Chapter 9 - The Assistant Who Watched for Ten Years
Marcus Pike was Raymond Pike’s son.
Julian claimed he did not know when he hired him.
Clara did not believe that.
“You hired the son of the officer who falsified my father’s death investigation?”
“I didn’t know.”
“He worked beside you for ten years.”
“I knew his mother’s surname was Reed.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I never knew Raymond had a son.”
“Apparently everyone in your life has a secret family.”
Julian ignored the insult.
“When Marcus applied, his background checks were clean.”
“Because Pike altered them?”
“Possibly.”
“Why would Marcus spend ten years near you?”
Julian’s voice went quiet.
“Revenge.”
“For what?”
“His mother died.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara ended the call.
She was tired of that sentence.
She contacted Agent Cole.
He confirmed Marcus Reed was born Marcus Daniel Pike.
His legal name changed at seventeen after his parents divorced.
Raymond Pike had never disclosed the relationship to Mercer Meridian.
“Where is Marcus?”
“We’re searching.”
“Do you think he moved the money?”
“Possible.”
“Why frame me?”
“Maybe he isn’t.”
Clara frowned.
“Eighty million is being pushed into an account carrying my name.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds like framing.”
“Unless someone is trying to restore assets to the legal owner.”
Clara stared.
“The legal owner being me.”
“Possibly.”
“But why during a federal raid?”
“To make seizure difficult.”
She understood.
If money remained in Julian’s corporate accounts, investigators could freeze it as suspected criminal proceeds.
If moved into Crescent, which legally belonged to Clara on paper, someone might be trying to force the government to examine ownership.
Risky.
But clever.
“Marcus?”
Cole nodded.
“Could be.”
“And Charles?”
“Could be coordinating.”
“Or competing.”
“Yes.”
Clara looked at the photograph of Helena.
“Find her.”
“We are.”
Agent Cole studied her.
“Mrs. Mercer, your family history is now directly tied to an active organized financial-crime investigation.”
“I noticed.”
“You need protection.”
“I’m already in a guarded hotel.”
“I mean long term.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“I spent twelve years being protected by lies.”
Cole said nothing.
“I want information.”
“We’ll give you what we can.”
“Then start with Marcus’s mother.”
Cole hesitated.
“Diane Reed.”
“How did she die?”
“Overdose.”
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
“What drug?”
“Prescription opioids.”
“Was she an addict?”
“Medical history says no.”
Clara’s instincts sharpened.
“What did she do for work?”
Cole looked at his notes.
“Bookkeeper.”
Clara’s pulse jumped.
“For whom?”
Cole’s expression changed as he understood.
“Westbridge Compliance.”
Clara leaned back.
Her father’s forensic accounting firm.
Marcus’s mother had worked with Thomas.
“She knew my father.”
“Possibly.”
“Not possibly.”
Clara stood.
“She did.”
Daniel called minutes later.
He had found archived payroll.
Diane Reed had been Thomas Ellison’s project administrator during the North Meridian investigation.
She managed his files.
His appointments.
And his evidence logs.
“She knew about the ledger,” Clara said.
“Almost certainly.”
“Did she work the night before he died?”
“Yes.”
“Did she schedule the meeting with C.M.?”
“We’re checking.”
“Marcus grew up watching his mother become involved in this.”
“Yes.”
“If she died because of it…”
“Then he could have spent ten years infiltrating Julian’s company.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“And we invited him to Thanksgiving.”
Daniel sighed.
“That’s the problem with infiltration. Good ones become part of your life.”
Clara thought about Marcus sending her flowers after her miscarriage.
Was that manipulation?
Guilt?
Compassion?
She no longer knew.
An hour later, Agent Cole received a call.
Marcus had been found.
Not arrested.
He walked into the United States Attorney’s Office in Manhattan voluntarily.
He carried a laptop.
Three hard drives.
And a black leather case.
Clara’s father’s case.
Daniel joined a secure video call from New York.
Marcus appeared on screen.
Clara barely recognized him.
No suit.
Unshaven.
Exhausted.
“Hello, Clara.”
Her throat tightened.
“Where did you get my father’s case?”
“My mother.”
“Pike gave it to her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She demanded it.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew what Raymond had done.”
Marcus looked down.
“My father was not hired to kill Thomas.”
“Who was?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara almost shouted.
Instead, she forced herself calm.
“What happened?”
“My father got a call that night telling him to report to an accident before dispatch officially assigned it.”
“From who?”
“A private number.”
“He arrived early.”
“Yes.”
“Was my father alive?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Yes.”
Clara looked away from the screen.
She had known intellectually.
Hearing it from someone connected to Pike made it unbearable.
“How alive?”
“He was conscious.”
“Did he speak?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Marcus’s eyes filled.
“Tell Clara I’m sorry.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Daniel looked down.
Even Agent Cole turned away for a moment.
Clara forced herself to continue.
“What happened next?”
“A second man arrived.”
“Who?”
“My father refused to tell me.”
“Did that man kill him?”
“Raymond says he left for three minutes to move his patrol car.”
“And when he returned?”
“Thomas was dead.”
Clara’s voice broke.
“How?”
“Injection.”
“What kind?”
“My mother believed potassium chloride.”
Clara closed her eyes.
A substance that could cause cardiac arrest.
Potentially difficult to detect after a traumatic crash, especially if nobody looked carefully.
“Why stage the crash?”
“To make it appear he died from injuries.”
“Who paid your father?”
Marcus looked ashamed.
“Edward Mercer.”
Julian’s father.
Clara stared.
“Edward ordered my father’s murder?”
“No.”
“You just said he paid Pike.”
“To alter evidence. Not kill Thomas.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward believed Charles killed him.”
The room went silent.
Marcus continued.
“But my mother didn’t believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas left her something.”
“What?”
Marcus lifted the black leather case.
“He hid a recording inside the lining.”
Clara leaned forward.
“Play it.”
Marcus opened the case.
Removed a hidden digital recorder.
Pressed a button.
Thomas’s voice filled the room.
“If anything happens to me, Charles Mercer is not the man you should fear.”
Static.
Then:
“The person controlling the accounts is someone Edward trusts completely.”
Clara held her breath.
May you like
Thomas continued.
“And if I am right, that person has been inside the Mercer family longer than Julian has been alive.”
