Chapter 13 - Daniel Mercer Told the Truth Too Late
Daniel Mercer was sixty-eight years old and looked older.
Maya entered the guarded hospital room alone.
Daniel opened his eyes.
He stared at her for several seconds.
Then he whispered, “Eleanor.”
Maya stopped.
“I’m Maya.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Of course.”
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You were with her at Blackridge.”
“Yes.”
“Is she alive?”
Daniel began to cry.
Maya had expected a hardened investigator.
Instead she saw an exhausted old man.
“I don’t know.”
She moved closer.
“You wrote that she survived Blackridge.”
“She did.”
“Then what happened?”
Daniel struggled to sit.
Maya adjusted the bed.
He thanked her.
“My mother said you knew where the records were.”
“I did.”
“She said to ask what happened at Blackridge.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“Your mother came to expose Olivia.”
“Not Jonathan?”
“Jonathan was already dying.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
“Cancer. He had months left. He had agreed to testify.”
“That was never public.”
“No.”
“Who stopped him?”
“Olivia.”
Maya stared.
Daniel continued.
“Olivia wasn’t born into the Vance family.”
“I know.”
“Do you know her maiden name?”
Maya shook her head.
“Vale.”
The name meant nothing.
Daniel watched her.
“Her mother worked for William Ashbourne.”
“Doing what?”
“Personal secretary.”
Maya began understanding.
“Olivia grew up around them.”
“She grew up believing the Ashbournes owned everything that should have belonged to people like her.”
“So she stole from them?”
“At first? No.”
Daniel coughed.
“She learned where William kept secrets. Then she learned secrets were worth more than money.”
“Blackridge.”
“Yes.”
“Did she create it?”
“Not alone.”
“Who?”
“William Ashbourne built the first archive. Olivia transformed it into a business.”
Maya felt sick.
Her own grandfather had created the machine that later targeted her mother.
“Why did Mom go there that night?”
“To get Jonathan’s confession.”
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Daniel looked at her silver ring.
“The second layer.”
Maya touched it.
“What does that mean?”
“The ring opens more than the ledger room.”
“We already opened the room.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That was the first lock.”
Maya leaned closer.
“What happened after Mom got the confession?”
“Olivia arrived.”
“Richard?”
“Later.”
“Vanessa?”
“Outside.”
“What happened?”
“Olivia offered Eleanor a deal. Walk away. Keep Maya safe. Everything disappears.”
“My mother refused.”
“Yes.”
Maya almost smiled.
Of course she did.
“Then?”
“Olivia called someone.”
“Who?”
Daniel’s breathing became shallow.
“The man who frightened everyone.”
“Name him.”
Daniel looked at Maya.
“Alexander Sterling.”
Julian’s father.
Maya felt the floor shift.
“Julian told me his father was involved.”
“Julian knows pieces.”
“What pieces?”
“Enough to hate him.”
“Not enough to know this?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened when Alexander arrived?”
“He ordered Eleanor detained.”
“By whom?”
“Richard.”
Maya’s chest tightened.
“Richard touched my mother.”
“He restrained her.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“Yes.”
Maya looked away.
Daniel continued.
“I intervened. There was a fight. A gun discharged.”
“Whose blood was in Vanessa’s car?”
“Mine.”
Maya turned.
Daniel touched his side.
“Richard drove me away because he thought I was dying.”
“Why would he help you?”
“He wasn’t helping me.”
Daniel’s eyes darkened.
“He dumped me near an access road.”
Maya swallowed.
“And Mom?”
“Eleanor escaped during the confusion.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never saw her again?”
“Once.”
Maya stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Three years later.”
“Where?”
“Philadelphia.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She made me promise.”
Maya’s anger exploded.
“She let me think she was dead?”
“She believed you were being watched.”
“I was.”
“Yes.”
“By Richard.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she come for me?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Because by then you had married him.”
Maya stared.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“She let me stay with him?”
“No.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“She tried to get you out.”
“When?”
“You miscarried.”
Maya’s body went cold.
Four years earlier.
Before Lily.
She had been twelve weeks pregnant.
Richard told everyone the pregnancy had ended naturally.
Maya remembered waking in the hospital.
A nurse said someone had left a flower arrangement.
No name.
Inside it had been a card.
You deserve a life without fear.
Richard threw it away.
Maya whispered, “That was her.”
Daniel nodded.
“She planned to contact you.”
“What stopped her?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“She disappeared again.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“Because of Richard?”
“I don’t know.”
“Olivia?”
“I don’t know.”
“Alexander Sterling?”
Daniel hesitated.
“He was dead by then.”
Maya looked at him sharply.
“Then who?”
Daniel’s monitor beeped faster.
He reached weakly toward her.
“There’s someone else.”
“Who?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with fear.
“The reason I went into hiding.”
“Tell me.”
“He was a child when Blackridge began. He inherited everything without appearing in any ledger.”
“Who?”
Daniel grabbed Maya’s wrist.
“The person who paid Richard after Olivia stopped.”
Maya’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“What person?”
May you like
Daniel whispered two words.
“Ask Julian.”
