Chapter 6 - MY MOTHER’S LAST WEEK
My mother, Diane Carter, had died six years earlier.
Everyone called it an accident.
Rain.
A slick highway.
Her SUV crossed the center line and hit a concrete barrier.
I had never questioned it.
Why would I?
Until Amanda said Daniel Mercer’s name.
Claire met me at Matt’s house that evening with two archive boxes.
“I kept copies,” she said.
“Of what?”
“Your mother’s estate files.”
We spread everything across Matt’s dining table.
Invoices.
Bank statements.
Letters.
Legal notices.
Then Claire found it.
A handwritten note from my mother.
Daniel removed. Do not allow him access again. Irregular transfers. Ryan must know if anything happens to me.
I read it three times.
“Why have I never seen this?”
Claire looked uncomfortable.
“Because I didn’t find it until after probate.”
“And you didn’t think I should know?”
“I showed it to your mother’s corporate attorney.”
“What did he say?”
“That the transfers were internal accounting mistakes.”
“Who was the attorney?”
Claire’s face tightened.
“Howard Pell.”
I recognized that name immediately.
Howard had attended my wedding.
He had hugged me downstairs less than two hours before everything fell apart.
He had known my mother for fifteen years.
I grabbed the seating chart.
Howard had been seated at table six.
But he hadn’t been there when I canceled the ceremony.
Neither had he answered my calls afterward.
Grant ran his name.
No criminal history.
No obvious connection to Marcus.
Then Matt remembered something.
“The man at your house.”
“What?”
“He walked like Howard.”
I stared at him.
“You saw half his face under a baseball cap.”
“I know how Howard walks. His left knee barely bends. Ski accident.”
We pulled up the footage.
The intruder crossed my kitchen.
Left leg slightly stiff.
My pulse climbed.
Claire whispered, “Oh my God.”
Grant sent officers to Howard Pell’s house.
Empty.
His office was empty too.
Computer drives removed.
Desk drawers cleaned out.
Then Claire’s phone rang.
Her assistant.
Claire answered.
“What?”
Her face changed.
“When?”
She looked at me.
“What was taken?”
Silence.
Then:
“Call the police. Don’t touch anything.”
She ended the call.
“My office was broken into.”
I stood.
“What did they take?”
“One file.”
My mother’s.
Grant immediately asked, “Anything else?”
“No.”
Then Claire looked at me.
“There was something in the original file that isn’t in my copies.”
“What?”
“A sealed envelope.”
“From my mother?”
Claire nodded.
“She made me promise to give it to you only if anyone ever challenged the trust.”
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
“What was inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Matt’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
He opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
The missing envelope.
Under it were six words.
May you like
Bring Ryan if you want this.
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