Chapter 4 - His Father’s Voice
Evelyn Mercer denied everything.
She did it beautifully.
At sixty-six, she was still one of the most formidable women in Connecticut business circles, a widow who chaired museums, funded political causes, and maintained enough influence inside Mercer Group that senior executives lowered their voices when she entered a room.
David called her at seven that morning.
“You were in my garage six nights ago.”
Silence.
Then, “Good morning to you too.”
“Mia has video.”
Another silence.
“I stopped by.”
“At two in the morning?”
“Julian called me.”
“Why?”
“He said Sarah was behaving irrationally.”
“What does that mean?”
“You should ask your wife.”
“She’s missing.”
“She isn’t missing if she is texting you.”
David walked into his study and shut the door.
“You had Sarah’s bracelet.”
“I found it.”
“Where?”
No answer.
“Mom.”
“David, you need sleep.”
“You’re lying to me.”
Her voice cooled.
“You have spent your entire life confusing disagreement with betrayal.”
“And Julian has spent his entire life letting you clean up after him.”
“That is enough.”
David almost apologized.
Almost.
The reflex was forty years old.
Instead he said, “Did you know he was paying Clara?”
Evelyn hung up.
At nine, Sarah’s friend and attorney Rebecca Stone arrived.
David knew her socially. He had never known she represented Sarah privately.
That discovery hurt more than he expected.
Rebecca was fifty-one, precise and unsentimental.
“I cannot violate attorney-client privilege,” she said.
“My wife may be in danger.”
“I understand.”
“My son was locked in a trunk because he found a key to Sarah’s secret room.”
Rebecca’s expression tightened.
“That changes some things.”
“Then change them.”
She studied him.
“Sarah gave me written authority to disclose certain information if one of three events occurred.”
“What events?”
“Her unexplained absence longer than twenty-four hours, an attempt to access the hidden room by Julian Mercer, or any threat involving Mia or Ethan.”
David stared.
“All three happened.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca opened her briefcase.
She removed a sealed evidence bag containing a digital audio recorder.
“Your father gave this to Sarah six months before his death.”
David looked at it.
“My father?”
“Henry suspected financial misconduct inside Mercer Group.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No. It was inconvenient.”
She connected the recorder to a laptop.
A familiar voice filled the room.
Henry Mercer.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
“Sarah, if you are hearing this with David, then I failed to handle this myself.”
David gripped the edge of the desk.
He had not heard his father’s voice in nearly three years.
Henry continued.
“Julian has been using project entities to move money outside normal reporting channels. I don’t know the full amount. I do know Nolan Price helped him.”
Nolan.
Mercer Group’s CFO.
David shut his eyes.
Henry’s voice continued.
“David will not believe you at first.”
That sentence hurt.
“He loves his brother. More importantly, he needs to believe our family is better than it is.”
Rebecca glanced at him.
David stared at the recorder.
“I was preparing an independent audit. Evelyn stopped the board vote.”
David whispered, “Mom.”
Henry went on.
“If Julian discovers what Sarah knows, he will not attack her first. He will destroy David. There are approvals bearing David’s credentials. Some are legitimate. Some are not.”
David felt suddenly cold.
The recording ended.
He sat motionless.
Rebecca closed the laptop.
“What approvals?”
David’s mind had already gone somewhere he had tried not to revisit for years.
Five years earlier, Mercer Group’s Harbor Point project had nearly collapsed.
A lender withdrew.
Construction would have stopped.
Hundreds of workers would have been laid off.
David had authorized an emergency six-million-dollar transfer between subsidiaries without waiting for the full board approval required under company policy.
He had intended to reverse it in forty-eight hours.
Julian had discovered it.
Then protected him.
Or David had believed he had.
“David?”
He looked at Rebecca.
“I did something.”
“What?”
He explained.
Rebecca’s face became grim.
“Was it disclosed?”
“Eventually the money was returned.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
“Who knew?”
“Julian. Nolan. My father may have suspected.”
“Sarah?”
“No.”
Rebecca exhaled slowly.
“Then Julian had leverage over you before Sarah ever started investigating him.”
David stood.
“I need to find her.”
“You need to understand what she was afraid of.”
“She prepared divorce papers.”
Rebecca’s expression softened slightly.
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Did she want to leave me?”
Rebecca chose her words carefully.
“She loved you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“She did not trust what you would do if forced to choose between her evidence and your brother.”
David looked away.
Rebecca reached into her bag again.
“Sarah also prepared an emergency guardianship affidavit.”
He turned.
“What?”
“She believed someone might attempt to portray you as violent or unstable.”
David thought of Clara’s swollen cheek.
His stomach dropped.
Rebecca continued.
“She wrote that if that happened, your first instinct would probably make the situation worse.”
David laughed bitterly.
“She knew me.”
“Yes.”
The doorbell rang.
Detective Ortiz stood outside with another officer.
Her expression told David this visit was different.
“We found Mrs. Mercer’s vehicle,” she said.
“Where?”
“Short-term parking at Westchester County Airport.”
“Then she flew somewhere?”
Ortiz shook her head.
“We checked passenger manifests and security footage.”
David felt the room narrow.
“Sarah never entered the terminal.”
Rebecca stood beside him.
Ortiz continued.
“Her car arrived yesterday at 8:42 a.m. A man drove it into the lot.”
“Who?”
“We’re working on identification.”
“Where was Sarah?”
Ortiz met his eyes.
“She wasn’t in the car.”
David’s phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
One photograph.
Sarah standing in a hotel corridor.
Beside her was Julian.
His hand was wrapped tightly around her arm.
May you like
Under the image were seven words.
YOUR BROTHER KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE SHE WENT.
