Chapter 10 - The Woman Behind the Unknown Number
The message contained a photograph.
A woman stood outside a seaside house, her face partly turned from the camera. She appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties, with dark hair and a posture that reminded Clarissa of Daniel.
Around her neck hung a small silver pendant shaped like an aster.
A second message followed.
Do not give the key to the bank.
Clarissa showed the phone to Agent Blake.
They traced the message to a temporary number purchased with cash. The photograph contained no usable location data.
“Someone has been following the investigation,” Blake said.
“Julian?”
“He was already in custody when the message was sent.”
“Vanessa?”
“She is with investigators.”
Clarissa looked at the image again.
“Could this be Marianne?”
“Possibly. It could also be someone trying to manipulate you.”
Miriam joined them at the federal office, carrying news from Saint Orison Bank.
Evelyn did have a deposit box numbered 317. However, it had been opened three hours after her death by someone using valid authorization.
“Who?” Clarissa asked.
“The bank is reviewing its footage.”
“Was anything left?”
“They will not say until you present the silver key and Evelyn’s authorization letter.”
Clarissa remembered the warning.
Do not give the key to the bank.
“Someone wants me to distrust them.”
“Or someone is warning you that the bank is compromised,” Miriam said.
The next morning, Clarissa attended Julian’s preliminary hearing.
He appeared behind the defense table, charged with wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction, and attempted destruction of evidence. His attorneys argued that he posed no flight risk.
The judge disagreed.
Julian remained in custody pending a detention review.
Vanessa negotiated a cooperation agreement but received no immunity. She admitted her role in the transfers and surrendered her financial accounts.
After the hearing, she approached Clarissa in the courthouse corridor.
“I switched the drives because Evelyn asked me to,” Vanessa said.
“When?”
“At the hospital. She had sent me instructions through Doctor Rowan.”
“Why did she trust you?”
“She didn’t. She predicted what I would do when Julian turned against me.”
Clarissa studied her. “Did you send the message about Marianne?”
“No.”
“Did Evelyn ever show you her photograph?”
“No. But she said Marianne was alive.”
Clarissa’s breath caught.
“She knew?”
“She found her eight years ago.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Evelyn said the woman refused contact.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew what the Mercer family had done.”
Clarissa looked toward Julian through the courtroom doors.
“Did Julian know Evelyn found her?”
“He discovered part of the Aster archive last year. That was when he began moving money faster.”
“Because Marianne could inherit?”
“Because Marianne had evidence against Charles that Evelyn did not possess.”
“What evidence?”
Vanessa glanced at the security officers.
“A confession.”
From Charles Mercer.
That afternoon, Clarissa and Miriam went to Saint Orison Bank.
The manager led them to a private viewing room. The deposit box had not been removed, but the bank’s electronic record showed it had been accessed by an authorized representative named Eleanor Marsh.
Clarissa did not recognize the name.
The silver key opened the outer lock.
Inside lay a white envelope, a miniature cassette, and an empty space where a large document case had once rested.
Someone had taken the main archive.
Clarissa opened the envelope.
The letter was from Evelyn.
Clarissa,
If this box is missing the red case, Eleanor has followed my instructions. Do not accuse her. She is protecting the only evidence Charles never knew existed.
You will find Eleanor through the resident list of the first Vale-Mercer building.
Do not search for Marianne until Julian’s case is secured. She has spent her life surviving our choices. She owes us nothing.
Inside the envelope was a page containing eleven names.
Most were former residents of Vale House, the first affordable housing building Daniel designed.
The final name was Eleanor Marsh.
Current address unknown.
Miriam examined the miniature cassette.
“We need an older recorder.”
Clarissa knew exactly where to find one.
They returned to Daniel’s apartment and placed the cassette into his old machine.
Charles Mercer’s voice emerged through the static.
“Daniel refuses to sign.”
Evelyn replied, “Because the accounts are yours.”
“He will sign when he understands what happens to Helen.”
“You forged her credentials.”
“It does not matter who created the records. It matters who a court will believe.”
There was a pause.
Then Charles said something that changed the entire case.
“If Daniel speaks, I will tell Evelyn where I sent the child. And then I will make certain she loses her again.”
The recording ended.
Charles had not only threatened Helen.
He had used Marianne to control Evelyn.
Clarissa sat in silence.
Her phone vibrated with another unknown message.
The first photograph of the seaside house appeared again. This time, an address had been written beneath it.
Miriam looked over her shoulder.
“Is that where Marianne lives?”
May you like
Clarissa read the final line.
Come before midnight if you want the red case.
