Chapter 8 - elaine’s account)
Elaine stepped from her car carrying a banker’s box.
She looked twenty years older than she had at the funeral.
Dean opened the passenger door of his SUV.
“Mrs. Farwell.”
“Leave.”
Dean smiled.
“We have an arrangement.”
“Not anymore.”
His expression changed.
Elaine walked past him.
“Nora. Gerald. Inside.”
Calvin said, “This is an active crime scene.”
Elaine looked at him.
“Your father used to say the same thing right before he ignored a warrant.”
Calvin went still.
“You knew my father.”
“I knew everyone.”
Inside the kitchen, Elaine placed the banker’s box on the table.
Marcus reached for it.
She slapped his hand away.
“You have touched enough.”
Nora almost smiled.
Elaine sat.
“I am going to tell you something once. After that, you can hate me however you choose.”
Nora remained standing.
“Start with Evelyn.”
Elaine closed her eyes briefly.
“Evelyn Mercer was my friend.”
That surprised Nora more than enemy would have.
“We met at Farwell Equipment. She was smarter than everyone there and knew it.”
“Sounds terrible.”
Elaine ignored the comment.
“Samuel noticed her because she corrected a pricing model he had built.”
“Were you married to Dad then?”
“Engaged.”
Nora felt the first stab of an old wound.
“Did he cheat with her?”
“No.”
“Then why am I her daughter?”
Elaine looked at Marcus.
“Your father was not your biological father either.”
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Elaine said, “Samuel could not have children.”
Nobody spoke.
Marcus laughed.
Once.
Then again.
“You’re insane.”
“It was confirmed before our wedding.”
“So whose kid am I?”
Elaine’s voice trembled.
“You were adopted privately.”
Marcus’s face emptied.
Nora whispered, “And me?”
“Evelyn became pregnant by Daniel. Their marriage was violent.”
Nora sat.
“Daniel Mercer.”
“Yes.”
“She wanted out.”
Elaine nodded.
“She was already helping Samuel identify money Raymond was moving through the company.”
“Your brother.”
“Yes.”
“Was he stealing?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Elaine rubbed her hands.
“Raymond discovered something bigger than theft.”
Nora waited.
“Land.”
“Northstar?”
“Yes.”
Elaine pointed toward the floor.
“Everything surrounding Hawthorne Ridge used to be nearly worthless farmland. In the late eighties, Samuel learned the state intended to route a major transportation and utilities corridor through the county.”
Nora frowned.
“Inside information?”
“Not exactly. Preliminary plans. Public eventually, but not yet reflected in land values.”
“Dad bought parcels.”
“Samuel, Raymond, Evelyn, and three investors did.”
“Through Northstar.”
“Yes.”
“Then what went wrong?”
“Raymond borrowed against his interest. Then forged Evelyn’s authorization to borrow against hers.”
Nora understood.
“And Evelyn discovered it.”
“She discovered more.”
Elaine opened the banker’s box.
Inside were photocopied ledgers.
Nora recognized Samuel’s organization.
“Why do you have these?”
“Because I removed them last night.”
Marcus swore.
Nora stared.
“You broke into the basement?”
“It was my house for forty-one years.”
“Not legally.”
Elaine looked away.
“Why?”
“To keep Dean from getting them.”
“Dean works for you.”
“No. Dean works for whoever pays him.”
“He said he came on your behalf.”
“I hired him three months ago to help Marcus restructure his debts.”
Marcus stared.
“You hired Dean?”
“I tried to stop your lenders from breaking your legs.”
“That’s comforting.”
Nora asked, “Why did Dean want the ledgers?”
“Because Crown Meridian wants them.”
“Who is Crown Meridian?”
Elaine’s face tightened.
“I don’t know who controls it now.”
“But you knew who controlled it then.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Elaine looked toward Gerald.
He sat very still.
Nora followed her gaze.
“No.”
Gerald removed his glasses.
Elaine whispered, “Gerald’s father.”
Gerald said nothing.
Nora stared at him.
“You knew.”
“I knew my father invested with Samuel.”
“Not what I asked.”
Gerald looked suddenly tired.
“My father, Henry Whitmore, founded Crown Meridian.”
Marcus stood.
“This entire town is incestuous.”
Nora barely heard him.
She looked at Elaine.
“What happened to Evelyn?”
Elaine opened an envelope inside the box.
Removed a police report.
“Evelyn discovered Raymond had pledged her land interest to Crown Meridian. Gerald’s father threatened foreclosure. Samuel tried to buy the debt.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn disappeared first.”
Nora’s throat tightened.
“And the crash?”
Elaine shook her head.
“There was a crash.”
“With her body?”
“There was a body.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Elaine looked at Nora.
“The woman in the car was not Evelyn.”
Nora felt the table beneath her fingers.
“Who was she?”
“Nobody knows.”
Marcus whispered, “Jesus.”
Nora said, “You knew she survived.”
“For a while.”
“For how long?”
Elaine hesitated.
“Six years.”
Nora stopped breathing.
Elaine continued.
“She contacted me in 1998.”
Nora stood so quickly the chair tipped over.
“I was six.”
“Yes.”
“She was alive when I was six.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“She told me not to.”
Nora laughed in disbelief.
“Convenient.”
“She believed Daniel was looking for her.”
“My biological father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she had proof connecting him to Raymond and Crown Meridian.”
Nora stared.
“Daniel was involved?”
Elaine nodded.
“Daniel was the one who arranged her death certificate.”
The kitchen became silent.
Nora asked the next question carefully.
“Is Daniel Mercer alive?”
Elaine looked at Calvin Pike.
Calvin had gone pale.
Elaine answered.
“I don’t know.”
Calvin whispered, “I do.”
Everyone turned.
He reached into his pocket.
Removed his phone.
Displayed a photograph taken three weeks earlier.
An older man leaving a restaurant.
Nora recognized the eyes immediately.
Her own eyes.
May you like
“Daniel Mercer is alive,” Calvin said.
“And yesterday, he arrived in Bellweather.”
