Chapter 13 - what the old mercer estate had buried
Malcolm was arrested before sunrise.
The charges began with conspiracy, corruption, obstruction of justice, falsification of medical records, and intimidation.
More would follow.
Caroline formally confessed to releasing the stroller brake.
She insisted she intended only to frighten Nora and create an excuse for Gabriel to fire her.
Police did not treat that as a meaningful defense.
Nora was cleared completely.
Lieutenant Cole remained missing.
And Julia's death was officially reopened as a homicide investigation.
For the first time in four months, Gabriel felt as though the truth was moving closer.
But not close enough.
Two days later, police entered the abandoned Mercer estate.
Gabriel went with them.
The property stood north of the city behind rusted gates.
Gabriel had not visited since childhood.
His grandfather's mansion looked smaller than he remembered.
Dust covered every surface.
Portraits remained on the walls.
His grandfather.
His father.
Malcolm.
No Jonathan.
No Elena.
It was as though they had never existed.
The old key opened a door in the basement.
Behind it was an archive.
Hundreds of boxes.
Ledgers.
Legal files.
Photographs.
Letters.
Shaw stared at the room.
"This could take months."
Gabriel entered slowly.
Julia had known this existed.
Maybe she had been here.
A desk sat in the center.
On it rested a photograph of Charles Morrow.
Gabriel recognized the surname before he recognized the face.
Beside Charles stood Gabriel's grandfather, Henry Mercer.
They were smiling.
Partners.
Friends.
Then Gabriel noticed handwriting beneath the photograph.
50 percent each.
He opened the first ledger.
It documented the creation of their original investment fund.
The second showed unusual transfers after Charles Morrow's death.
The third showed ownership moving almost entirely to Henry Mercer.
Reese had been right.
Part of the Mercer fortune had been stolen.
But the most disturbing evidence was not financial.
It was a letter.
Written by Jonathan Mercer.
Dad,
You did not simply take Charles's company. You arranged the loan defaults that destroyed his estate after he died. Elena lost everything because of you. If you refuse to return what belongs to her family, I will expose it.
The letter was dated twenty-eight years earlier.
Another letter came from Henry Mercer.
If you choose that woman over your own blood, you are no longer my son.
Gabriel kept reading.
Jonathan married Elena anyway.
The family removed his name from corporate records.
Then came another document.
A private agreement.
Malcolm had signed it.
He agreed to pay Elena and Jonathan a settlement in exchange for silence.
Gabriel looked at Shaw.
"Malcolm tried to resolve it."
"Or buy them off."
"Maybe both."
Then they found a police report.
Jonathan Mercer had died twenty-six years earlier.
Gabriel stared at it.
"Reese said he saw Jonathan fifteen years ago."
Shaw checked the details.
"Body recovered after a boating accident."
"Identified?"
"According to this, yes."
"By whom?"
She read the signature.
"Malcolm Mercer."
Gabriel felt another layer open.
If Malcolm identified Jonathan's body, how had Reese seen Jonathan more than a decade later?
Either Reese had lied.
Or the body was not Jonathan.
They searched deeper into the archive.
Near the back wall, Gabriel found a metal drawer labeled E.M.
Inside were photographs.
Elena Morrow.
Pregnant.
Then Elena holding a baby.
Gabriel turned the picture over.
There was no name.
Another showed the child at approximately six years old.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Another at fifteen.
Another at twenty.
The last photograph appeared recent.
Gabriel stared at the young man.
Something about him was familiar.
Shaw noticed.
"You recognize him?"
"I don't know."
Gabriel looked closer.
Then it came to him.
The man from Julia's hidden photograph.
The figure in the hallway behind Malcolm.
He had assumed it was a stranger.
But it was the same person.
Older.
Standing inside Mercer House five days before Julia died.
Gabriel turned over the recent photograph.
One name was written on the back.
ADRIAN MORROW.
Gabriel whispered it.
Shaw began searching databases.
No immediate result.
Then Gabriel noticed a second word beneath the name.
Not written by Julia.
Written in his father's handwriting.
My nephew.
Gabriel stared.
Jonathan and Elena had a son.
A hidden Mercer heir.
A man who had been inside Gabriel's house shortly before Julia died.
A man who might believe the Mercer fortune belonged to him.
Shaw looked at Gabriel.
"We need to find Adrian."
Gabriel nodded.
Then an officer called from the other side of the basement.
"Detective."
They hurried over.
A steel cabinet had been opened.
Inside were dozens of videotapes.
Most were dated.
One had Julia's name.
JULIA MERCER, OCTOBER 18.
The day she died.
Gabriel's hands shook as Shaw inserted the tape into an old player.
Static filled the small monitor.
Then the image appeared.
A security camera.
The old Mercer estate.
Time stamp: 7:42 p.m.
Julia entered the basement.
Alive.
Two hours before she died.
She looked directly toward the camera.
Then a man entered behind her.
Gabriel leaned closer.
Malcolm.
They appeared to argue.
No audio.
Then someone else entered.
The young man from the photograph.
Adrian Morrow.
Julia turned toward him.
She did not look afraid.
She hugged him.
Gabriel stared in disbelief.
Julia knew Adrian.
Not casually.
She trusted him.
Then the three began speaking.
Malcolm looked angry.
Adrian pointed toward the archive.
Julia held up a folder.
Finally Malcolm left.
Julia and Adrian remained.
At 8:21 p.m., they walked out together.
Shaw checked the official accident timeline.
"Julia crashed around 10:15."
Gabriel looked at the screen.
"Where did Adrian go?"
The tape continued.
At 8:44, Malcolm returned alone.
He entered the archive.
He looked directly toward the security camera.
Then he reached up.
The recording ended.
Gabriel stared at the blank screen.
Malcolm had known about the footage.
Yet he never destroyed the tape.
Why?
Shaw's phone rang.
She listened.
Then looked at Gabriel.
"They found Lieutenant Cole."
"Alive?"
She nodded.
"He surrendered."
Gabriel's pulse accelerated.
"Why now?"
May you like
Shaw's expression became serious.
"Because someone tried to kill him last night."
