Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Had Worked for the Family for Twenty Nine Years)
Margaret Sloan had attended Daniel's high school graduation.
She had arranged flowers for his father's funeral.
She remembered his first office.
She sent Claire a card when Lily was born.
Daniel had trusted her more than almost anyone connected to his mother.
So when Noah said her name, Daniel's first reaction was disbelief.
"You're wrong."
"I saw her."
"Show me."
Noah inserted the flash drive into Daniel's laptop.
The video began at 11:41 Saturday morning.
The garden was nearly empty.
Workers moved tables.
Catering staff carried trays.
At 11:47, Margaret entered the frame.
She wore a gray dress and sunglasses.
She stopped beside the balloons.
Looked around.
Then bent down.
Claire leaned closer.
Margaret's body blocked part of the camera.
When she stood, she held something black.
The balloon weight.
She placed it inside a gardening bag.
Then she took the strings.
Worked on them.
And walked away.
Claire whispered, "Why?"
Daniel watched the clip again.
At 12:09 another person appeared.
Evelyn.
She examined the balloons.
Looked toward the mansion.
Then left.
No contact with the strings.
No reaction.
Claire felt anger and confusion collide inside her.
"Could Margaret have acted on Evelyn's instructions?"
Noah nodded.
"Absolutely."
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
"The text."
Claire looked at him.
"What text?"
Daniel had not told her what Victor claimed to see.
He explained.
Claire stared.
"The girl was never supposed to fall."
"According to Victor."
"So Evelyn knew something was planned."
"Maybe."
Noah shifted uncomfortably.
"There's more footage."
Daniel pressed play.
At 12:25, Lily entered the garden holding Claire's hand.
At 12:31, photographs began.
At 12:44 Claire stepped away because Evelyn asked her to greet an elderly donor.
Lily wandered toward the dessert table.
Margaret appeared behind her.
She crouched.
Took the balloon strings.
Wrapped the loop around Lily's wrist.
Claire stopped the video.
"No."
Daniel looked at her.
"I can't watch this."
He closed the laptop.
Noah spoke softly.
"Mrs. Mercer was across the lawn."
"Watching?"
"Yes."
Claire looked up.
"Did she stop Margaret?"
"No."
That answer mattered more than anything else.
Even if Evelyn had not tied the balloons, she had watched.
She had allowed it.
"What happened immediately after Lily fell?" Daniel asked.
Noah opened another file.
The camera angle widened.
Claire ran.
Guests gathered.
Evelyn approached.
Margaret did not.
She walked quickly toward the house.
Ten seconds later she disappeared through a side entrance.
Daniel stood.
"I'm calling her."
Noah grabbed his wrist.
"Don't."
Daniel stared at him.
Noah released him.
"Sorry. But she might destroy whatever she has left."
Daniel looked at Claire.
Claire understood.
"Victor."
"What about him?"
"He saw Evelyn send that message. Maybe he knows what Margaret was supposed to do."
Daniel called Victor Hale.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
A third time.
Straight to voicemail.
Daniel left a message.
"Victor, call me. Now."
Claire paced.
"Why would Margaret hurt Lily?"
Daniel said nothing.
Then he remembered the note Margaret had given him.
His father's warning.
The Hartwell shares.
He went upstairs and retrieved the photocopy.
Claire read it.
"What are these?"
"I still don't know."
Noah looked at the handwriting.
"Can I say something?"
Daniel nodded.
"The staff talked about your father's company."
"What did they say?"
"That your mother didn't really build all of it."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Who said that?"
"Older employees."
"What exactly?"
"That there were two families in the beginning."
Claire looked at the note again.
"Mercer and Hartwell."
Noah nodded.
Daniel sat down.
His father, Richard Mercer, had founded Mercer Industrial with a college friend named Thomas Hartwell.
Daniel knew that.
Everyone did.
But he had been told Hartwell sold his portion years before Richard died.
After Richard's death, Evelyn took control.
By the time Daniel was twenty, Mercer Industrial had become Mercer Holdings.
The Hartwell name disappeared.
Claire searched the internet.
"Thomas Hartwell died in 1998."
"How?"
"Car accident."
Daniel looked sharply at her.
"My father died in 1999."
They stared at each other.
Claire continued reading.
"Thomas had a daughter. Rebecca Hartwell."
"What happened to her?"
"I don't know."
Noah looked toward the window.
A black sedan had stopped across the street.
He went pale.
"That's them."
Daniel stood.
"Who?"
"Mercer security."
Claire looked.
Two men sat in the front seats.
They did not exit.
They simply watched the house.
Daniel closed the laptop.
"How did they know you're here?"
Noah looked frightened.
"I left my phone in my car."
Claire whispered, "They tracked you."
Daniel opened a drawer and removed a spare key.
"Go through the garage."
Noah handed him the flash drive.
"Keep that safe."
"What about you?"
"I'll call the police."
He hurried toward the garage.
Before leaving, he turned.
"Mr. Mercer."
Daniel looked at him.
"Margaret was crying when she tied those balloons to Lily."
Daniel said nothing.
Noah continued.
"She kept looking toward the house."
Claire felt a chill.
"Like someone was watching her?"
Noah nodded.
"Like someone was making sure she did it."
Then he was gone.
Daniel waited until the garage door closed.
The black sedan remained across the street.
Claire held the flash drive in one hand and Richard Mercer's old note in the other.
"What if this isn't about Lily?"
Daniel looked at his wife.
"What do you mean?"
"What if Lily was only the way to control you?"
Daniel's face slowly changed.
Upstairs, Lily began crying from her nap.
Claire immediately ran toward the stairs.
Daniel stayed behind.
He opened his father's note again.
Evelyn must never control the Hartwell shares.
May you like
For twenty seven years, Daniel had believed his father had left him a fortune.
For the first time, he wondered whether his father had actually left him a warning.
