Chapter 13 - Rebecca’s Confession
Daniel pulled Lily to the floor and covered her with his body.
A metal door slammed.
Claire turned on her flashlight.
The tunnel was empty.
Whoever had been watching them had escaped.
Police entered the underground room minutes later. They searched the tunnels but found only an abandoned exit near the river.
Daniel remained with Lily while investigators collected the files.
The evidence inside compartment seventeen was enough to reopen the children’s center case.
It was also enough to destroy the Mercer Children’s Foundation.
By midnight, Thomas Vale had been located at a private airfield.
He claimed he was leaving for a business meeting.
Police found three passports in his luggage, nearly four hundred thousand dollars in cash and a photograph of Lily.
Thomas refused to answer questions.
Rebecca was taken to the police station after the footage showed her meeting Anna the night before the crash.
Daniel sat across from her in an interview room.
Rebecca’s royal blue dress was wrinkled. Her makeup had faded. For the first time that day, she no longer looked arrogant.
She looked tired.
“Did you help kill Anna?” Daniel asked.
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
“You lied about being in Paris.”
“Mother sent me to the center.”
“Why?”
“To convince Anna to return the files.”
“And when she refused?”
“Thomas threatened her.”
“Were you there when he did?”
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the truth. I stood there and did nothing.”
Daniel thought of Lily’s cheek.
Rebecca had claimed she barely touched her.
Now she claimed she had done nothing while Anna was threatened.
“You received two hundred thousand dollars after Anna died.”
Rebecca covered her face.
“Thomas paid me.”
“For silence?”
“For the original list.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“You had it?”
“Anna gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“She thought I would help her.”
“Did you?”
Rebecca began to cry.
“I wanted to.”
“But?”
“Mother said exposing the center would destroy thousands of innocent lives. The foundation funded hospitals, schools and shelters. She said one scandal would close everything.”
“So you betrayed Anna.”
“I gave Thomas a copy.”
“A copy?”
Rebecca looked up.
“Anna kept the original.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. She said she would place it somewhere William could never reach.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“You knew Father was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“You saw the man with the cane.”
“I never saw his face.”
“But you recognized him.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Mother told me Father had enemies. She said the plane crash had been staged to protect the company.”
“And you believed her?”
“I was twenty-seven. Father had always frightened me.”
“You were old enough to know right from wrong.”
Rebecca lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel thought about Sophie.
“Did you strike your daughter?”
Rebecca looked up quickly.
“No.”
“I saw the bruise on her wrist.”
“I grabbed her when she entered Mother’s room.”
“You hurt her.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“That is what you said after hitting Lily.”
Rebecca’s tears stopped.
“I was angry.”
“You slapped an eight-year-old because she found a photograph.”
“She was going to expose everything in front of the guests.”
“She is a child.”
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. Children are not threats to be controlled. They are not evidence to be hidden. They are not responsible for protecting the Mercer name.”
Rebecca stared at the table.
Daniel stood.
“You will stay away from Lily.”
“Daniel.”
“You will also stay away from Sophie until child protection investigators determine she is safe with you.”
Rebecca’s face collapsed.
“You can’t take my daughter.”
“I’m not taking her. I’m protecting her.”
“She needs me.”
“She needed you when she was afraid to tell the truth.”
Daniel walked toward the door.
Rebecca called after him.
“Mother didn’t order Anna’s death.”
He stopped.
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know more than you’re saying.”
Rebecca reached into the lining of her dress and removed a folded paper.
“I took this from Mother’s room before the party.”
Daniel opened it.
It was a bank authorization signed by William Mercer.
The date was three days earlier.
His supposedly dead father had transferred five million dollars into an account named Project Seventeen.
At the bottom was an address.
May you like
Daniel recognized it.
It belonged to the house where Anna had lived before meeting him.
