Chapter 8 - The House Behind the Green Gate)
For the first time since the garden party, Evelyn Mercer became afraid.
She did not show it publicly.
Publicly, she attended a charity board meeting in a navy suit.
She smiled for photographers.
She released a statement expressing concern for her granddaughter.
Privately, she fired three members of her household staff.
She replaced the estate security company.
She changed the code on her private office.
And at 2:10 in the morning, she drove away from the mansion without a driver.
Detective Ramirez knew because police had begun reviewing traffic cameras connected to Margaret's disappearance.
Evelyn drove north.
Forty two miles.
She turned onto a rural road.
Then disappeared from public cameras for almost two hours.
When she returned, mud covered the tires of her car.
Daniel learned this because Ramirez visited him the next morning.
"We cannot tell you everything."
"Then why tell me that?"
"Because I need to know if your family owns property north of Pine County."
Daniel thought.
"No."
Claire looked at him.
"What about companies?"
"Probably dozens."
"Any houses?"
Daniel shook his head.
Ramirez opened a map.
"Does this area mean anything?"
A river.
Forest.
Several old farms.
Daniel stared.
Then remembered.
"My father used to take me fishing near there."
Ramirez looked interested.
"Where?"
"I don't remember."
"Try."
Daniel closed his eyes.
A memory surfaced.
His father driving.
A green metal gate.
A white farmhouse.
A wooden dock.
Another man laughing beside a boat.
Thomas Hartwell.
Daniel opened his eyes.
"There was a house."
"Who owned it?"
"Hartwell."
Claire leaned forward.
"Rebecca's father."
Daniel nodded.
Ramirez wrote the location.
"Can you identify it?"
"Maybe."
Two hours later, police found the property.
The farmhouse had been abandoned for years.
The green gate remained.
So did the dock.
No one found Margaret.
But inside the house, detectives discovered something that connected three decades of Mercer family history.
Boxes.
Hundreds of them.
Company records.
Letters.
Old account books.
Legal files.
Most belonged to Thomas Hartwell.
Daniel was allowed to see several documents after investigators photographed them.
One letter from Thomas to Richard Mercer was dated 1997.
Evelyn says we should merge the voting shares under one temporary holding company. I do not trust the arrangement. If something happens to either of us before the shares are returned, our children must be protected.
Daniel's hands shook.
Another document listed heirs.
Daniel Mercer.
Rebecca Hartwell.
Equal beneficiaries.
Claire looked at Daniel.
"You were supposed to own the company together."
"Apparently."
"What happened to Rebecca?"
Daniel searched.
There were records of private school tuition paid until 2001.
Then nothing.
Ramirez entered the room.
"We located her."
"Rebecca?"
"Yes."
Daniel stood.
"Where?"
"She changed her name."
"To what?"
Ramirez paused.
"Margaret Sloan."
The room seemed to tilt.
Daniel sat again.
"No."
"Margaret was born Rebecca Anne Hartwell."
Claire stared.
"She worked for Evelyn for twenty nine years."
Ramirez nodded.
"She started shortly after her father's death."
"Why would she change her name?"
"We don't know."
Daniel thought of Margaret sitting outside Evelyn's office.
Scheduling meetings.
Managing accounts.
Protecting secrets.
For nearly three decades.
If she was Thomas Hartwell's daughter, half of the original family company may have belonged to her.
Yet she had spent her adult life serving the woman who controlled it.
Claire whispered, "Maybe she wasn't working for Evelyn."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"Maybe she was waiting."
Ramirez's phone rang.
She stepped away.
Daniel paced.
"Why give me my father's note now?"
Claire answered.
"Because something changed."
"Lily."
"Or the trust amendment."
Daniel looked toward the boxes.
His mother's sudden attempt to restructure the trust.
His father's warning.
Margaret's identity.
The balloons.
Everything connected.
Ramirez returned.
Her expression was different.
"We found someone at the property."
Daniel stopped.
"Margaret?"
"No."
"Victor?"
Ramirez nodded.
Victor Hale had been discovered in a small storage building behind the farmhouse.
Alive.
Weak.
Dehydrated.
One wrist bruised where it had apparently been restrained.
He had been missing for four days.
Daniel stared.
"Who put him there?"
"He hasn't given a full statement."
"Why not?"
"Because he keeps asking for Evelyn."
Claire's face hardened.
"Why?"
Ramirez looked at her.
"He says Evelyn is in danger."
Daniel laughed once.
"From whom?"
Victor had answered that question at the hospital.
Ramirez repeated the words exactly.
"From Margaret."
Daniel looked toward the boxes containing thirty years of secrets.
"Margaret tied balloons to my daughter."
"Yes."
"But my mother ordered her to scare Lily."
"According to the recording."
"And Victor thinks Margaret is the dangerous one."
Ramirez nodded.
Claire folded her arms.
"Then one of them is lying."
"No," Ramirez said.
"Not necessarily."
Daniel looked at her.
Ramirez continued.
"Sometimes two people can both be dangerous for different reasons."
Before anyone could respond, an officer entered carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a photograph found in one of Thomas Hartwell's boxes.
Two little boys stood beside a lake.
Daniel recognized himself immediately.
He was six.
The second boy appeared the same age.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
On the back, Richard Mercer had written four words.
My sons at Pine Lake.
Daniel read the sentence again.
"My sons."
May you like
Claire stared at the photograph.
Daniel had been told his entire life that he was an only child.
