Chapter 4 - The Man at the DoorDaniel Mercer returned to Chicago on a Thursday night.
By noon, she had called fourteen businesses looking for work.
Eleven said no.
Two promised to call back.
One manager openly laughed when she mentioned being seven months pregnant.
Maria overheard the call.
She took the phone from Anna’s hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Protecting society.”
“Maria.”
Maria ended the call.
“You’re working at the diner.”
Anna stared at her.
“I can’t let you arrange charity employment.”
“Sweetheart, have you met Sam? That man wouldn’t give charity to his own reflection.”
As if summoned, Sam Bennett entered through the kitchen door carrying a box of coffee filters.
He was sixty-two, broad-shouldered, gray-bearded, and permanently unimpressed.
Maria pointed.
“Anna needs a job.”
Sam looked at Anna’s stomach.
“When are you due?”
“January ninth.”
“Can you stand?”
“Yes.”
“Can you use a cash register?”
“Yes.”
“Can you smile while strangers tell you their eggs are too egg-shaped?”
Anna blinked.
“Probably.”
“Congratulations. You start tomorrow.”
Anna looked between them.
“That’s it?”
Sam shrugged.
“Maria’s been threatening to quit since 1998. I need backup.”
“I have not been threatening. I’ve been promising.”
For the first time since losing her apartment, Anna felt something unfamiliar.
Possibility.
The next morning she tied on a diner apron.
The work was harder than she expected.
Her feet hurt.
Her back ached.
Twice she had to sit because the baby kicked beneath her ribs.
But people spoke to her.
Normal conversations.
Coffee refills.
Weather.
Football.
One elderly customer insisted her pancakes were better because Anna brought them.
By three o’clock, she had earned forty-two dollars in tips.
She stared at the money.
Maria smiled.
“Feels different when it’s yours, doesn’t it?”
Anna nodded.
“It feels like oxygen.”
Then the diner door opened.
A woman in a cream wool coat entered.
Every instinct inside Maria sharpened.
The woman was polished, blond, around forty.
She sat in Anna’s section.
“Coffee.”
Anna poured it.
The woman didn’t touch the cup.
“Anna Carter?”
Anna froze.
“Who are you?”
“Rebecca Shaw.”
She placed a business card on the table.
SHAW, HART & MERCER — CORPORATE COUNSEL
Maria saw the card from across the room.
She started walking.
Rebecca spoke quietly.
“Mrs. Mercer would like to resolve an unfortunate situation.”
“I don’t have anything to resolve with Mrs. Mercer.”
Rebecca slid an envelope across the table.
Anna didn’t open it.
“What is this?”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
Anna stared.
“In exchange for?”
“You relocate.”
Maria reached the booth.
“Coffee all right?”
Rebecca glanced at her.
Recognition flashed.
“Maria Reyes.”
“Rebecca.”
Anna looked between them.
“You know each other too?”
Rebecca ignored the question.
“Miss Carter, the Mercer family is prepared to be generous.”
Anna’s voice went cold.
“Generous would have been telling me where Daniel went.”
Rebecca hesitated.
That tiny hesitation told Maria everything.
“You know,” Anna said.
“I’m not authorized to discuss Mr. Mercer.”
“Then get out.”
Rebecca pushed the envelope closer.
“Take the money.”
“No.”
“For your child.”
Anna’s chair scraped backward.
“My daughter is not for sale.”
Several customers turned.
Rebecca’s expression hardened.
“You misunderstand your position.”
Maria leaned closer.
“No. You misunderstand hers.”
Rebecca stood.
“You always did involve yourself in matters above your station.”
Maria smiled.
“And you always did talk like a villain in a cheap movie.”
Sam coughed to hide a laugh.
Rebecca picked up her purse.
Then she looked directly at Anna.
“Ask Maria what happened to your mother.”
Silence.
Anna turned toward Maria.
Rebecca continued.
“Ask her why Claire Carter left Chicago twenty-three years ago.”
Maria’s face drained.
Rebecca walked out.
Anna didn’t speak until the door closed.
Then:
“My mother?”
Maria lowered herself into the booth.
“You told me Claire died when you were sixteen.”
“She did.”
“But before that,” Maria said carefully, “she ran from Chicago.”
Anna’s eyes narrowed.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I was there the night she ran.”
Anna sat down.
The entire diner seemed to disappear around them.
Maria stared at her hands.
“Your mother worked at the Mercer estate.”
Anna felt a strange pressure in her chest.
“She never told me.”
“She was twenty-one.”
“What happened?”
Maria looked toward the windows.
“Claire became pregnant.”
Anna’s blood turned cold.
“My father?”
Maria’s eyes filled with old regret.
“I don’t know who he was.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Anna—”
“You know something.”
Maria swallowed.
“I know Evelyn Mercer wanted that pregnancy hidden.”
Anna stood.
“No.”
“She gave Claire money.”
“No.”
“Claire refused.”
The words hit Anna like an echo.
Exactly what Evelyn had done to her.
Maria continued.
“After that, people started following Claire.”
Anna gripped the table.
“Why?”
“I never knew the whole story.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Maria took a breath.
“The night Claire disappeared, she came to my apartment terrified.”
“What did she say?”
Maria looked directly at her.
“She said, ‘If anything happens to me, the Mercers did it.’”
Anna stepped backward.
Her mother had spent her entire childhood moving from city to city.
Anna had always assumed they were struggling financially.
What if they had been hiding?
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Anna stared.
It showed Maria’s blue house.
Taken that morning.
Then another message.
Take the money. Leave Chicago.
A third message arrived.
Or Maria pays for your mistake.
Anna’s hand began shaking.
Maria read over her shoulder.
Sam locked the front door.
“We’re calling the police.”
“No,” Maria said.
Anna looked at her.
“Why not?”
“Because the last time your mother called the police…”
May you like
Maria’s voice broke.
“…one of the officers delivered her location straight to Evelyn Mercer.”
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