Chapter 13 - PROJECT MERCY
The red ledger changed the investigation overnight.
Project Mercy had operated through Jonathan Hale’s medical charity for three years.
Officially, it funded experimental treatment for children with rare immune disorders.
Unofficially, according to the ledger, several patients had been placed into unauthorized drug trials.
Elena read the copied pages twice.
“How could nobody know?”
Detective Brooks answered.
“Some parents probably believed they were receiving legitimate treatment.”
“And the children who died?”
“Records list complications from their illnesses.”
Richard stood near the window.
“My father funded this.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Jonathan funded a hospital program.”
“That is not the same thing as knowing what Mercer’s father was doing.”
Richard turned.
“He covered Nora’s death.”
“I am not defending him.”
“Sounds like it.”
Samuel looked exhausted.
“I spent thirty years hating my brother.”
“I don’t need help hating him.”
Richard said nothing.
Samuel continued.
“But dead men are convenient.”
“They cannot explain what they knew.”
“Do not blame Jonathan for crimes we have not proven he knew about.”
Brooks agreed.
“We follow evidence.”
Richard looked at the ledger again.
“What did Nora know?”
A forensic accountant answered.
“She wrote notes in the margins.”
He pointed.
“See these initials?”
N.B.
Nora Beck.
“She was documenting discrepancies.”
“Payments for children who never existed.”
“Medication purchases that exceeded enrollment.”
“Transfers to Calder-controlled accounts.”
Elena leaned closer.
“And these?”
“Dates.”
“What happened on them?”
The accountant looked grim.
“They correspond with patient deaths.”
Richard felt sick.
“Calder was profiting from experimental treatments.”
“Possibly.”
“Mercer’s father ran them.”
“Yes.”
“Jonathan covered the finances.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
Daniel sat behind the glass wall in police custody.
He had surrendered after leaving the old house.
Richard looked at him.
“He knows something.”
Brooks shook her head.
“He claims he doesn’t.”
“He lies.”
“Frequently.”
Brooks replied.
“But on this subject, I’m not sure.”
They questioned Daniel again.
Richard watched through the glass.
Brooks placed the ledger copy before him.
“What was Project Mercy?”
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with Calder.”
“I was seventeen when Nora died.”
“You were forty when Elena was kidnapped.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I knew Calder had leverage.”
“What leverage?”
“Nora.”
“You believed he had evidence you killed her.”
“He did.”
“So you obeyed him.”
“No.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I partnered with him.”
“Difference?”
“I thought there was.”
Brooks pointed to the patient list.
“You never saw this?”
“No.”
“What did your father tell you about Nora?”
“That she was stealing.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At seventeen?”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
Daniel stared at the table.
“No.”
“Why kidnap Elena?”
“She found Nora.”
“That threatens you.”
“Yes.”
“And Calder.”
“Yes.”
“But Elena also had a password.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Calder need it?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He said Jonathan left evidence.”
“You never asked what kind?”
“I thought financial.”
Brooks watched him.
“Did you ever order Elena killed?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Behind the glass, Richard’s hands tightened.
Elena did not move.
Brooks continued.
“When?”
“About six months after we took her.”
“Why?”
“She wouldn’t cooperate.”
“And Victoria refused?”
Daniel nodded.
“She kept saying Elena was more valuable alive.”
“Was that true?”
“No.”
“She was protecting her.”
“Yes.”
Elena looked away.
Brooks asked, “Did you order Lily killed?”
Daniel’s head snapped up.
“No.”
“Victoria says you called Lily expendable.”
“I said leverage was expendable once we had the trust.”
“That is not better.”
“I never ordered anyone to hurt her.”
“Mercer kidnapped her.”
“I didn’t know.”
“So Mercer was taking orders from Calder.”
Daniel said nothing.
Brooks leaned forward.
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“What happens if Calder gets Project Mercy records?”
“He destroys them.”
“And if he can’t?”
Daniel looked through the glass.
Straight at Richard.
“He kills everyone who can explain them.”
Richard felt a chill.
Brooks asked, “Who can explain them?”
Daniel counted quietly.
“Samuel.”
“Mercer.”
“Victoria.”
“Maybe Elena.”
“Why Elena?”
“She saw the vault.”
Richard frowned.
“What vault?”
Daniel realized he had said too much.
Brooks leaned closer.
“What vault?”
Daniel sighed.
“Under the cellar.”
Richard stared.
“There’s another level?”
“Yes.”
“When did you find it?”
“After Elena was taken.”
“What is inside?”
“I never opened it.”
“Why?”
“Biometric lock.”
“Whose?”
Daniel looked through the glass again.
“Jonathan’s.”
Richard almost laughed.
“Dad’s dead.”
Daniel nodded.
“That’s why Calder needed the password.”
Brooks stood.
They returned to the estate.
Forensic teams removed flooring beneath the cellar.
Behind the cot was a steel panel disguised as concrete.
Elena stared at it.
“I slept beside that for two years.”
Richard looked at her.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
The lock had a numeric keypad.
Above it was an old optical scanner.
Richard tried the real password.
ROSE18SAMUELHOME.
A red light flashed.
ACCESS DENIED.
Samuel stepped forward.
“Jonathan never trusted passwords alone.”
“What else?”
Samuel studied the scanner.
“Blood.”
Richard looked at him.
“What?”
“Family biometric.”
The system was old.
Retinal data impossible.
But a concealed sensor accepted fingerprint input.
Richard placed his thumb against it.
Nothing.
Daniel was brought under guard.
His print failed.
Samuel tried.
Failed.
Everyone looked at Elena.
“No.”
She whispered.
“Why me?”
Richard remembered Jonathan’s trust in her.
Elena placed her thumb on the sensor.
The light turned green.
A mechanical lock opened.
Richard stared.
“How?”
Elena looked equally shocked.
They opened the steel door.
Beyond it was a small climate-controlled room.
Shelves.
Videotapes.
Medical files.
Photographs.
And one locked cabinet.
Brooks opened a file.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Richard asked.
She handed it to him.
At the top was a patient name.
RICHARD HALE.
He stared.
“That’s me.”
The date was forty years earlier.
He had been two years old.
Samuel sat down hard.
“No.”
Richard looked at him.
“What?”
Samuel’s face had gone white.
“You were sick when you were a baby.”
“My parents said pneumonia.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
Richard read the file.
Immune suppression trial.
Subject RH-018.
Project Mercy.
Richard looked up.
“I was one of the children.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Then Brooks opened the next file.
Subject DH-019.
Daniel Hale.
Richard stared through the cellar door at his brother.
Daniel had been part of the trial too.
And on the final page of Daniel’s file was a handwritten note from Dr. Stephen Mercer.
SUBJECT SHOWS SIGNIFICANT NEUROLOGICAL REACTION.
AGGRESSION.
IMPULSE INSTABILITY.
CONTINUE DOSAGE.
Richard felt sick.
Daniel saw his expression.
“What?”
Richard did not answer.
His brother stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
May you like
Richard looked at him.
And for the first time since Nora’s murder came to light, he wondered how much of Daniel’s childhood Calder and Mercer had been manipulating long before Daniel ever entered that cellar.
