole my child."
"The Aldens loved her."
"That doesn't erase what you did."
Richard's control slipped.
"What was I supposed to do?"
"Tell the truth."
Richard laughed.
"Truth."
"You want truth?"
"Fine."
"Ask Emily why she eventually stopped writing to you."
Daniel looked at her.
Emily's face changed.
Richard continued.
"Ask her about the money."
Emily whispered, "Don't."
Daniel felt a new fear.
"What money?"
Richard sounded almost satisfied.
"$250,000."
Daniel looked at Emily.
"Is that true?"
She did not answer immediately.
That was worse than any denial.
"Emily."
"Yes."
Claire stared at her.
"You took money?"
Emily closed her eyes.
"Eight years after Claire disappeared."
Richard jumped in.
"Interesting timing, isn't it?"
Emily snapped.
"Shut up."
Then the line disconnected.
Daniel waited.
Emily spoke quietly.
"Noah's father died when Noah was eleven months old."
Daniel knew almost nothing about Noah's father.
"His name was Michael Reed."
"We were married for four years."
"A drunk driver hit his car."
Daniel's anger disappeared.
"I'm sorry."
Emily nodded.
"I had Noah."
"Medical bills."
"Rent."
"And I was still paying investigators to search for Claire."
"Then Richard found me."
"He offered me $250,000."
"For what?"
"To sign a document agreeing never to contact the Mercer family again."
Daniel absorbed this.
"You signed?"
"Yes."
Claire turned away.
Emily went after her.
"Claire."
"You signed away the right to look for me?"
"No."
Emily's voice rose.
"I signed a meaningless private agreement because my son needed food and I needed money to keep searching for you."
Claire stopped.
Emily continued.
"I used almost all of it on investigators."
"Records requests."
"Lawyers."
"Every dollar Richard gave me to disappear became money I used to find you."
Daniel almost smiled.
That was also exactly like Emily.
Claire turned back.
"Did you ever stop?"
Emily shook her head.
"No."
"Not one day."
Marcus interrupted.
"Truck location."
They hurried upstairs.
A traffic camera had captured the document truck eight minutes earlier.
But it had not gone toward the recycling facility.
It was heading toward Richard's private estate.
Daniel smiled coldly.
"He doesn't trust strangers to destroy them."
They drove.
Halfway there, Marcus received another alert.
The truck had stopped.
Abandoned.
Boxes gone.
"Where?"
Marcus enlarged the map.
Daniel recognized the location.
Mercer Foundation headquarters.
The same building where Noah had first been taken after throwing the rock.
Richard was bringing the ledgers back into Daniel's own tower.
Why?
Emily answered before he could ask.
"Because we're chasing the boxes."
Claire understood.
"While he's doing something else."
Daniel looked at Marcus.
"The trust."
Richard did not need to destroy evidence if he could move the money first.
Daniel called his private banker.
"What transactions are pending against the Olivia Mercer Trust?"
The answer made everyone silent.
A transfer.
$412 million.
Destination:
Mercer Global Restructuring Fund.
Authorization scheduled in forty-seven minutes.
Signed electronically by Richard Mercer.
Claire whispered, "He's stealing all of it."
Daniel looked at the city skyline ahead.
"No."
His voice became calm.
May you like
"He's trying."
---
