Chapter 11 - The Frame
Bianca stepped backward.
“No.”
Reyes put on gloves.
“Do not touch anything.”
“That isn’t my gun.”
“Is a firearm registered under your name?”
“Yes, but it’s kept in my apartment.”
“Where?”
“In a biometric safe.”
Reyes looked at an officer.
“Send a team.”
Bianca grabbed her phone.
“I haven’t opened that safe in months.”
Elena watched her.
“Who knows the code?”
“It doesn’t use a code.”
“Fingerprint?”
“Yes.”
Adrian frowned.
“Could Catherine access it?”
“No.”
Bianca stopped.
Then slowly looked up.
“Unless…”
“What?” Elena asked.
Bianca’s voice became quiet.
“Last Christmas.”
She closed her eyes.
“My mother insisted I update the security system. Her company sent the technician.”
Reyes immediately understood.
“They could have enrolled another print.”
Bianca nodded.
Her anger replaced fear.
“She planned this.”
Laura sat silently, watching her daughter absorb betrayal after betrayal.
Reyes’s phone rang.
The team at Bianca’s apartment.
She answered.
“Talk to me.”
A pause.
“When?”
Another pause.
Her expression changed.
“Secure everything.”
She hung up.
“The safe is empty.”
Bianca laughed bitterly.
“Of course it is.”
“And there are signs someone accessed the apartment yesterday.”
Bianca sank into a chair.
“What is the blood on the glove?”
Reyes didn’t answer.
“We test it.”
An officer entered moments later.
“Detective.”
He whispered into Reyes’s ear.
Reyes looked at Bianca.
“We just received confirmation from the hospital.”
“Victor?”
“He died.”
Bianca’s face went white.
Reyes glanced at the gun.
“If that firearm killed Victor Hale…”
“I didn’t shoot him.”
“I’m not saying you did.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“No,” Reyes said firmly. “I’m thinking someone wants me to think you did.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“Catherine.”
Laura shook her head.
“It’s too clean.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” Adrian asked.
“Catherine lies. She manipulates. She runs.”
Laura pointed at the gun.
“But this feels like Charles.”
Bianca stared at her.
“My father is in custody.”
“Now.”
Laura leaned forward.
“But when was Victor shot?”
Reyes checked her notes.
“Estimated between midnight and two.”
Charles had been in police custody by then.
Laura nodded.
“Then not Charles.”
Marissa, who had been sitting quietly near the wall, spoke.
“Daniel.”
Reyes turned.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel hates Victor.”
“How do you know?”
“They argued constantly.”
“About?”
“I only heard one clearly.”
Marissa’s hands tightened around a coffee cup.
“Victor said Daniel was getting greedy.”
Adrian frowned.
“Greedy about what?”
“Money.”
Marissa swallowed.
“And Bianca.”
Bianca looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Marissa hesitated.
“He watched you.”
Bianca’s face twisted with disgust.
“Watched me?”
“He knew your schedule. Your dates. Your vacations.”
“He was head of security.”
“No.”
Marissa shook her head.
“I mean personally.”
Bianca stood.
“You’re telling me my father’s security chief was obsessed with me?”
“I think so.”
Laura went pale.
“What is Daniel’s full name?”
“Daniel Mercer,” Reyes said.
Laura’s face collapsed.
“Oh no.”
“What?” Elena asked.
Laura grabbed the edge of the table.
“Mercer.”
Reyes crouched in front of her.
“You know that name.”
Laura nodded.
“Victor had a younger brother.”
The room went still.
Reyes whispered, “Last name Hale?”
“No.”
Laura looked terrified.
“Their mother remarried.”
She looked at Bianca.
“Daniel Mercer is Victor Hale’s brother.”
Bianca shook her head.
“Why would he kill Victor?”
Laura whispered:
“Because Victor knew what really happened to Rebecca.”
Reyes’s phone rang again.
She answered.
Then immediately stood.
“Where?”
Everyone watched her.
“Keep him alive.”
She hung up.
Adrian asked, “What happened?”
“Daniel Mercer was just spotted.”
“Where?”
Reyes looked at Bianca.
“At Sterling Grand.”
Elena frowned.
“The hotel?”
“Yes.”
“What is he doing there?”
Reyes grabbed her jacket.
“The cameras caught him entering the twenty-third floor.”
Bianca’s eyes widened.
“The hidden office.”
Reyes nodded.
“He’s going back for something.”
Marissa suddenly stood.
“The wall.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What wall?”
“The wall behind the safe.”
Marissa’s breathing quickened.
“I saw Charles open it once.”
Reyes froze.
“There’s another compartment?”
May you like
Marissa nodded.
“And whatever is inside it,” she whispered, “Daniel is willing to kill for.”
