Chapter 10 - the grave with no body)
Richard Mercer had been buried three years earlier beneath a black granite marker in a private family cemetery.
Police opened the grave under court order.
Ava did not attend.
Julian did.
He called her from the cemetery at sunset.
"There is no body."
Ava sat upright.
"What?"
"The coffin is empty."
She gripped the phone.
"Richard was cremated?"
"No."
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know."
Ava stared across her living room.
Owen was building a tower with wooden blocks.
Normal life continued six feet away from an impossible conversation.
"What was inside?"
Julian's voice lowered.
"A steel case."
"The archive?"
"Yes."
"What else?"
Silence.
"Julian?"
"A photograph."
"Of who?"
"Richard."
Ava frowned.
"Why is that strange?"
"It was taken after his funeral."
Ava stood.
"How do you know?"
"He is holding the newspaper from the day after."
Ava felt chills.
Richard Mercer had supposedly died of heart failure.
There had been a body at the private viewing.
Ava had seen the coffin from a distance.
Julian had identified him.
Or believed he had.
"Could the photograph be fake?"
"Marcus is checking."
Ava looked at Owen.
"Does Sebastian know?"
"We assume he was looking for the archive."
"And Celeste?"
"No sign."
The archive contained more than six thousand genetic files.
Some belonged to wealthy families.
Some to politicians.
Some to executives.
Some to people Ava had never heard of.
The files went back almost thirty years.
Northstar had not merely been a clinic.
It had been a private database of family secrets.
Paternity.
Disease.
Inheritance.
Affairs.
Hidden children.
Biological identities worth billions.
And someone had spent decades manipulating them.
Detective Walsh placed Ava under temporary protection.
Marcus moved into the guest house.
Julian stayed elsewhere but visited Owen daily under Ava's supervision.
They did not discuss reconciliation.
There was too much damage.
But Owen began running toward his father again.
That mattered.
Three days after the grave was opened, Celeste appeared.
She walked into a police station in Connecticut at 4:13 in the morning.
Barefoot.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Alive.
Ava watched the interview recording later.
Celeste no longer resembled the woman in the white fur coat.
Her hair was tangled.
Her voice shook.
"I want protection."
Detective Walsh sat across from her.
"From Sebastian Mercer?"
Celeste laughed bitterly.
"From everyone."
"Tell me where you were."
"He took me."
"Who?"
"Sebastian."
"Why?"
"Because Owen didn't say the words."
Walsh leaned forward.
"What words?"
Celeste looked toward the camera.
"That Ava hurt him."
Ava felt rage rise again.
Celeste continued.
"The outside incident was supposed to be shorter."
Walsh's expression did not change.
"How long?"
"Four minutes."
"Owen was outside at least eleven."
"I know."
"Why?"
Celeste began crying.
"Because Sebastian told me to leave him."
"You could have opened the door."
"He was watching."
"Through what?"
"The camera in the interior lighting fixture."
Walsh wrote something.
"You locked a three-year-old outside because you were afraid of Sebastian."
Celeste covered her face.
Ava felt no sympathy.
Walsh continued.
"Did you push Owen?"
Celeste whispered, "Yes."
The confession settled over the room.
"Why?"
"He wouldn't repeat the sentence."
"What sentence?"
"Mommy pushed me."
Ava turned away from the screen.
For months Owen had resisted them.
A three-year-old had been stronger than the adults manipulating him.
Walsh asked, "What happened when Ava arrived?"
"I panicked."
"Then Julian arrived."
"Yes."
"And Sebastian?"
"He called me."
"What did he say?"
Celeste lowered her hands.
"He said the plan was over."
"Then?"
"He told me to meet him."
"Where?"
"A warehouse."
"Why did you go?"
"Because he had everything."
"What is everything?"
Celeste looked directly at the camera.
"Evidence that Julian knew Owen was being tested."
Ava froze.
The video paused.
Julian, standing beside her, stopped breathing.
Ava looked at him.
"You knew?"
"No."
"She says there is evidence."
"I didn't know."
Ava wanted to believe him.
That frightened her.
The recording resumed.
Walsh asked Celeste, "Tested for what?"
Celeste looked exhausted.
"The Mercer marker."
Ava leaned closer.
Walsh asked, "What is that?"
"I don't know."
"Then why call it that?"
"Because Sebastian did."
"Did Nathan Vale know?"
"Yes."
"What does the marker do?"
Celeste shook her head.
"I told you, I don't know."
"Where is Sebastian now?"
Celeste stared at the table.
"If he found Richard's archive, probably gone."
"He didn't."
Her head snapped up.
"What?"
"We have it."
Celeste's reaction was immediate.
Fear.
Real fear.
"Then you need to move it."
"Why?"
"Because Sebastian was never the only person looking for it."
Walsh remained calm.
"Who else?"
Celeste swallowed.
"The man Richard Mercer worked for."
Walsh frowned.
"Richard founded Mercer Dynamics."
Celeste slowly shook her head.
"No."
May you like
Her voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"Richard never owned the beginning."
