Chapter 12 - Box 314)
The bank manager did not want to open Box 314.
Daniel arrived with Detective Ramirez, a court order and Richard Mercer's brass key.
Still, the manager made three phone calls.
The third went to Evelyn.
Daniel could hear her voice through the office wall.
Ten minutes later two attorneys arrived.
Then another.
Ramirez finally said, "Open the box, or I will have the entire vault sealed pending investigation."
The manager opened it.
Box 314 was almost empty.
Inside lay a cassette tape.
A sealed letter.
A silver bracelet.
And a birth certificate.
Daniel picked up the certificate.
David Richard Mercer.
Born seven minutes after Daniel James Mercer.
No death certificate.
No notation.
Nothing explaining what happened after age six.
Claire held the silver bracelet.
Inside was an engraving.
D and D.
Daniel remembered.
"Our father gave us these."
He checked his wrist unconsciously.
His bracelet was gone.
He had not thought about it in decades.
The cassette tape was taken into evidence.
Later that afternoon Ramirez allowed Daniel and Claire to listen to a digital copy.
Richard Mercer's voice filled the small interview room.
"If you are hearing this, I failed."
Daniel closed his eyes.
He had forgotten the exact sound of his father's voice.
It almost broke him.
Richard continued.
"Thomas is dead. I no longer believe it was an accident."
A pause.
"Evelyn has taken control of the voting shares through forged transfers. Rebecca knows. She has agreed to help me preserve evidence."
Daniel looked at Claire.
The recording continued.
"David survived the lake."
Daniel gripped the table.
"Evelyn pushed him."
Claire covered her mouth.
Richard's voice shook.
"Daniel saw it."
Daniel stopped breathing.
The lake returned.
Not as a memory fragment.
As a scene.
David on the dock.
Evelyn gripping his arm.
David shouting.
A sudden movement.
Water.
Richard running.
Daniel screaming.
Evelyn saying, "He slipped."
But Daniel knew.
He had seen her hands.
Richard continued on the recording.
"I told Evelyn David died because I believed she would try again. I moved him into temporary care under another identity."
Daniel whispered, "Where?"
The recording answered.
"Only Rebecca and I know where."
Then Richard said something unexpected.
"But Rebecca cannot be trusted with Daniel."
Claire frowned.
Why?
"She has begun to believe Daniel benefited from what happened to her father. He did not. He is a child."
Daniel stared at the speaker.
"David is angry. Rebecca encourages that anger."
Richard's voice became weaker.
"If I die, the boys must not be reunited until they are old enough to understand what Evelyn did."
A click.
Then another voice.
A boy.
Daniel's eyes widened.
"Dad?"
David.
Richard answered in the background.
"Go back upstairs."
"Is Danny coming?"
Daniel pressed both hands over his mouth.
The child continued.
"You said Danny can come."
The tape stopped.
Daniel began crying.
Not quietly.
Claire held him.
For thirty years he had believed himself an only child.
For twenty seven he had believed his father dead before any chance of goodbye.
Now he had heard both of them together.
Waiting for him.
"She took my whole life," Daniel whispered.
Claire held him tighter.
"She took both of you."
Ramirez returned.
"There is another recording on the tape."
Daniel wiped his face.
"Play it."
This one was dated two months later.
Richard sounded frightened.
"Evelyn has found the house."
Daniel sat upright.
"Rebecca moved David this morning."
A door slammed in the recording.
Richard lowered his voice.
"If something happens to me, the second location is connected to the name Rosewood."
Static.
Then:
"David must never believe Daniel abandoned him."
Static again.
"Rebecca promised me."
The tape ended.
Daniel stared at Ramirez.
"Rosewood."
"We're searching."
Claire asked, "What about the letter?"
Ramirez handed it over.
Richard had addressed it to Daniel.
Son,
If you are old enough to read this, then I was not able to repair what I broke.
You and David were never meant to be separated.
I chose secrecy because I was afraid.
Fear can protect a child for one night and damage him for a lifetime.
Do not repeat my mistake.
When you learn the truth, choose the people who love you without requiring you to become smaller.
That is family.
Daniel could not continue reading.
Claire finished silently.
At the bottom, one sentence had been written later in different ink.
Rebecca knows more than she will admit.
That evening Daniel called Evelyn.
Claire tried to stop him.
He shook his head.
"I need to hear her answer."
Evelyn picked up immediately.
"Daniel."
"Did you push David into the lake?"
Silence.
Daniel repeated it.
"Did you push my brother?"
Evelyn's voice changed.
"Who told you that?"
"My father."
Another silence.
Then Evelyn whispered, "Your father was weak."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"That isn't a denial."
"He chose David over this family."
"He was six."
"He was uncontrollable."
"He was six."
"He would have destroyed everything."
Daniel's hands began shaking.
"You tried to kill a six year old because he wouldn't obey you."
"I did not try to kill him."
"What did you do?"
"He was screaming. I grabbed him."
"And?"
"He pulled away."
"And?"
"He fell."
Daniel remembered the push.
"You shoved him."
"No."
"I saw you."
Evelyn stopped speaking.
Daniel continued.
"I was there."
"You were a child."
"I saw you."
"Daniel."
"You made me forget him."
"I protected you."
"You erased him."
"I saved you from becoming like him."
Daniel looked at Claire.
"What was wrong with him?"
Evelyn answered with chilling certainty.
"He hated me."
Daniel's voice broke.
"He was six."
Evelyn said nothing.
Daniel whispered, "Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"For once, I am not."
The line went quiet.
Then Evelyn spoke again.
"But if David has found you, protect Lily."
Daniel froze.
"Why?"
May you like
"Because your brother never forgave you."
The call ended.
