Chapter 19 - The First Office
The first Mercer Catering office stood behind an abandoned shopping center thirty miles south of Austin.
Elena had not visited it in more than three decades.
The narrow building once contained two desks, a test kitchen and a storage room where Richard slept during their busiest months. Elena remembered signing payroll checks on an overturned produce crate because they could not afford proper furniture.
The property now belonged to Alder Crest Residential Partners.
The same company attempting to take Nora Bell’s home.
Martin obtained emergency legal access through the fraud investigation. Police officers entered first, followed by Elena, Clara, Victor and Garrick.
The building smelled of dust and damp wood.
The old office floor had been covered with newer vinyl tiles. Beneath them, workers found the original boards.
Elena identified the spot where her desk once stood.
A metal container had been secured beneath the floor.
Inside were property records, photographs, bank statements and a thick black ledger.
Clara opened it carefully.
The first pages documented payments made by Conrad Pierce’s companies. The later pages contained names Elena recognized from hospitals, law firms and charities.
Several were still respected public figures.
Near the center was a section labeled Mercer Succession.
Garrick’s name appeared beside a series of dates beginning when he was nineteen. The entries tracked his university debts, business proposals, investors and failed companies.
Someone had documented his life for years.
Below his name appeared Matthew Bell, Nora’s son.
Then seven other adult children connected to owners on the list from the postal-store envelope.
“They didn’t only target older people,” Elena said. “They selected the relatives most likely to betray them.”
Victor turned the final pages.
One sheet had been torn out recently.
Dust around the metal container showed that someone had opened it before them.
A low alarm sounded outside.
Martin checked his phone.
A demolition permit had been activated that morning. Heavy equipment was approaching the building despite the court order.
Police cleared the office while Martin contacted the city.
During the confusion, a worker wearing an Alder Crest jacket entered through the rear door, seized the metal container and escaped through the neighboring building.
The ledger disappeared.
But Garrick had photographed every visible page before the alarm.
That evening, they enlarged the images at the center.
One authorization appeared repeatedly beside fraudulent property transfers.
The digital signature belonged to Clara Vaughn.
Some documents had been filed only two months earlier.
Clara stared at her own name.
May you like
“Someone isn’t merely using Richard and Garrick,” she said.
“They’re using me now.”
