Chapter 9
Police treated the break-in seriously.
Not because a storage unit had been burglarized.
Because whoever entered it had known exactly which documents to take.
The remaining boxes were moved into evidence.
Elena turned over her copies.
Fortunately, she had scanned everything.
The toxicology report and cooperation agreement still existed digitally.
Whoever had broken in had acted too late.
That should have comforted Emma.
It did not.
By afternoon, the story became worse.
The storage facility cameras had been disabled for eleven minutes.
Professional.
Deliberate.
Adrian sat inside a police interview room for three hours.
He volunteered his phone.
His financial records.
His apartment security logs.
When he emerged, Emma waited in the hallway.
He looked surprised.
“You stayed.”
“I wanted to know what they asked.”
“Mostly about my attorney.”
“Why?”
“Because his office received the storage information.”
Emma frowned.
“Who there had access?”
“Four people.”
“Do you trust them?”
Adrian gave a tired laugh.
“I’m trying to retire that question.”
“Fair.”
He rubbed his face.
“Detective Alvarez wants to speak with Luca.”
“He’s with Margaret.”
“I know.”
Emma looked at him.
“You know because?”
“Luca told me.”
Not tracked.
Not reported.
Told.
Small things mattered.
They always had.
At five, Elena called them to her office.
She had found another connection.
Charles Mercer.
Raymond’s former attorney.
The registered agent for Raven Consolidated.
Still alive.
Seventy-six.
Living in a retirement community outside Chicago.
Emma stared at the photograph.
“Can we speak to him?”
“Police already are.”
“Why?”
“Because his fingerprints were found on documents inside Daniel’s storage unit.”
Adrian frowned.
“That could be old.”
“Yes.”
Elena slid another page forward.
“He visited the storage facility three weeks ago.”
Emma looked up.
“How?”
“Access log.”
“Why didn’t he take anything then?”
“That is an excellent question.”
They got an answer that evening.
Mercer asked to speak with Emma.
Police advised against a private meeting.
So the meeting took place inside Elena’s office with Detective Alvarez present.
Mercer entered using a cane.
He looked fragile.
That annoyed Emma.
She had expected villains to look like villains.
Life rarely cooperated.
Mercer sat.
He looked at Adrian.
“You became your father.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
Mercer smiled faintly.
“Not entirely a compliment.”
Emma interrupted.
“My father.”
Mercer turned toward her.
“You look like him.”
“People say that.”
“He was irritating.”
“So am I.”
“Yes.”
“Did Raymond Vale kill my father?”
The room became still.
Mercer looked down at his hands.
“I don’t know.”
Emma almost stood.
He lifted a hand.
“I am not avoiding the question.”
“Then answer something useful.”
Mercer exhaled.
“Daniel discovered Raymond was using construction companies to move money.”
“I know.”
“He went to Zachary.”
“Why not police?”
“Because Daniel believed Zachary could stop his brother without destroying hundreds of legitimate jobs.”
Adrian stared at Mercer.
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“Initially? Nothing.”
Adrian flinched.
Mercer continued.
“Zachary loved Raymond. That family disease did not begin with you.”
Emma glanced at Adrian.
He looked sick.
Mercer said, “Eventually Daniel threatened to go federal. Zachary agreed to cooperate with him.”
“The draft agreement,” Emma said.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Raymond found out.”
Emma’s hands became cold.
“And?”
“He panicked.”
“Did he kill Daniel?”
“I never saw evidence of that.”
“But?”
Mercer looked toward Detective Alvarez.
“I saw Raymond with Daniel the night before Daniel died.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“Daniel’s house.”
“My house?”
“Yes.”
“My mother was there.”
“No. She was visiting her sister.”
Emma remembered.
Aunt Caroline.
Three days.
She had been at college.
Daniel had been alone.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I was waiting in the car.”
“For Raymond?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was his attorney.”
“You were his accomplice.”
Mercer accepted the word.
“Yes.”
Emma swallowed.
“How long was he inside?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“When he came out?”
“He was angry.”
“Did he say anything?”
Mercer closed his eyes.
“He said Daniel had made his choice.”
Emma looked at Detective Alvarez.
The detective wrote without expression.
“What about the digoxin?”
Mercer’s face changed.
So slightly most people might have missed it.
Emma did not.
“You know.”
Mercer shook his head.
“You know something.”
“I know Raymond had access to Evelyn Vale’s medication.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Did he kill my mother?”
Mercer looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
Adrian’s fist struck the table.
Everyone jumped.
He stood.
Then immediately stepped back.
“Sorry.”
Emma watched him breathing.
Old instincts.
New choices.
Mercer said quietly, “Your mother was dying.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
“Did Raymond give her too much medication?”
Mercer looked toward the window.
“Evelyn was in pain.”
Adrian went still.
“What does that mean?”
“She asked him.”
The room became silent.
Adrian stared.
Mercer continued.
“She asked Raymond to help her die.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
“No,” Adrian whispered.
“Your father refused. Evelyn asked Raymond.”
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Adrian stepped backward.
Emma stood.
He looked at her.
Not asking.
She crossed the space and took his hand.
His fingers closed around hers.
Mercer continued.
“Raymond gave her more medication than prescribed.”
“Did my father know?”
“Afterward.”
“That argument.”
“Yes.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“My father protected him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn had asked.”
“That doesn’t make it legal.”
“No.”
“Or right.”
“No.”
Adrian released Emma’s hand and walked to the window.
His shoulders shook once.
Then stopped.
Emma turned back to Mercer.
“My father did not ask Raymond to kill him.”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you visit the storage unit three weeks ago?”
Mercer looked ashamed.
“I received a letter.”
“What letter?”
“From Raymond.”
Adrian turned.
“Raymond is dead.”
“Yes.”
“He died six years ago.”
“Yes.”
Mercer reached into his coat.
Detective Alvarez immediately moved.
Mercer froze.
“Envelope.”
Alvarez retrieved it.
Inside was a letter.
Dated seven years earlier.
Instructions on the envelope read:
Deliver to Charles Mercer ten years after Daniel Donnelly’s death.
Emma stared.
“Who delivered it?”
“A law firm.”
“What did it say?”
Mercer nodded toward the detective.
Alvarez unfolded it.
The letter was short.
Charlie,
If Emma Donnelly ever starts asking about her father, the locker will eventually surface.
Do not destroy it.
I know what you think of me, but I am not asking you to save my reputation.
There is one thing in that locker Zachary never knew existed.
If Adrian has become the man Zachary hoped he would become, give it to him.
If he has become us, burn it.
R.
Emma stared at Adrian.
“What thing?”
Mercer reached inside his jacket again.
This time Alvarez removed a small envelope.
Inside was a USB drive.
Adrian looked at it.
Mercer said, “I took this three weeks ago.”
“You broke into the unit?” Emma asked.
“No. I had a key Raymond gave me years ago.”
“Why?”
“To retrieve this.”
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that is the family motto.”
Mercer almost smiled.
Detective Alvarez took custody of the drive.
No one watched it that night.
Police needed to inspect it first.
Emma returned home at midnight.
Adrian walked her to the building entrance.
“Do you want to come up?”
The question surprised both of them.
Emma clarified immediately.
“Not like that.”
“I know.”
“Tea.”
“Tea.”
Inside her apartment, Adrian looked around carefully.
He had never been there.
Emma realized that.
For more than a year, this had been hers alone.
He did not wander.
Did not open anything.
Did not comment on the neighborhood.
He sat where she indicated.
Emma made tea.
When she returned, Adrian was staring at a photograph of Daniel on the bookshelf.
“He looks like you.”
“I look like him.”
“Same difference.”
She sat opposite him.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Adrian said, “I lied to you from the first day.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“I have been trying to find a way to make that sentence less ugly.”
“There isn’t one.”
“I know.”
He looked at Daniel’s photograph.
“But I need you to know something.”
“What?”
“Nothing after that first coffee was an assignment.”
Emma’s eyes burned.
“Adrian.”
“I know you may never believe me.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because it is true.”
She stared into her tea.
He continued.
“I went to that hearing because your name appeared in a report. I approached you because I wanted to know what you knew.”
She flinched.
Adrian did too.
“But you insulted my tie.”
Emma laughed despite herself.
“It was ugly.”
“It was eight hundred dollars.”
“That made it worse.”
He smiled faintly.
“Then you spent forty minutes explaining why my company’s relocation plan was mathematically dishonest.”
“It was.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I forgot to investigate you.”
Emma looked up.
Adrian’s eyes were wet.
“I wanted another coffee.”
Her own eyes filled.
“That doesn’t erase the beginning.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t fix it.”
“No.”
“I may never be able to tell which memories were real anymore.”
“That is the part I am most sorry for.”
Silence.
Emma reached into her desk drawer.
She removed the small ring box.
Adrian stared at it.
“I almost threw this into the river yesterday.”
His face tightened.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I realized I would be doing it because I wanted you to feel something.”
He said nothing.
“That seemed too much like you.”
A sad smile touched his mouth.
“Fair.”
Emma opened the box.
The ring caught the light.
Eight years.
Promises.
Lies.
Ordinary breakfasts.
Hospital rooms.
Funerals.
Christmas mornings.
Burned toast.
Control.
Love.
Nothing was simple enough to fit inside gold.
Emma closed the box.
“I’m keeping it.”
Adrian inhaled.
“Okay.”
“Not wearing it.”
“Okay.”
“Stop looking relieved.”
“I am trying.”
She almost smiled.
Then her phone rang.
Detective Alvarez.
Emma answered.
“We reviewed the USB.”
His voice sounded different.
“What’s on it?”
“A video.”
“Of what?”
“Raymond Vale.”
Adrian stood.
Emma put the phone on speaker.
Alvarez continued.
“It appears to have been recorded shortly before his death.”
“What does he say?”
A pause.
Then:
“He confesses to killing Daniel Donnelly.”
May you like
Emma’s knees gave way.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor.
