Chapter 18 - the brother erased from every photographHis name was Samuel Mercer.
Evelyn explained during the drive to the estate.
Samuel had been born eleven months before Richard. Their father had considered him unstable, disobedient and dangerous. At seventeen, Samuel was removed from the family home after setting fire to a company warehouse.
“Richard told me Samuel died abroad,” Daniel said.
“That was the story Margaret demanded everyone repeat.”
Nathan drove while Nora searched archived records.
Samuel’s name appeared in a single sealed court filing from thirty-eight years earlier. After that, he disappeared.
“What did he want?” Nathan asked.
“The Mercer name,” Evelyn replied. “And everything Richard received instead of him.”
The estate gates were open.
Inside the house, every light was burning.
Daniel entered Richard’s study first.
On the desk stood an old tape recorder.
Beside it was the missing signet ring.
Nathan examined the room.
“It was arranged for us.”
Daniel pressed Play.
Richard’s voice filled the study.
“If Daniel hears this, then Samuel has returned.”
A second voice interrupted the recording.
Samuel.
“You always believed confession could save you.”
There was a struggle.
Then Richard said, “The children are not assets.”
Samuel laughed softly.
“They are the only assets that cannot be replaced.”
The recording ended.
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From above them came the sound of footsteps.
Someone was walking through the sealed eastern wing.
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