Chapter 6 - eleanor mercer's warning)
Arthur sat down.
For the first time since Mara had known him, he looked old.
Not powerful.
Not wealthy.
Old.
He held the envelope as if it might burn him.
"You recognize the handwriting?" Mara asked.
Arthur nodded.
"Eleanor."
Vanessa moved toward him.
"Don't open it."
Every face turned.
Vanessa immediately corrected herself.
"I mean, we don't know when Mom wrote that. She was sick near the end. She was taking medication."
Mara almost smiled.
Medication.
The Mercer family's favorite explanation whenever a woman remembered something inconvenient.
Arthur looked at his daughter.
"My wife knew exactly what she was doing until the final week of her life."
He opened the envelope.
Inside were three sheets of paper and a memory card.
Grant swore quietly.
Claire heard him.
"So you knew."
"I don't know what it is."
"But you're afraid of it."
"I'm tired of being accused."
Arthur unfolded the first sheet.
Mara watched his eyes move across the handwriting.
His jaw tightened.
Then trembled.
"What does it say?" Mara asked.
Arthur did not answer.
"Arthur."
He looked up.
His eyes were wet.
"Eleanor thought someone was using the foundation to move money."
Mara felt no surprise.
"Who?"
"She didn't know."
Vanessa folded her arms.
"Convenient."
Arthur ignored her.
"She wrote that she had seen documents carrying Mara's signature that Mara could not possibly have signed."
"How would she know?"
"Because one of them was dated the day Lily was born."
Mara stared.
She remembered that day.
Thirty-two hours of labor.
Emergency surgery.
Grant beside her.
Eleanor holding Lily afterward.
Mara had not signed charity documents.
She had barely been able to hold a pen.
Arthur read further.
"She confronted the foundation's finance director. He told her the authorization came directly from Grant."
Grant snapped, "That's a lie."
Arthur looked up.
"Your mother wrote it."
"She could have misunderstood."
Claire said, "Then play the memory card."
Grant turned.
"Stay out of this."
Claire's expression went cold.
"I was supposed to marry you today. I am already in this."
Arthur handed the memory card to Mara.
"There should be a computer in the desk."
Mara inserted it.
One audio file appeared.
Date stamped three years earlier.
Two days before the crash.
Arthur pressed play.
Eleanor's voice filled the room.
Weak.
Breathless.
But clear.
"If Mara is hearing this, then I was unable to speak to her myself."
Mara covered her mouth.
Eleanor continued.
"I believe money is being taken from the foundation using Mara's identity. I do not believe Mara knows."
Grant walked toward the laptop.
Arthur raised one hand.
"Don't."
The recording continued.
"I told Arthur something was wrong, but I did not tell him whom I suspected because I had no proof."
Arthur closed his eyes.
"Yesterday I heard Grant and Vanessa arguing in the west office."
Vanessa's face went white.
"They were talking about a company called Ellis Consulting."
Grant reached for the laptop.
Mara slammed it shut before he could touch it.
The audio stopped.
Grant stared at her.
"Open it."
"No."
"Mara."
She removed the memory card and closed it in her fist.
"If you want the rest, you can listen when I'm not trapped in a room with you."
Arthur stood.
"She's right."
Grant turned on his father.
"You're taking her side?"
"I'm taking the side of evidence."
"Evidence? A dead woman's recording?"
Arthur's expression changed.
"That dead woman was your mother."
Grant looked away.
Vanessa spoke quickly.
"Even if Mom suspected something, that doesn't prove anything."
Mara looked at her.
"No. But you're terrified."
Vanessa smiled.
"You always imagined yourself more important than you were."
Claire walked toward the door.
"I'm postponing the ceremony."
Grant blocked her.
"No."
Claire stared at him.
"Move."
"We have two hundred people waiting."
"I don't care."
"You will care tomorrow."
There it was.
Not a request.
A threat.
Claire's face changed.
Mara recognized the moment.
The moment when a woman first realizes that the man she loves is capable of making fear sound like reason.
Mara walked beside Claire.
"Move away from her, Grant."
He turned.
"This has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me."
Grant lowered his voice.
"You should have stayed away."
Mara felt a chill.
"Is that what you said before the crash?"
Grant's eyes sharpened.
Nobody spoke.
Then from outside came the sound of the wedding orchestra changing songs.
Guests were being moved toward the ceremony lawn.
Vanessa looked toward the window.
"We have twenty minutes."
Arthur stared at her.
"Until what?"
Vanessa blinked.
"The ceremony."
Arthur kept watching her.
"That isn't what you meant."
For the first time, Vanessa had no immediate answer.
Then a young server appeared in the doorway.
"Mr. Mercer?"
Arthur turned.
"Yes?"
"There's a gentleman at the front gate asking for Ms. Ellis."
Mara frowned.
"Who?"
"He says his name is Nathan Cole."
Mara stopped breathing.
Grant whispered, "No."
Arthur heard him.
Mara looked at Grant.
"You know that name."
Grant said nothing.
Mara did.
May you like
Nathan Cole had been the paramedic who pulled her from the wrecked car three years earlier.
And six weeks after the crash, he had disappeared.
