Chapter 15 - the woman in julia's passenger seat
The dash camera footage changed everything again.
Detective Shaw replayed the final twelve minutes before the crash.
The woman beside Julia was alive when the vehicle entered Quarry Road.
But in the official police report, only one body had been recovered.
Julia Mercer.
No second passenger.
No evidence that anyone else had been in the vehicle.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
"How does someone disappear from a crashed car?"
Shaw had no answer.
They reviewed the footage frame by frame.
At 10:07 p.m., Julia's SUV slowed beside the road.
The passenger door opened.
The dark-haired woman stepped out.
She leaned back inside.
Julia appeared to hand her something.
Then the woman moved toward another vehicle parked beyond the reach of Rourke's headlights.
Seven minutes later, Julia's brakes failed.
Gabriel watched the sequence again.
"The woman got out before the crash."
"Yes."
"Then she may have been the last person who touched Julia's car."
"Possibly."
"Who is she?"
Shaw isolated the clearest image.
The face was partly obscured by rain.
But there were enough features for recognition software.
They submitted it.
No immediate match.
Gabriel returned to Mercer House before dawn.
For the first time since the stroller incident, the mansion was quiet.
Caroline was in custody.
Malcolm was in custody.
Lieutenant Cole was cooperating.
Federal investigators had frozen several Morrow-linked accounts.
Samuel Voss entered protective custody.
Nora had been formally cleared.
And Gabriel had brought Lily and Emma home.
The stroller was gone.
Gabriel had ordered it removed.
He never wanted Lily to see it again.
Nora stood in the nursery holding Emma.
"She's asleep."
Gabriel smiled faintly.
"Good."
Nora studied him.
"Did you find who killed Mrs. Mercer?"
Gabriel looked toward the crib.
"No."
Nora's expression fell.
"But we're closer."
"Is Mr. Malcolm responsible?"
"For some of it."
"Not the crash?"
"I don't know."
Nora nodded.
Gabriel looked at her.
"You saved Emma."
She looked surprised.
"I almost didn't."
"But you did."
"Mr. Mercer."
"Nora."
His voice softened.
"Thank you."
Tears entered her eyes.
"I loved Mrs. Mercer."
"So did I."
"She was scared near the end."
"I know."
"I wish I had told you sooner."
Gabriel looked toward the hidden compartment behind the closet.
"We all wish we had done things differently."
Nora left him alone.
Gabriel stood beside Emma's crib.
The baby moved slightly beneath her blanket.
Safe.
That mattered.
Whatever else happened, Emma was alive.
Lily was alive.
The threat Caroline had created had been stopped.
The conspiracy around the trust had been exposed.
Malcolm's power was broken.
Gabriel could finally protect his children with open eyes instead of blind trust.
It was not the complete truth.
But it was something.
Later that morning, Gabriel drove to the detention center.
He sat across from Caroline through glass.
She looked smaller without the mansion around her.
"I heard Emma is okay."
"She is."
Caroline closed her eyes with relief.
"Lily?"
"She is safe."
"I never wanted them hurt."
Gabriel looked at her for a long time.
"You still released the brake."
"I know."
"And you lied."
"I know."
"You helped Malcolm."
"I know."
Tears filled her eyes.
"I don't expect you to forgive me."
"Good."
She nodded.
Gabriel continued.
"But I'm going to tell the court exactly what you did."
"I understand."
"And if you cooperate about Julia, I'll tell them that too."
Caroline looked at him.
"You still don't know who killed her."
"No."
Caroline leaned closer to the glass.
"Malcolm told me something once."
"What?"
"He said Julia found someone who should have been dead."
Gabriel froze.
"Who?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"When?"
"The week before she died."
Gabriel thought of Jonathan Mercer.
Declared dead.
Possibly alive years later.
"Did he say a man or woman?"
Caroline shook her head.
"He only said that some families bury people before they're actually gone."
Gabriel left without another word.
When he returned to Mercer House, Lily was sitting beside the fireplace.
She held a drawing.
Gabriel sat beside her.
"What did you make?"
"Our family."
He looked at the picture.
Lily had drawn herself.
Emma.
Gabriel.
Nora.
And Julia standing above them beneath a yellow sun.
Gabriel smiled.
"It's beautiful."
Lily pointed to another figure at the edge of the page.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Gabriel frowned.
"Who's that?"
Lily looked at him.
"I don't know her name."
Gabriel's body became still.
"Then why did you draw her?"
"Because I remembered her."
His voice became quiet.
"From where?"
Lily thought.
"She came here before Mom died."
Gabriel felt cold.
"When?"
"A few times."
"Did Mom know her?"
Lily nodded.
"They talked upstairs."
Gabriel took out his phone.
He opened the image from Rourke's dash camera.
"Was it this woman?"
Lily stared at the screen.
Her eyes widened.
"Yes."
Gabriel's heart began pounding.
"What did she say to Mom?"
"I don't know."
"Did you ever hear her name?"
Lily shook her head.
Then stopped.
"Wait."
Gabriel leaned closer.
"What?"
"Mom called her something."
"What?"
Lily frowned, trying to remember.
"She said Aunt."
Gabriel stared at her.
"Aunt what?"
Lily closed her eyes.
Then opened them.
"Aunt Elena."
Gabriel did not move.
Elena Morrow Mercer.
Jonathan's wife.
The woman connected to the fortune his grandfather had stolen.
The woman Malcolm claimed might still be alive.
The woman whose people were supposedly following Julia.
And perhaps the woman who had been sitting beside Julia only minutes before her death.
Gabriel immediately called Detective Shaw.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then his phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Gabriel opened it.
It showed Mercer House.
Taken from outside the gates.
The timestamp was less than one minute old.
His stomach tightened.
A second photograph arrived.
Lily sitting beside the fireplace.
Taken through the window.
Someone was watching the house right now.
Gabriel stood.
"Lily, upstairs."
She looked frightened.
"Dad?"
"Go to Nora."
Lily ran.
Gabriel called security.
The guards began searching the grounds.
Another message arrived.
DO NOT CALL THE POLICE.
Gabriel stared at it.
Then another.
YOU HAVE BEEN ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION.
Gabriel typed back.
WHO ARE YOU?
The answer came immediately.
ASK WHO JULIA WAS PROTECTING.
Gabriel's hands became cold.
He typed.
FROM WHOM?
No answer.
Thirty seconds passed.
Then a final image arrived.
It was not Mercer House.
It was a photograph of Julia.
Gabriel had never seen it before.
She stood beside a lake.
The image was dated six days before her death.
Beside Julia stood Elena Morrow.
And beside Elena stood another woman.
Gabriel stared at her face.
Something about her was painfully familiar.
The eyes.
The shape of her mouth.
The way she tilted her head.
Gabriel enlarged the photograph.
His breath stopped.
The woman looked almost exactly like Julia.
Not identical.
But close enough to be family.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Gabriel answered slowly.
"Hello?"
For several seconds there was only silence.
Then a woman's voice spoke.
Calm.
Older.
American.
"Gabriel Mercer?"
"Who is this?"
"You don't know me."
"Where is Detective Shaw?"
The woman ignored the question.
"If you want to know what happened to Julia, come to the place where your father died."
Gabriel's pulse hammered.
"My father died on a boat."
"No."
Gabriel gripped the phone.
"What did you say?"
"Edward Mercer did not die on that boat."
Gabriel felt the room tilt.
"Who are you?"
A pause.
Then the woman said, "Ask Malcolm why there was never an autopsy."
The call ended.
Gabriel stood motionless beside the fireplace.
Then he heard a soft click.
The hidden compartment beside the stone lion opened by itself.
Gabriel turned slowly.
Inside was an envelope.
It had not been there moments earlier.
His name was written across the front.
Not in Julia's handwriting.
In his father's.
Gabriel reached for it.
May you like
Before he could open the envelope, the mansion lights went out.
Somewhere upstairs, Lily screamed.
