Chapter 11 - The Man Without a Photograph
Richard arrived at Hawthorne that evening.
He entered through the service gate to avoid the reporters, carrying a worn leather envelope.
“I found this in my London safe,” he told Clara.
The envelope contained fragments of the documents Victor had ordered him to destroy.
Most were damaged by fire, but several names remained visible.
Anna Mercer.
Adrian Mercer.
Evelyn Vale.
And one title:
MERCER PROTECTION AGREEMENT.
Daniel arranged the fragments beneath a glass cover.
“This appears to be a private witness-protection arrangement funded by Henry.”
“Protection from whom?” Clara asked.
Richard looked toward Victor’s locked study.
“From my father.”
Margaret sat beside the library window.
“Anna discovered that Victor’s theft was larger than Henry knew. It involved government contracts and false companies.”
“Why protect Adrian?” Clara asked.
“Because he saw something.”
“How old was he?”
“Eight or nine.”
Clara looked at the amended birth certificate.
If Adrian had been nine when Henry died, he would now be twenty-eight.
Elise had been thirty when she died.
Their connection was possible.
“Did Elise ever mention him to you?” Richard asked.
“Never.”
“She may have been protecting him.”
Clara thought of Elise’s fear. Her insistence that Lily never be taken to Hawthorne. Her secret meetings and unexplained trips during the year before her death.
Daniel received a message.
“The registry found a photograph attached to the sealed amendment.”
He opened the secure file.
The image showed Elise standing beside a tall man near a coastal cliff. His face was turned away from the camera. He held newborn Lily in his arms.
On his wrist was a tattoo of three birds.
Clara enlarged the image.
A date had been printed in the corner.
Five years earlier.
“He existed,” Margaret whispered.
Richard stared at the photograph.
“I have seen him.”
“Where?” Clara asked.
“At Vale Meridian headquarters. Catherine introduced him as a security consultant.”
The library doors opened.
The estate security director entered.
“We found Dr. Trent.”
“Where?”
“In an empty cottage near the lake. He is asking to speak with Ms. Bennett.”
Clara followed the director across the grounds.
Dr. Trent sat inside the cottage with two officers. Mud covered his expensive shoes, and one sleeve of his coat was torn.
He looked terrified.
“I did not intend to harm the child.”
“You abducted her.”
“Catherine told me the transfer had been authorized.”
“You created false medical records under my name.”
“She threatened me.”
“With what?”
Trent looked toward the officers.
“I want legal protection.”
Daniel entered behind Clara.
“You may receive consideration if you provide evidence.”
Trent took a small drive from his pocket.
“I copied everything.”
“Everything about what?”
“The false reports. Elise’s medication. Victor’s cognitive assessment.”
Clara’s eyes narrowed.
“You falsified a report against Victor too?”
“At Catherine’s request.”
Victor and Catherine had each used Trent against the other.
“Did you change Elise’s medication?”
“No. I discovered it after she collapsed.”
“Who did?”
“I never saw the person. Catherine brought me the replacement bottle and told me to destroy it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because there was a label beneath the pharmacy label.”
He opened a photograph on his phone.
The hidden label belonged to a private clinic.
MERCER COASTAL MEDICAL CENTER.
Clara showed him the photograph of the man holding Lily.
“Do you recognize him?”
Trent’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“He called himself Adrian Mercer.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was he treating Elise?”
“No.”
Trent looked at Lily’s birth certificate.
“He was the patient.”
Clara frowned.
“What patient?”
Trent swallowed.
“The medication in Elise’s bottle was not meant for her. It was prescribed to Adrian Mercer.”
“Why?”
May you like
Trent stared at the floor.
“Because he had been in a medically induced coma for nearly six years.”
