Chapter 5 - The Man at the Gate)
Daniel wanted the gate kept closed.
Victor did not try to enter.
He simply stood outside in the rain as though he knew patience would make his presence more unsettling.
Ethan joined Daniel in the security room.
“Vehicle is registered to a holding company.”
“Of course it is.”
“Do you want police?”
Daniel looked at the monitor.
“Not yet.”
Sarah stood beside him.
“You may regret that sentence.”
“I want to know why he is here.”
Sarah folded her arms.
“Then make him talk through the gate.”
Daniel activated the intercom.
Victor’s face turned slightly toward the speaker.
“Daniel.”
His voice had changed with age, but not as much as Daniel expected.
“Why are you at my house?”
“To see whether Martin finally made a mistake.”
“You knew what he was doing.”
Victor smiled.
“I suspected.”
“You were working with him.”
“No.”
“Vanessa knows your name.”
“I imagine many people do.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Claire is dead.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Barely.
But the smile disappeared.
“Do not play games with me.”
“I am not.”
“Did Martin kill my wife?”
Sarah looked sharply at Daniel.
Victor stared into the camera.
“That is the wrong question.”
Daniel’s hand tightened around the intercom button.
“Then give me the right one.”
“Ask why Claire was driving to Boston that night.”
Daniel froze.
Claire had told him she was returning from a dinner with a college friend.
That was what Daniel had believed for three years.
“Where was she going?”
Victor lifted his cane.
He pointed it toward the camera.
“To meet me.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“You are lying.”
“No.”
“She hated you.”
“She had every reason to.”
“Then why would she meet you?”
“Because she found something in your family trust that frightened her more than I did.”
Daniel glanced at Sarah.
Sarah’s expression suggested she had not known.
Victor continued.
“Claire called me four days before she died. She asked why your grandfather removed me from the company.”
“Because you stole from him.”
Victor laughed.
“That is the story Martin helped him write.”
Daniel said nothing.
Victor stepped closer to the gate.
“I did steal something.”
Daniel waited.
“A ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The original succession ledger for Mercer Holdings.”
Sarah moved closer to the monitor.
Victor’s voice became quieter.
“Your grandfather maintained two sets of records. One public. One private.”
“For what?”
“Ownership.”
Daniel looked confused.
Victor smiled again, but there was no humor in it.
“You think the company belongs to you because your name is Mercer.”
“I own the controlling shares.”
“You control the shares you know exist.”
Sarah whispered, “Daniel.”
He ignored her.
Victor continued.
“The private ledger documented assets your grandfather buried in holding companies after a lawsuit in 1989. Shares, land, intellectual property, insurance funds. Billions in today’s value.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Why would Claire care?”
“Because some of those assets were assigned to a bloodline trust.”
“Mia.”
Victor nodded.
“Not you.”
Daniel felt the shape of the mystery changing.
Vanessa was not after his company.
Neither was Martin.
They were after something Daniel did not even know Mia owned.
“Why would Claire meet you?”
“She discovered references to the hidden holdings in the trust archive. She thought I had the ledger.”
“Did you?”
Victor stared at the lens.
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“Why did Claire die?”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Because someone knew she was coming.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“You said Martin made a mistake tonight.”
“He did.”
“What mistake?”
“He let the cameras record Vanessa.”
“Martin did not control the cameras.”
Victor’s face became strangely serious.
“You still do not understand your own house.”
Daniel glanced toward Ethan.
“What does that mean?”
Victor tapped his cane against the pavement.
“Your security system was installed after Claire died.”
“Yes.”
“Who recommended the company?”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
Ethan frowned.
“Martin.”
Victor nodded.
“And who selected the internal storage architecture?”
Ethan’s face changed.
“I did, but Martin’s office specified compliance requirements.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Compliance.”
Sarah muttered something under her breath.
Daniel pushed the intercom button.
“You are saying Martin built a way into my security system.”
“I am saying Martin never needed to break into something he helped design.”
“Then who played the footage tonight?”
Victor shook his head.
“That I do not know.”
Daniel studied him.
“Why come here?”
“Because if the cameras revealed Vanessa, the arrangement has failed.”
“What arrangement?”
“The one that began before Claire died.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
Victor looked past the camera toward the house.
“Martin will run.”
“He already did.”
“No. I mean really run.”
“Where?”
Victor reached into his coat.
The security guards outside immediately raised their hands toward their weapons.
Victor slowly removed an envelope.
He placed it on the ground outside the gate.
“Inside is the address Claire was trying to reach when she died.”
Daniel’s heartbeat quickened.
Victor stepped back.
“There is also a photograph.”
“Of what?”
“Someone you believe never met Vanessa.”
Daniel looked toward the dining room.
Vanessa was still inside.
“Who?”
Victor opened his car door.
“Martin.”
“That makes no sense.”
Victor paused.
“The photograph was taken five years ago.”
Daniel’s mind caught on the date.
Five years.
Mia had been one.
Claire had been alive.
Vanessa had claimed Martin introduced her to Daniel fourteen months ago.
Victor entered the sedan.
Daniel pressed the intercom.
“Victor.”
The rear window lowered.
“What?”
“If you knew Claire was in danger, why did you not tell me?”
For the first time, Victor looked old.
“Because when your wife died, I thought the person responsible was you.”
Daniel’s face went numb.
The window closed.
The sedan disappeared down the road.
Minutes later, Ethan retrieved the envelope.
Inside was an address in Cambridge.
And a photograph.
Daniel stared at it for a long time.
Vanessa stood outside a restaurant.
She looked younger.
Beside her was Martin Cole.
The date printed in the corner was five years earlier.
But they were not alone.
Between them stood Claire.
May you like
Daniel’s dead wife was smiling.
And her arm was around Vanessa’s shoulders.
