Chapter 8 - The Evidence Room
Robert took Laura to an old storage building behind his former repair shop.
She had been there hundreds of times as a child.
But she had never seen the room behind the parts shelves.
Robert unlocked a steel door.
Inside were filing cabinets, monitors, photographs, maps, and boxes.
Laura stared at him.
"What is this?"
"Protection."
"From Mark?"
Robert nodded.
"How long?"
"Almost two years."
Laura turned toward him slowly.
"Two years?"
"I needed proof."
"You knew for two years and let me sleep beside him?"
Robert flinched.
"I knew he was stealing. I didn't know how dangerous he was at first."
"You should have told me."
"You wouldn't have believed me."
"You don't know that."
"I know what happened every time I questioned him."
Laura remembered.
The arguments.
Her accusations.
The weeks of silence.
She looked away.
Robert's voice softened.
"I'm sorry."
Laura wiped her eyes.
"What exactly is he doing?"
Robert showed her.
Forgery.
Identity theft.
Fraudulent lending.
Property manipulation.
Shell companies.
Potential connections to suspicious deaths.
Then Robert showed her the searches about poison.
Laura sat down.
For several moments she said nothing.
Finally:
"Does he want you dead?"
Robert did not answer.
Laura looked at him.
"Dad."
"Yes."
She covered her face.
Robert crouched beside her.
"There are federal agents involved."
"Federal?"
"They're building a case."
"Then arrest him."
"They want the network."
"I don't care about the network."
"I know."
"I care about you being alive."
"I know."
Laura stood.
"No. You don't get to say that calmly. He researched killing you."
Robert's face hardened.
"And if they arrest him today, someone else replaces him tomorrow."
"What if he kills you tomorrow?"
Robert had no answer.
Laura paced.
Then stopped.
"Does Mark know you've been investigating?"
"We don't think so."
"You're wrong."
Robert stared.
"Why?"
"Because last night he said he would handle you."
Robert and Mercer exchanged a look.
Mercer stepped from the adjoining room.
Laura jumped.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Daniel Mercer. Federal agent."
"You were listening?"
"Yes."
Laura stared at Robert.
"You brought me into an interrogation?"
"No."
Mercer answered.
"We brought you into protection."
Laura looked at him with open hostility.
"I don't need protection. I need my husband arrested."
Mercer placed a photograph on the table.
May you like
It showed Mark meeting another man outside a pharmacy.
"Then help us prove what he intends to do."
