Chapter 2 - the warning julia left behind
The police arrived seven minutes later.
By then, Emma had stopped crying.
A private pediatrician was already on his way to Mercer House, and Nora sat on the edge of a cream sofa holding the baby against her chest.
Lily refused to let go of Gabriel's hand.
Detective Helen Shaw entered the mansion with two uniformed officers.
She was in her early forties, calm, observant, and unimpressed by wealth.
Gabriel had met her once before.
Four months earlier.
The night Julia died.
Shaw recognized him immediately.
Her eyes moved from Gabriel to Lily, then toward the guards standing outside the study.
"Mr. Mercer."
"Detective."
"I was told there was an incident involving your child."
Gabriel showed her the phone.
"There was."
Shaw watched the video twice.
The second time, she slowed it down.
She did not react when Caroline touched the stroller.
Instead, she watched the upper-right corner of the screen.
Gabriel noticed.
"What are you looking at?"
"Reflection."
He leaned closer.
The enormous gold railing reflected part of the upstairs landing.
For less than a second, another figure seemed to be visible near the far hallway.
Gabriel frowned.
"Is someone else there?"
"Maybe."
Shaw handed the phone to an officer.
"Preserve this exactly as it is. Make a forensic copy."
Then she entered the study.
Caroline had already called an attorney.
She sat behind Gabriel's desk as though the room belonged to her.
Her posture was perfect.
Her voice was calm.
"I did not push the stroller."
Shaw sat opposite her.
"No one said you pushed it."
Caroline's confidence faltered for a fraction of a second.
Shaw noticed.
"So let's begin again."
Gabriel remained near the door.
Caroline looked at him.
"I reached for the stroller because I saw it moving."
"The recording shows you touching it before it moves."
"The angle is misleading."
"Did you release the brake?"
"No."
"Did you touch the brake?"
"No."
Nora stood in the doorway.
"She's lying."
Caroline smiled without humor.
"Of course the maid says that."
Nora stepped forward.
"My name is Nora."
"I know your name."
"Then use it."
Shaw raised one hand.
"Mrs. Blake, please."
Caroline leaned back.
"She has always hated me."
Nora laughed in disbelief.
"I barely speak to you."
"Exactly."
Gabriel felt his patience disappearing.
"Caroline, why did you mention Julia?"
His sister looked at him.
"Because this is bigger than a stroller."
"What does that mean?"
"It means your wife wasn't the person you believed she was."
Gabriel's voice hardened.
"Be careful."
Caroline's eyes narrowed.
"You think I'm insulting her?"
"You've been doing that since the funeral."
"No. I've been trying to protect you."
"From a dead woman?"
Caroline leaned forward.
"From what she discovered."
The room became still.
Detective Shaw looked interested now.
"What did Mrs. Mercer discover?"
Caroline hesitated.
Then she smiled.
"I think my attorney should be here before we continue."
Shaw stood.
"That's your right."
Caroline looked at Gabriel.
"But ask Nora why Julia wanted her to disappear."
Gabriel turned toward Nora.
Nora looked stunned.
"That is not what happened."
Caroline continued.
"Ask her why Julia gave her money."
Nora's expression changed.
Gabriel saw it.
"Money?"
Nora looked down.
Caroline's smile widened.
"Forty thousand dollars."
Gabriel stared at Nora.
"Is that true?"
Nora closed her eyes.
"Yes."
The answer struck him harder than expected.
"When?"
"Three days before she died."
Caroline leaned back.
"There it is."
Gabriel did not move.
"Why?"
Nora looked at Lily.
"Not here."
Gabriel glanced at his daughter.
"Lily, go upstairs with Mrs. Parker."
"No."
"Lily."
"No, Dad."
Her grip tightened around his hand.
"I recorded it. I want to know."
Gabriel crouched in front of her.
"This isn't about what happened today anymore."
Lily's eyes became wet.
"It's about Mom."
Gabriel had no answer.
Detective Shaw stepped closer.
"Lily, I promise your father will tell you what he can. But right now I need the adults to talk."
Lily looked at her.
"Did my mom really have an accident?"
Nobody answered quickly enough.
And that silence frightened her more than words could have.
Gabriel led Lily to the housekeeper, Mrs. Parker, and watched them go upstairs.
Then he returned to the study.
"Tell me everything."
Nora sat down.
"Mrs. Mercer gave me forty thousand dollars because she wanted me to take Lily and Emma away from the house."
Gabriel felt as though the floor shifted.
"What?"
"Not forever. She said only if something happened to her."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because nothing made sense. She was terrified, but she wouldn't tell me why. Then she died."
"And you stayed."
"I couldn't leave the children."
"Where is the money?"
"Untouched. In a bank account."
Detective Shaw asked, "Did Mrs. Mercer leave any message?"
Nora nodded slowly.
"One sentence."
Gabriel waited.
"She said, if they tell Gabriel I was paranoid, tell him to look behind the fireplace."
Gabriel stared at her.
The fireplace.
Lily had been standing beside it when she recorded the stroller.
Gabriel turned and left the study.
Everyone followed.
He crossed the foyer and stopped in front of the enormous marble fireplace.
For years, it had been decorative.
Julia hated using it.
She said the smoke bothered Lily.
Gabriel ran his hand along the carved white stone.
Nothing.
He checked the side.
Nothing.
Then Lily's voice came from the staircase.
"Mom used to touch that lion."
Gabriel looked up.
Lily stood halfway down the stairs.
Mrs. Parker was behind her.
"What lion?"
Lily pointed.
A carved stone lion decorated the lower-right side of the fireplace.
"Mom always pressed its eye."
Gabriel crouched.
He pressed the stone eye.
Click.
A narrow panel opened beside the fireplace.
Nobody spoke.
Inside was a black envelope.
Gabriel removed it.
His name was written on the front in Julia's handwriting.
His hands began to shake.
He opened the envelope.
There was no letter.
Only a brass key.
And a photograph.
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
It had been taken inside Mercer House.
Julia stood near the upstairs nursery.
Behind her was Caroline.
But Caroline was not the person Gabriel noticed.
A man stood in the distant hallway.
His face was partially turned toward the camera.
Gabriel recognized him immediately.
Malcolm Mercer.
His father's older brother.
The chairman of the Mercer Family Trust.
The man who had sworn at Julia's funeral that he had not visited the mansion in more than a year.
Gabriel turned the photograph over.
May you like
Three words were written on the back.
HE WAS HERE.
