Chapter 7 - The Missing Seven Minutes
Claire watched the surveillance file frame by frame.
At 7:32 p.m., Leo simply appeared inside the vault corridor.
No entry.
No elevator.
No door opening.
“Someone cut the beginning,” Daniel said.
“Why?”
Leo answered.
“Because I saw Uncle Victor before he saw me.”
Everyone turned.
Claire crouched.
“Tell me exactly.”
Leo swallowed.
“He was near Dad’s black car.”
“What was he doing?”
“Looking under it.”
“Did he have the helmet module?”
“No. That was later.”
“What did he have?”
Leo thought.
“A little black box.”
Naomi showed him a photograph of a diagnostic interface.
“Like this?”
“Yes.”
Claire felt anger rise.
Victor had been accessing the Raven before Leo triggered it.
The blackout had not been coincidence.
He had gone into the vault to erase Adrian’s system.
Leo had surprised him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were yelling.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Her conflict with Victor had drowned out the most important witness in the room.
Another mistake.
“I’m listening now.”
Leo nodded.
“He unplugged something when he heard me.”
Naomi said, “If he was trying to wipe the vehicle server and Leo activated it mid-process, that could explain why the hidden sequence launched.”
Daniel added, “And why Victor panicked.”
They delivered Leo’s statement to Ortiz.
By afternoon, the detective obtained power records.
The citywide blackout began at 7:41 p.m.
The Mercer vault’s local backup circuit had been manually disabled at 7:29.
Twelve minutes earlier.
Using Victor’s executive credential.
Ortiz called him for an interview.
He brought Bell.
Victor denied using the credential.
“It could be cloned.”
“Was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you in the vault at 7:29?”
“No.”
Security showed him arriving upstairs at 7:31.
Ortiz slid a photograph across the table.
“Then your credential walked down there alone?”
Victor did not smile.
Outside police headquarters, reporters waited.
Someone had leaked the story.
“Mercer Founder’s Widow Questions Fatal Crash.”
The company stock dropped nine percent before closing.
Evelyn stormed into Claire’s house that evening.
“Do you understand what you’re doing?”
“Finding out how Adrian died.”
“You are destroying what he built.”
“Victor did that.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know he lied.”
Evelyn slammed her handbag onto the table.
“You think truth exists without cost? Your husband employed eight thousand people.”
“My husband is dead.”
“And Leo inherits the consequences of whatever you destroy!”
Leo was within earshot.
Claire’s face went cold.
“Do not use my son’s inheritance to frighten me.”
Evelyn stared back.
“I’m trying to keep something for him.”
“Then help me.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re helping Victor.”
Evelyn’s expression shifted.
For the first time Claire saw not loyalty.
Fear.
“What does he have on you?” Claire asked.
Evelyn stiffened.
“Nothing.”
“That answer was too fast.”
“Enough.”
Evelyn picked up her bag.
Claire blocked the doorway.
“Did Victor tell you to authorize removal of the silver wreck fourteen months ago?”
Silence.
“Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
Claire stepped back.
The admission hurt even though she had suspected it.
“Why?”
“Because Victor told me Adrian had bypassed safety protocols. He said if regulators found out, Mercer Velocity could lose its testing licenses.”
“And you believed him.”
“I believed my surviving son.”
Claire’s voice softened.
“That’s why he chose you.”
Evelyn looked wounded.
“He knew grief would make you protect the living.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Claire pressed.
“What else did you authorize?”
“I don’t remember.”
“That means something.”
Evelyn walked out.
At midnight, Claire received a voicemail from an unknown number.
A man spoke quietly.
“Mrs. Mercer, my name is Cal Danner.”
Claire sat upright.
“I was Adrian’s security director.”
The voice shook.
“Victor knows you’re looking for me.”
A pause.
“I moved the wreck.”
Claire held her breath.
“I also know why the ambulance arrived twenty-two minutes late.”
The voicemail ended.
No callback number.
Claire replayed it.
Then another message appeared.
A location.
A time.
Tomorrow.
Cal had finally chosen to talk.
Across town, Victor sat at Evelyn’s dining table.
“You went to see her,” he said.
Evelyn poured whiskey with an unsteady hand.
“She’s Adrian’s widow.”
“She’s dangerous.”
“She wants the truth.”
Victor leaned closer.
“No, Mother. She wants someone to blame.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“What happened during those twenty-two minutes?”
Victor’s eyes became empty.
May you like
“You don’t want that answer.”
For the first time, Evelyn believed him.
