Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER IN THE DARKGrant ran first.
“Dana!”
Vincent grabbed him.
“Stop.”
“My brother is in this house.”
“That is exactly why you stop.”
Grant shoved him off.
For a man who spent his life controlling rooms, Grant Mercer had lost every ounce of control in less than thirty seconds.
I understood.
The dead had returned twice in one night.
First my father.
Now his brother.
Mara checked a tablet.
“Security feeds are looping.”
“Can you restore them?” Vincent asked.
“Not from here.”
Dana screamed again.
Grant headed toward the stairs.
My father stepped in front of him.
“If Daniel wants you upstairs, don’t go upstairs.”
Grant’s eyes were wild.
“You knew he was alive.”
“Yes.”
“For six years.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“I didn’t know whose side he was on.”
“That didn’t stop you from telling everyone else what side I was on.”
My father absorbed it.
Vincent pulled his gun.
“We move together.”
Nobody argued.
We climbed the stairs.
The hallway lights flickered red.
Every bedroom door stood open except one.
Dana’s screams came from inside.
Grant approached.
“Daniel.”
Silence.
“Daniel, open the door.”
A man laughed.
Same voice as the intercom.
“You still give orders like Dad.”
Grant’s face changed.
Their father.
Another story I didn’t know.
“Let Dana go.”
“Come inside.”
“No.”
“Then she dies.”
Grant reached for the handle.
Vincent stopped him.
Mara knelt and inspected the frame.
“Wire.”
Grant froze.
A thin filament ran from the doorknob to the hinge.
Booby trap.
Daniel laughed from inside.
“You always were impatient.”
Grant’s jaw clenched.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“For what?”
“To finish a conversation we started twenty years ago.”
Grant looked toward Vincent.
Vincent frowned.
“What happened twenty years ago?”
“Nothing.”
Daniel answered through the door.
“Tell him.”
Grant said nothing.
“Tell your boss what happened to Mom.”
Grant’s face went pale.
Dad looked at him.
“Grant?”
“Not now.”
Daniel laughed.
“He never told you?”
Vincent’s voice became cold.
“Grant.”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Our mother disappeared.”
I almost groaned.
Of course she did.
Nobody in this network had normal family history.
“When?” I asked.
“Twenty years ago.”
“Why?”
Grant looked at the door.
“Because Daniel said our father killed her.”
Silence.
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel shouted from inside.
“You knew.”
Grant stepped closer to the door.
“I was nineteen.”
“You watched him drag her into the basement.”
“And I called police!”
“You lied to them.”
“I was scared.”
“You told them she left voluntarily.”
“Dad had a gun!”
Daniel’s voice cracked for the first time.
“You let him bury her.”
Grant looked shattered.
Vincent watched him carefully.
“What does this have to do with Raymond?”
My father answered quietly.
“Raymond found Daniel when he was sixteen.”
Grant turned.
“What?”
“After he ran away.”
“He died at seventeen.”
“No.”
Dad shook his head.
“Raymond staged it.”
Inside the room, Daniel laughed.
“Finally.”
Grant stared at my father.
“Why would Raymond care about my brother?”
“Because your father worked for him.”
Grant looked sick.
“No.”
“Long before you worked for Vincent.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“What did Grant’s father do?”
“Enforcement.”
Daniel answered.
“He killed people.”
Grant whispered.
“Stop.”
“He killed our mother because she discovered who paid him.”
“Stop!”
Daniel continued.
“And Grant helped him lie.”
Grant fired at the ceiling.
Everyone flinched.
“Enough!”
Silence followed.
Then Dana spoke.
Not screaming.
Calm.
“Grant.”
He froze.
“I’m okay.”
“Dana?”
“I’m not tied up.”
Vincent looked toward Mara.
Trap.
Dana continued.
“I came here willingly.”
My blood turned cold.
Grant stepped back.
“What?”
The door unlocked.
Mara shouted.
“Don’t—”
It opened.
No explosion.
Dana Brooks stood inside.
Uninjured.
Gun in her hand.
Behind her was a man who looked enough like Grant to make my stomach drop.
Same height.
Similar jaw.
Same eyes.
But Daniel was thinner.
Older-looking.
Scar running from his ear to his mouth.
Grant stared at him.
Daniel smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
Nobody raised a gun.
Not yet.
Grant looked like he had forgotten how.
“You’re alive.”
“So are you.”
“I saw your ashes.”
“You saw what Raymond wanted you to see.”
Grant’s eyes filled.
“I looked for you.”
“For six weeks.”
“I was nineteen.”
“I was sixteen.”
The bitterness between them felt ancient.
Vincent aimed at Daniel.
“Touching. Now put the weapon down.”
Daniel looked at Vincent.
“You’re the famous Vincent Hale.”
“You’re less impressive.”
“Still charming.”
Dana stepped forward.
Her gun remained low.
I stared at her.
“You work for Raymond.”
“No.”
“You met Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“You questioned me about Raymond.”
“Yes.”
“Then lied.”
“Yes.”
At least people were becoming honest.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve been investigating him for eight years.”
Vincent laughed.
“Without telling your department?”
“My department is compromised.”
Dad nodded.
“That part is true.”
Dana looked at him.
“Nice to finally meet you, Thomas.”
“You saw me eleven years ago.”
“No. I saw Ellen.”
My pulse jumped.
“You were at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“Did you poison her?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Dana looked toward Daniel.
Grant raised his gun instantly.
Daniel smiled.
“Careful.”
“Did you kill Ellen Bennett?”
“No.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To stop the person who did.”
My voice shook.
“Who?”
Daniel looked at my father.
“Thomas already knows.”
I turned.
Dad looked away.
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I said I didn’t know for certain.”
“Stop doing that.”
His face tightened.
“I suspected.”
“Who?”
Dad’s answer came painfully.
“Dr. Caleb Voss.”
Mara went still.
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“He had access.”
“So did nurses.”
“He worked for Raymond.”
“My mother worked for Raymond too. That doesn’t mean—”
Daniel interrupted.
“Caleb poisoned Ellen.”
Mara looked like she had been punched.
“Why?”
“Because Ellen threatened to release evidence.”
Dana stepped closer.
“I was hospital security. I saw Caleb enter Ellen’s room after visiting hours.”
“Did you report it?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“My supervisor deleted the footage.”
“Who was your supervisor?”
Dana looked at Daniel.
“He was.”
I stared.
Daniel had been hospital security too.
“I was working under a false identity,” he said.
“For Raymond?”
“Yes.”
“And you let my mother die.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“I didn’t know Caleb planned to poison her.”
“Did you help cover it up?”
“Yes.”
The admission landed heavily.
Grant stared at his brother.
“You covered up a murder.”
“I was sixteen when Raymond took me. By twenty-seven, I had done worse.”
Grant’s face twisted.
“That is not an excuse.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I’m not asking for forgiveness.”
“Good.”
“But I did one thing Ellen asked.”
I froze.
“What?”
“After Caleb left her room, Ellen was still conscious.”
My heart hammered.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked me to remove something from her room before Caleb returned.”
“What?”
Daniel reached into his coat.
Grant raised his weapon.
Daniel moved slowly.
He removed a small cassette recorder.
Old.
Cracked.
My throat closed.
“Your mother recorded everything.”
I stared at it.
“Why do you have that?”
“Because she made me promise to give it to you when Raymond could no longer use you to find Thomas.”
“You waited eleven years.”
“I waited until Raymond exposed himself.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Vincent.
“Because the mansion explosion wasn’t an assassination attempt.”
Vincent frowned.
“What was it?”
“A search.”
“For what?”
Daniel’s eyes shifted toward me.
“Raymond believed Grace had already found Ellen’s second key.”
I felt cold.
“What second key?”
My father swore softly.
Vincent looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Not exactly.”
Daniel lifted the cassette.
“Ellen divided everything into three parts.”
“Physical key,” I said.
Dad touched his chain.
“Biometric trust.”
Daniel nodded toward me.
“And a spoken passphrase.”
I stared at the recorder.
“Mom’s voice.”
“Yes.”
Raymond had the digital recording.
But this was something else.
Daniel continued.
“The recording Raymond has is incomplete. Ellen intentionally created two versions.”
“Why?”
“Because she trusted nobody.”
Mara looked heartbroken.
“Not even my mother?”
“Especially Eleanor.”
Dad sighed.
Daniel held out the cassette.
“This contains the real vault passphrase.”
I reached for it.
Before I touched it, the window exploded.
Daniel slammed into me.
We fell.
Gunfire tore through the room.
Vincent shouted.
Grant fired toward the trees.
Dana crawled behind the bed.
Mara screamed.
“My shoulder!”
Blood appeared on her sleeve.
Daniel dragged me toward the bathroom.
Grant turned.
“Daniel!”
“Get her out!”
Another bullet struck Daniel.
He jerked.
Grant’s face changed.
“Daniel!”
His brother collapsed.
The cassette slid across the floor.
I grabbed it.
Daniel looked at Grant.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Twenty years,” he whispered.
Grant dropped beside him.
Daniel gave a faint smile.
“I told you I wasn’t dead.”
Then alarms began screaming outside.
Dana looked through the broken window.
“Vehicles!”
Vincent reloaded.
“How many?”
She went pale.
“Too many.”
My father looked toward me.
“Raymond found us.”
I held my mother’s cassette against my chest.
Grant knelt over Daniel.
His hands covered the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Daniel coughed.
Then he grabbed Grant’s wrist.
“Basement.”
“What?”
“Your mother.”
Grant froze.
Daniel whispered.
“She’s still there.”
Grant stared at him.
“Where?”
“Our old house.”
Daniel’s eyes closed.
May you like
“Behind the furnace wall.”
And suddenly Raymond Blackwell wasn’t the only man whose past was coming out of the ground.
Related Stories
