Chapter 16 - The Second Rock
By morning, headlines had changed.
DANIEL MERCER STANDS TO GAIN MILLIONS FROM SECRET DAUGHTER CLAIM.
The story was perfect.
Too perfect.
Richard's attorneys claimed Thomas Mercer had amended the trust eleven years earlier.
If Olivia Mercer were discovered alive but refused to assume her birth identity, trust control reverted to Daniel.
Claire had repeatedly insisted publicly that her name was Claire Alden.
Richard's lawyers twisted those statements into evidence.
Daniel told Marcus one thing.
"I don't want the money."
"Legally irrelevant."
"Then renounce it."
"Not until we confirm whether the amendment is authentic."
Emily studied the document.
Something bothered her.
"The signature."
"Thomas's?"
"No."
"Richard's."
She pointed.
"He signed as witness."
Daniel nodded.
"So?"
Emily pulled out the forged adoption agreement.
"Compare them."
Different slant.
Different R.
Different pressure.
Claire leaned forward.
"One is fake."
"Maybe."
Marcus sent both to a handwriting expert.
They needed time.
Noah, meanwhile, became increasingly frustrated.
Adults talked.
Lawyers called.
Reporters waited outside.
Nobody listened to him.
Until he walked into Daniel's office holding a rock.
Everyone froze.
Daniel stared.
"No."
Noah looked offended.
"I'm not throwing it."
"Good."
"It's the same kind."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
"The rock I threw at your car."
Marcus crouched.
"What do you mean?"
Noah placed it on the desk.
"Mom's apartment building has white landscaping rocks."
"The one I threw came from the sidewalk by Maple Street."
Daniel waited.
Noah continued.
"But there aren't white rocks on Maple Street."
Daniel realized he was right.
"Then where did you get it?"
Noah looked at Emily.
"It was in the gray car."
Everyone went silent.
Emily stood.
"Noah."
The boy looked nervous.
"I didn't tell you because I thought I'd get in trouble."
"Tell us."
The morning he left Mrs. Alvarez's apartment to find Daniel, the gray sedan followed him.
It stopped at a traffic light.
Noah recognized the bald driver as Pike.
He approached the car, thinking Pike might know where Emily was.
Pike opened the door.
Then another car horn sounded.
Noah became scared.
He ran.
Before running, he grabbed the nearest object from the floor beside the sedan's open passenger door.
A white landscaping rock.
Later, when Daniel's SUV drove past Maple Street, Noah still held it.
So he threw it.
Daniel stared at the stone.
"Why was Pike carrying rocks?"
Noah shrugged.
Emily did not.
Her face changed.
"My building."
"What?"
"We use those rocks around the courtyard."
Marcus understood.
"Pike had been at your apartment."
Emily nodded.
"Probably the night someone searched it."
Daniel looked at the rock.
A small object.
Meaningless.
Except perhaps not.
Marcus bagged it.
Police examined Pike's sedan.
Inside the trunk they found more white stones.
Fibers from Emily's apartment carpet.
And something else.
A portable scanner.
Its memory contained copies of documents.
Including the supposed second trust amendment.
Created digitally six days earlier.
Richard's document was fake.
The handwriting expert later confirmed it.
But the scanner gave investigators more.
A deleted file.
An audio recording.
Pike and Richard arguing.
Pike's voice:
"You said the girl would never be found."
Richard:
"Then you should have done your job twenty years ago."
Pike:
"Thomas wanted her watched, not harmed."
Richard:
"Thomas is dead."
Pike:
"And Daniel?"
Richard:
"Daniel will believe whatever documents we give him."
The room went silent when Detective Shaw played it.
Daniel felt something inside him break.
Not because he had trusted Richard recently.
Because some part of him still remembered the uncle who taught him to ride a bicycle.
Claire looked at him.
"I'm sorry."
Daniel nodded.
"So am I."
Shaw continued the recording.
Pike said:
"What about Emily?"
Richard replied:
"Make her look greedy."
"People always believe poor women want rich men's money."
Emily closed her eyes.
Daniel's anger became ice.
Then came the final exchange.
Pike:
"And the boy?"
A pause.
Richard:
"He doesn't know anything."
Pike:
"He saw me."
Richard:
"Then make sure no one believes him."
Noah stopped breathing.
Daniel turned off the recording.
That was the moment everything changed.
Until then, Daniel wanted truth.
Justice.
Restoration.
Now he wanted one additional thing.
Noah safe.
He crouched in front of the child.
"You listen to me."
Noah stared at him.
"You did the right thing."
"I threw a rock."
"You stopped my car."
"I broke your window."
"You stopped my car."
Daniel held the boy's shoulders.
"And because you did, we found your mother."
"We found Claire."
"We found the documents."
"We found the truth."
Noah's eyes filled.
"So you're not mad?"
Daniel looked toward the SUV outside.
The temporary plastic still covered the shattered window.
"No."
He smiled.
May you like
"I think that might be the most valuable window I've ever owned."
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