Chapter 9 - The Guest Who Never Missed Christmas)
Adrian's family had hosted the same Christmas dinner for years.
Parents.
Rebecca.
Claire.
Friends.
Business partners.
Martin.
Occasionally Graham Voss.
Vanessa attended twice.
There were dozens of possibilities.
Vanessa refused to say more until she was placed under police protection.
Detective Hayes was furious.
"You don't negotiate after admitting you participated in financial crimes."
Vanessa stared back.
"You want the person who shot at me?"
"Yes."
"Then keep me alive."
Adrian had no sympathy for her.
But he wanted the truth.
Vanessa was moved to a secure interview room.
There, she explained the beginning.
At twenty-three, she worked at a struggling event company.
Debt consumed her.
Her younger sister needed expensive legal help.
Graham Voss offered money.
All Vanessa had to do was befriend Claire.
"At first, it was information," Vanessa said.
"Addresses. Meetings. Copies of paperwork."
"You invaded my wife's life for money."
"Yes."
"And then you became her friend."
Vanessa looked down.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
Adrian felt anger rise.
"You don't get to mourn her."
"I know."
Vanessa's voice broke anyway.
"Claire was kind to me when she didn't have to be."
"But you kept spying."
"I tried to stop."
"You married your way toward her daughter's trust."
"We never married."
"You would have."
Vanessa looked at him.
"Yes."
No excuse.
Just yes.
It made Adrian hate her more.
Vanessa explained that after Claire died, Martin took control.
He told Vanessa she was already implicated.
If she left, he would blame Claire's death on her.
So Vanessa stayed close to Adrian.
At first out of fear.
Then greed.
The distinction mattered little.
"What about Lily?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Adrian's voice became colder.
"What did you do to my daughter?"
"I never seriously injured her."
"That is not an answer."
"I got angry."
"With a baby."
"I know."
"Why?"
Vanessa struggled.
"Because every time I looked at her, I saw Claire."
Adrian stood.
Hayes watched him carefully.
Vanessa continued.
"And because Martin kept telling me Lily was the reason I couldn't get free."
"So you punished her."
Vanessa whispered, "Yes."
Adrian turned toward the door.
"Adrian."
He stopped.
"Nothing I say fixes it."
"No."
"But Claire's killer is still free."
He turned.
Vanessa gave them the name.
"Thomas Mercer."
Adrian stared.
His father.
Thomas Mercer was sixty-four.
Retired surgeon.
Philanthropist.
Widower.
The man who taught Adrian to ride a bicycle.
The man who held Lily in the hospital the day she was born.
The man Claire called Dad long before the wedding.
Adrian laughed because the alternative was breaking something.
"No."
Vanessa did not blink.
"Thomas funded Voss's first investment company."
"That's public."
"He also funded Martin's firm."
"Also public."
"Ask where the first eight million dollars went after Daniel moved it."
Daniel had searched for that answer for fourteen years.
Vanessa leaned forward.
"It went into Mercer Medical Holdings."
Adrian's father's company.
Hayes immediately began verification.
Adrian called Rebecca.
"Where is Dad?"
"Why?"
"Where?"
"He took Lily for a walk."
The room disappeared.
"What?"
"Adrian?"
"When?"
"Five minutes ago."
"Rebecca, find them."
She ran.
Adrian could hear doors opening.
Then her voice changed.
"They're not in the yard."
"Call him."
"I am."
No answer.
Adrian ran out of the interview room.
Rebecca shouted through the phone.
"His car is gone."
Adrian's blood turned cold.
Vanessa stood behind the glass partition watching him.
Her face showed real fear.
Then Adrian's phone received a photograph.
Lily sat strapped into a child seat.
She was crying.
The sender was Thomas Mercer.
May you like
Below the photograph were six words.
SON, WE NEED TO TALK ALONE.
