Chapter 2 - The Man on the Phone
Daniel let Jonathan’s call ring.
Vanessa watched the phone as though it were a weapon.
“Answer him,” Maria said.
Daniel looked at her bruised cheek.
Shame passed through his expression.
He had not yet apologized.
Perhaps he understood that an apology would sound obscene while the fingerprints of his anger were still bright across her face.
The phone stopped.
Three seconds later, it rang again.
Jonathan.
Daniel answered and activated speaker mode.
“Daniel?” Jonathan said. “Where the hell are you? Everyone left the restaurant twenty minutes ago.”
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“I’m home.”
“Everything okay?”
“No.”
A pause.
“What happened?”
Daniel glanced at Claire’s note.
“Do you remember Claire’s moon music box?”
Vanessa shut her eyes.
The silence on the phone lasted half a second too long.
Then Jonathan laughed.
“What?”
“The silver music box.”
“I vaguely remember it.”
“You should remember it better.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire left your initials inside.”
Jonathan said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“DON’T TRUST J.P.”
The line became completely silent.
Then Jonathan spoke carefully.
“Claire was sick, Daniel.”
Maria looked at Daniel.
Vanessa seemed to relax.
Jonathan had chosen exactly the right wound.
During the last six months of Claire Mercer’s life, severe migraines had made her irritable and occasionally disoriented. Doctors initially blamed stress.
After her death from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, Daniel had tortured himself with the knowledge that some of her fear and agitation had been symptoms nobody understood.
Jonathan had been the person who sat beside him in the hospital.
The person who helped arrange Claire’s funeral.
The person who told Daniel repeatedly not to blame himself.
Now he was using Claire’s illness as a shield.
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Why would she warn me about you?”
“I have no idea.”
Vanessa spoke quickly.
“Jonathan, Daniel is upset. Lily had another episode.”
Maria turned.
“Don’t you dare.”
Jonathan stopped.
“What episode?”
Vanessa pointed toward Maria.
“She became aggressive.”
Maria reached for Daniel’s phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“Maria.”
“You threatened a child with fire.”
“And Daniel assaulted you.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
She met his eyes.
“Yes,” she said. “He did.”
There was no softness in her voice.
Daniel lowered his head.
“You should call.”
Vanessa’s eyebrows lifted.
“You understand what that means?”
Daniel did.
Police.
Child Protective Services.
A wealthy father striking a household employee while his terrified child watched.
A stepmother recorded threatening the same child with a lighter.
No money could make that disappear.
“Call them,” Daniel said.
Vanessa took a step toward him.
“Think about Lily.”
“I am.”
Maria dialed 911.
Jonathan’s voice came sharply through the speaker.
“Daniel, hang up and call counsel before anybody does anything stupid.”
Daniel looked at the phone.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“What Claire was afraid of.”
“Daniel—”
“Did you know Vanessa was looking for something she hid?”
Jonathan did not answer.
Vanessa suddenly grabbed the phone.
Daniel caught her wrist.
“Let go.”
“You’re hurting me.”
His fingers opened instantly.
Vanessa pulled away and stared at him.
The fear in her eyes was no longer entirely fake.
She had seen him hit Maria.
She knew what he was capable of when panic became rage.
Daniel saw the recognition and hated himself for putting it there.
He backed away.
“I won’t touch you.”
Vanessa rubbed her wrist.
“Very noble.”
Maria spoke to the emergency dispatcher.
“Yes. There is a child involved.”
Vanessa turned toward the door.
Daniel said, “You’re not leaving with Lily.”
“You don’t get to order me around.”
“No. But the police will be here in a few minutes.”
Vanessa hesitated.
Jonathan’s voice remained audible from the phone lying on the carpet.
“Vanessa.”
She froze.
It was the first time he had addressed her directly.
Daniel heard it too.
There was familiarity in the tone.
Not corporate familiarity.
Something older.
Vanessa bent quickly and disconnected the call.
Daniel stared at her.
“How long have you known him?”
“He was CFO before we met.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Sirens sounded faintly outside.
Vanessa’s composure returned.
“You are about to have police inside your home, Daniel. Your employee has facial injuries. Your daughter is hysterical. Maybe this is not the moment to invent an affair because your dead wife wrote initials on paper.”
Maria whispered, “She’s preparing the story.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“She knows exactly what she’s going to tell them.”
Vanessa gave Maria a cold smile.
“You should prepare yours.”
The police arrived seven minutes later.
Two patrol officers entered first, followed by Sergeant Leah Morgan, a calm woman in her forties.
They separated everyone immediately.
Lily remained with Daniel until an officer gently explained that Maria could sit nearby if Lily wanted her.
Lily reached for Maria.
Daniel let her go.
That small choice broke something inside him.
Maria sat with an ice pack against her face while Lily curled against her side.
Sergeant Morgan watched the nursery recording twice.
After the second viewing she looked at Vanessa.
“Mrs. Mercer, I need you to come downstairs with me.”
Vanessa stiffened.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not at this moment.”
“At this moment?”
“We’re preserving evidence and contacting child services.”
Vanessa glanced toward Daniel.
“Tell them I would never hurt her.”
Daniel said nothing.
Vanessa’s lips parted.
“Daniel.”
He looked at the lighter, which an officer had placed inside an evidence bag.
“I don’t know what you would do anymore.”
She went white.
Downstairs, police photographed Maria’s injuries.
Daniel voluntarily gave a statement admitting both strikes.
His attorney, Robert Crane, arrived twenty minutes later and looked as though he wanted to scream when Daniel repeated the admission in front of him.
“You should have called me before speaking.”
“I hit her.”
“I understand that.”
“Then there’s nothing to hide.”
Robert lowered his voice.
“Accountability and self-destruction are not the same thing.”
Daniel looked through the doorway toward Maria.
“Tonight I’m not sure I deserve to know the difference.”
At 12:18 A.M., an emergency child-protection worker arrived.
She spoke separately with Lily.
When she returned, her expression was grim.
“Mr. Mercer, Lily described multiple occasions when Mrs. Mercer asked her about a box, papers, and something her mother hid.”
Daniel felt cold.
“Multiple?”
The worker nodded.
“She also said Mrs. Mercer told her that if she caused trouble, Maria would be sent away.”
Maria closed her eyes.
Vanessa spoke from across the room.
“She’s four.”
“Yes,” the worker replied. “Which is why we take patterned statements seriously without treating them as adult testimony.”
Then another officer entered carrying a laptop.
“Sergeant.”
Morgan turned.
“We pulled the camera event log.”
“And?”
“Somebody tried to delete nursery recordings six times in the last month.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
She said nothing.
The officer continued.
“All six deletion requests came from the same administrator profile.”
Daniel already knew what he was about to hear.
The officer looked down at the screen.
“User name: Vanessa.Mercer.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“That proves nothing.”
“Maybe not.”
The officer scrolled farther.
“But this might.”
He rotated the laptop.
The deletion requests had originated from two IP addresses.
One belonged to the Mercer residence.
The other belonged to Mercer Hospitality’s corporate office.
More specifically, to one executive suite.
May you like
Daniel stared at the location.
Jonathan Price’s office.
