Chapter 5 - Julian Mercer’s SecretAdrian had spent six years believing his brother died because he investigated the Vale family.
Forty-two years old.
Former federal agent.
Father of two.
Dead before midnight.
Police found him in a service hallway behind Elena's Bellweather estate office.
Officially, he had suffered blunt-force trauma after a struggle.
Unofficially, someone had murdered him for reaching Elena's computer before the Vale family did.
By sunrise, Elena had stopped thinking of Cassandra as merely cruel.
Cruel people humiliated employees.
Cruel people destroyed careers.
Cassandra Vale was something else.
She killed problems.
The hospital transferred Elena to a private floor after Adrian insisted.
Two Mercer security guards stood outside.
Elena disliked it.
Adrian ignored her objections.
“You almost drowned yesterday.”
“And now I'm surrounded by armed men.”
“Exactly.”
“That wasn't reassurance.”
“It wasn't supposed to be.”
Elena sat beside the window, wearing sweatpants and a sweater one of Adrian's assistants had brought.
She had been medically cleared to leave.
The police wanted her available for another interview.
Adrian wanted her hidden.
Elena wanted answers.
At 8:15, Adrian entered with a paper cup.
“Coffee.”
She accepted it.
“You remembered.”
“Two sugars. No milk.”
She looked at him.
“How?”
“You drank it that way at Cassandra's charity meeting in March.”
“That was five months ago.”
“I remember things.”
“So I've noticed.”
Adrian sat.
“The police recovered Marcus's phone.”
“And?”
“He sent me something nineteen seconds before he died.”
He handed Elena his phone.
A photograph.
Blurry.
Taken inside her office.
Her desk was visible.
The laptop was gone.
But beneath it, on the floor, was something Elena recognized.
A silver flash drive.
Her breath caught.
“I know that.”
“What is it?”
“Thomas gave it to me.”
Adrian stared at her.
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“You never mentioned this.”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot a dead man's flash drive?”
“I thought it was empty.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Thomas came to the office late. He gave me the drive and said if he ever asked for it back, I should pretend I'd lost it.”
“What did you do?”
“I plugged it into my laptop the next morning.”
“And?”
“Nothing opened.”
“Encrypted.”
“I didn't know.”
“Where is it now?”
Elena looked at the photograph again.
“My desk drawer.”
“No. In Marcus's photo, it's on the floor.”
“He must have found it.”
Adrian stood.
“Police have the office sealed.”
“Then let's go.”
“No.”
“Adrian.”
“Absolutely not.”
“It's my office.”
“Which is currently a murder scene.”
“And that drive belonged to Thomas.”
“Which is why it's dangerous.”
She stood.
“So I'm supposed to hide while everyone around me dies?”
His expression changed.
Elena continued.
“Marcus died because you sent him into my office.”
Adrian flinched.
She regretted the words immediately.
“I didn't mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
He walked toward the window.
“And you're right.”
“Adrian.”
“I've spent years believing I could stay ahead of people like Harrison.”
He looked down at the street.
“Marcus trusted me.”
Elena approached.
“Then don't waste what he found.”
He turned.
Ten minutes later, they were in an armored SUV.
Bellweather estate looked different without champagne glasses and musicians.
Police vehicles lined the driveway.
The white flowers from the party had begun to wilt.
Yellow evidence tape stretched across the service entrance.
Detective Shaw met them outside.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Elena folded her arms.
“Seems like everyone keeps telling me that.”
Shaw looked at Adrian.
“You brought her?”
“She brought herself.”
“Accurate,” Elena said.
Shaw exhaled.
“The scene is still being processed.”
“We need the silver drive Marcus photographed,” Adrian said.
Shaw's eyes narrowed.
“What silver drive?”
Adrian showed him.
Shaw studied the image.
“That wasn't logged.”
Elena and Adrian exchanged glances.
“It was there,” Elena said.
“Not when our techs arrived.”
“Who got there first?”
Shaw hesitated.
“Estate security.”
Elena laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Shaw frowned.
“You're making accusations.”
“Someone killed a man.”
“We don't know the motive.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You can't possibly be this incompetent.”
Shaw's expression darkened.
“Careful.”
“No. You be careful. A witness is nearly murdered. Evidence disappears. My investigator is killed, and somehow Vale security controls the scene before your people arrive.”
Shaw lowered his voice.
“You think I don't know what this looks like?”
Elena studied him.
There was exhaustion beneath his anger.
“You believe us.”
Shaw looked away.
“That doesn't matter.”
“It should.”
“You have no idea what you're dealing with.”
Adrian laughed coldly.
“I have a fairly good idea.”
Shaw glanced toward officers nearby.
Then said quietly, “Meet me somewhere tonight.”
Adrian became still.
“Why?”
“Not here.”
“When?”
“Ten.”
“Where?”
Shaw named a diner twenty miles away.
Then loudly added, “Now get off my crime scene.”
They left.
At 10:07 that night, Shaw entered the diner through the rear door.
He wore jeans and a baseball cap.
No badge.
He slid into the booth across from Elena and Adrian.
“My partner was killed three years ago.”
Elena's stomach tightened.
“Vale?”
“Maybe.”
He removed a phone from his pocket.
“His name was Ben Carter. He was investigating Monica Reyes's crash.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What did he find?”
“Evidence she wasn't alone.”
Elena frowned.
“Police said she drove alone.”
“She did when she left her office.”
Shaw tapped the phone.
“Traffic camera picked up another person in her passenger seat thirty minutes later.”
“Who?”
“Image was corrupted before we could identify them.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Vale connections?”
“My captain ordered the case closed.”
Shaw pushed the phone toward Elena.
“This belonged to Thomas Keene.”
Her breath caught.
“How do you have it?”
“Ben recovered it after Thomas died. Never logged it.”
“Why?”
“Because he stopped trusting the department.”
Elena stared at the phone.
“Can we open it?”
“I couldn't.”
Adrian picked it up.
“Biometric?”
“Passcode.”
Elena thought about Thomas.
He had once joked that everything important in his life happened on April 17.
His daughter's birthday.
She entered it.
The phone unlocked.
All three stared at the screen.
Messages.
Photos.
Audio recordings.
And one video file titled:
IF YOU'RE WATCHING THIS, CASSANDRA FOUND OUT.
Elena pressed play.
Thomas appeared on screen.
His face pale.
His voice trembling.
“If something happens to me, it wasn't an overdose.”
Elena's skin prickled.
Thomas continued.
“Project Northstar isn't just fraud.”
He swallowed.
“It's blackmail.”
Adrian leaned closer.
Thomas looked directly into the camera.
“Cassandra has been recording politicians, judges, executives, and investors at Vale properties for years.”
Shaw whispered a curse.
“She uses the recordings to control contracts, investigations, mergers—everything.”
Thomas's eyes filled with fear.
“And Harrison doesn't control her anymore.”
The video shook.
A noise sounded behind Thomas.
He looked over his shoulder.
Then back.
“There is one person Cassandra is terrified of.”
The recording ended.
Elena stared.
“Who?”
Another file appeared beneath it.
A photograph.
Elena opened it.
A younger Cassandra stood beside an unfamiliar man at a marina.
Adrian suddenly went white.
Elena looked at him.
“You know him.”
Adrian didn't answer.
“Adrian.”
He stared at the photograph.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
May you like
Adrian's voice was almost inaudible.
“My brother.”
