Chapter 11 - The Second Mercer Car)
The storage locker contained exactly what Vivienne promised.
A small black dash camera.
Two memory cards.
And a sealed plastic bag holding a damaged silver key fob.
Grant recognized the Mercer Global logo immediately.
The police sent the camera for forensic recovery.
Grant refused to leave the station.
Tessa stayed with him.
Three hours later, the detective returned.
"We recovered part of the recording."
Grant stood.
"Show me."
The video began at 10:42 p.m.
Rain covered the windshield.
Marcus Vale was driving.
His face reflected briefly in the rearview mirror.
The road curved through wooded countryside.
Ahead, a black SUV appeared.
Elise's vehicle.
Grant knew the license plate.
His stomach twisted.
Vale followed at a distance.
At 10:47, another vehicle entered from a side road.
A Mercer Global sedan.
The sedan accelerated.
Passed Vale.
Approached Elise.
The camera angle became unclear because of rain.
Then the sedan moved beside Elise's SUV.
For several seconds, both vehicles disappeared around a curve.
Vale accelerated after them.
When the camera reached the bend, Elise's SUV was already leaving the road.
The sedan continued forward.
Vale slowed.
Then stopped.
The footage ended.
Grant stared at the frozen image.
The detective paused on the sedan.
The rear license plate was partially visible.
"We checked company records."
Grant looked at him.
The detective continued.
"The sedan was assigned to executive transport."
"Who used it that night?"
"No official booking."
Grant's expression darkened.
"Security access?"
"We're checking."
Grant called Mercer Global himself.
Within an hour, archived garage records arrived.
The car left headquarters at 8:56 p.m.
Using an executive access badge.
Badge owner: Grant Mercer.
Grant stared.
Tessa looked at him.
"You were at the charity dinner."
"So was half the executive team."
"Could someone use your badge?"
"Not without stealing it."
Grant thought back.
That evening had been chaotic.
Hundreds of guests.
His jacket had spent most of the evening on the back of a chair in the private lounge.
Vivienne had been nearby.
Julian too.
So had several executives.
The car returned at 12:08 a.m.
The same badge opened the garage.
No driver captured on the old internal camera because the lens had been under maintenance.
Grant laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Convenient."
The detective agreed.
Grant requested one more record.
Building access.
His badge had been used inside the ballroom at 10:03 p.m.
Then at headquarters at 10:52.
Impossible.
Someone had cloned it.
The investigation expanded immediately.
Vivienne was formally charged in connection with the assault on Noah and Tessa.
Financial crimes were added later that week.
But Elise's death became a separate homicide inquiry.
Grant visited Julian the next morning.
His brother lived in a glass penthouse above the city.
Julian opened the door looking exhausted.
"You think I killed her."
Grant walked inside.
"I think you hired Vale."
"I told you why."
"To investigate Elise."
"Yes."
"And you introduced him to Vivienne."
"Yes."
"Then my company car forced Elise off the road."
Julian stared.
"I didn't know."
"Your badge access?"
"I checked. Mine wasn't used."
"Mine was cloned."
Julian sat down.
Grant remained standing.
"Did you know about Noah's voting shares?"
"After Elise died."
"Before?"
"No."
"Did you want control of the company?"
Julian laughed bitterly.
"Of course I wanted control. That doesn't mean I murdered your wife."
Grant stared.
Julian's face hardened.
"You've spent your entire life assuming wanting something means being willing to do anything for it."
"Sometimes it does."
"Is that what you think of me?"
"I don't know what to think anymore."
Julian stood.
"Then think about this. If I wanted Elise dead to control her shares, her death did the opposite. The shares went to Noah."
"Maybe you didn't know."
"I know trusts, Grant."
"You didn't know this one."
Julian stopped.
Grant saw something.
"What?"
Julian looked away.
"What are you not saying?"
Silence.
Grant moved closer.
"Julian."
His brother finally spoke.
"Elise came to me."
"When?"
"Two weeks before she died."
Grant stared.
"Why?"
"She wanted me to promise something."
"What?"
"If anything happened to you and her, I was supposed to keep Vivienne away from Noah."
Grant felt cold.
"You never told me."
"She made me swear."
"She's dead."
"I know."
"Why keep the promise from me?"
Julian looked at him.
"Because she also told me she didn't trust you."
The words hit harder than Grant expected.
"Why?"
"Not because she thought you'd hurt anyone."
"Then why?"
"Because she thought whoever was manipulating the family had already learned how to manipulate you."
Grant said nothing.
Julian continued.
"She said they didn't need you involved."
Grant's chest tightened.
"They just needed you distracted."
He thought of the merger.
The endless travel.
Vivienne consoling him whenever Elise seemed anxious.
Vivienne explaining that Elise needed rest.
Vivienne becoming indispensable.
Grant looked out across the city.
Julian approached.
"There's something else."
Grant turned.
Julian opened a desk drawer.
He removed a small envelope.
"I found this in my office the morning after Elise died."
Grant took it.
Inside was a photograph of Noah asleep in his crib.
Taken from inside the nursery.
On the back was a message.
Do not interfere again.
Grant looked at Julian.
"You kept this?"
"I thought it was a threat related to the company."
"It was a threat against my son."
"I know that now."
Grant's phone vibrated.
A message from Tessa.
Please come home immediately.
Grant called her.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Then another message arrived.
Not from Tessa.
From Noah's nursery camera.
Motion detected.
Grant opened the live feed.
The crib was empty.
Tessa was not visible.
The nursery window stood open.
May you like
And someone had written three words across the fogged glass.
ELISE WAS RIGHT.
