Chapter 6 - Blood Inside the Mercer NameCole put the burner phone on speaker.
“Victor.”
A soft laugh.
“You remember my voice.”
“I remember your memorial service.”
“Touching event.”
Lily stared at the phone.
“You came into the house.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To see whether Anna’s daughter still had the key.”
“You stole my mother’s photograph.”
“I needed to confirm something.”
“What?”
“That you look exactly like her when you’re frightened.”
Cole stepped between Lily and the phone as if Victor could somehow reach through it.
“You killed Sebastian?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“The person who has been cleaning up this family’s sins for twenty years.”
“Give me a name.”
Victor laughed again.
“Elena would be disappointed. She always told you patience was important.”
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“You knew my mother.”
“I loved your mother.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“You used her.”
Victor fell silent.
Then he said, “Hello, Evelyn.”
“I prayed you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Why did you disappear?”
“To survive.”
“From whom?”
“You already know.”
Evelyn’s hand trembled on her cane.
Cole noticed.
Victor continued.
“Ask your grandmother why Thomas Mercer left the company six months before Elena died.”
Cole turned.
Evelyn said nothing.
“Ask her why your grandfather moved into the guest house.”
“Stop.”
“Ask why Elena had planned to remove him from the board.”
Cole stared at Evelyn.
“My grandfather?”
Victor laughed.
“Blood is difficult, isn’t it?”
Then the line went dead.
Cole rounded on his grandmother.
“Was Grandfather involved?”
“No.”
“You answered too fast.”
“Because I know.”
“Then tell me everything.”
Evelyn sat.
“Thomas had a gambling problem.”
Cole had never heard this.
“He borrowed money?”
“Millions.”
“From whom?”
“Charles Whitmore arranged loans.”
Cole understood immediately.
“He had leverage.”
“Yes.”
“Did Grandfather authorize deals?”
“Some.”
“Illegal ones?”
“I don’t know how much he understood.”
“You told me he stepped back.”
“He did.”
“Because Elena found out?”
Evelyn nodded.
“She threatened to expose everything.”
Cole walked toward the window.
Outside, reporters crowded the gates.
His family empire suddenly looked like a monument built over a graveyard.
Lily spoke.
“What does my grandmother have to do with this?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Rose Hart worked as a records supervisor for Lakehurst.”
“She died before I was born.”
“Maybe.”
“Why do you keep saying maybe?”
“Because Anna told everyone Rose died in 2001.”
“Yes.”
“But I received a Christmas card from Rose in 2003.”
Lily stared.
“What?”
“She mailed it from Vermont.”
“Why didn’t you tell my mother?”
“I assumed Anna knew.”
Lily sat heavily.
“Where in Vermont?”
“Burlington.”
Marcus entered.
“We traced Victor’s burner.”
“And?”
“Disposable. Activated yesterday.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. We found where he’s staying.”
Cole looked up.
“Where?”
“An old motel near Stamford.”
They reached the motel just before noon.
Police were already there.
Victor was gone.
Inside his room, however, someone had left a wall covered with photographs.
Cole.
Evelyn.
Lily.
Sloane.
Sebastian.
Executives.
Judges.
Two former mayors.
A web of red thread connected them.
On the center of the wall was a photograph of Thomas Mercer.
Cole’s grandfather.
Someone had written beneath it:
THE FIRST COWARD.
Next to Thomas was Richard Whitmore.
Sloane’s father.
THE SECOND.
Then Evelyn.
THE SURVIVOR.
Then Cole.
THE HEIR.
And Lily.
THE WITNESS.
Cole stared.
“Witness to what?”
Marcus searched the desk.
He found newspaper clippings about the Mason Street fire Elena had mentioned.
Six victims.
A mother.
Three children.
Two elderly tenants.
Beneath them was another article.
The property was later purchased by Mercer Urban Development.
“Jesus,” Cole whispered.
Lily picked up a photocopied birth certificate.
“Cole.”
He turned.
Her hands were shaking.
The document belonged to Anna Hart.
Mother: Rose Hart.
Father: Unknown.
But attached to it was a handwritten note.
PATERNITY CONFIRMED 1998.
Below that:
THOMAS MERCER.
Cole stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Lily went white.
“My mother was…”
Evelyn sat down.
“No.”
Cole looked between them.
If the document was real, Anna Hart had been Thomas Mercer’s daughter.
Cole’s mother had trusted Anna not only as an assistant.
Anna had been her half-sister.
Lily was Thomas Mercer’s granddaughter.
Cole’s cousin.
The Mercer employee Sloane called “people like her” was family.
Evelyn whispered, “Thomas never told me.”
Lily looked at her.
“Did you know my mother?”
“I knew Anna.”
“No. I mean did you know who she was?”
“No.”
Lily’s voice sharpened.
“My grandmother worked for the city. My mother worked for your daughter. You’re telling me none of this meant anything?”
Evelyn’s face collapsed.
“I swear.”
A police officer entered the room.
“We found something in the bathroom.”
Cole followed.
On the mirror, written in black marker:
ROSE IS ALIVE.
Beneath it was an address.
Burlington, Vermont.
Lily stared at it.
“That could be a trap.”
“It probably is,” Cole said.
She looked at him.
“I’m going.”
“I know.”
“What?”
“I’m not going to tell you not to.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m going with you.”
She shook her head.
“You barely know me.”
Cole looked at the birth certificate.
“Apparently our family has known yours much longer than either of us realized.”
His phone buzzed.
A text from Sloane.
COME ALONE. I KNOW WHO KILLED SEBASTIAN.
Cole looked at the message.
May you like
Then another arrived.
AND I KNOW WHY YOUR MOTHER HAD TO DIE.
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