Chapter 7 - Midnight with Grant Mercer
Daniel did not go alone.
He told Grant he would.
That was different.
Jonah waited three blocks away.
Detective Kim knew where Daniel was going.
Elena made him promise not to confront anyone physically.
At eleven fifty-seven, Daniel entered a twenty-four-hour diner in Stamford and found Grant Mercer sitting in the last booth.
Grant looked twenty years older than he had in the boardroom.
“You brought police?”
“No.”
“Lawyers?”
“Not inside.”
Grant laughed bitterly.
“You’ve learned.”
Daniel sat.
“Talk.”
Grant looked around.
“Northstar started legally.”
“With whose money?”
“Mine. Vanessa’s. Two outside investors.”
“And Vale House?”
“Later.”
“What changed?”
“Vanessa.”
Daniel waited.
Grant rubbed both palms together.
“She wanted to increase earnings before a sale. We paid consultants for work that was never done, moved funds through Northstar, then recycled some as revenue from licensing deals.”
“Accounting fraud.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Grant swallowed.
“At first? Two million.”
“And then?”
“Fourteen point three.”
Daniel stared.
“You stole fourteen million dollars.”
“Vanessa did.”
“You signed the transfers.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She had evidence.”
“Of what?”
Grant looked toward the window.
“I was having an affair.”
Daniel almost laughed from disbelief.
“With Vanessa?”
Grant said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Grant had been married thirty-one years.
His wife sat on Vale House’s charitable foundation board.
Vanessa had weaponized the affair after it ended.
“She kept messages,” Grant said. “Hotel records. Photographs. She told me if I exposed anything she would destroy my marriage and tell the board I designed the scheme alone.”
“You could have gone to authorities.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Then don’t describe yourself as another victim.”
Grant looked at him.
“I’m not.”
For the first time Daniel respected something he said.
Grant slid an envelope across the table.
Inside were printed emails.
Vanessa to Grant.
Patricia to Vanessa.
Several referenced “replacement pages” in Rachel’s trust amendment.
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
One message from Patricia read:
RV C signed signature pages. Schedule must be swapped before final scanning. D cannot see revised voting language.
Daniel looked up.
“This proves it.”
“No.”
“What?”
“It suggests it.”
Grant shook his head.
“Patricia used personal email for the important instructions. Vanessa made sure nothing explicit remained.”
“Where are those emails?”
“Deleted.”
“Recoverable?”
“Maybe.”
Grant leaned closer.
“But Rachel had a copy.”
Daniel’s heart pounded.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened September fourteenth?”
Grant looked sick.
“She walked into the pantry while Vanessa was telling me Calder Peak would pay us a transaction bonus after the sale.”
“How much?”
“Vanessa would receive nearly twelve million. I’d get three.”
“And Rachel?”
“She told us the company wasn’t being sold.”
Grant looked down.
“Vanessa said Rachel wouldn’t be around long enough to stop it.”
Daniel’s hands clenched.
He kept them beneath the table.
“What did Rachel do?”
“She slapped Vanessa.”
Daniel blinked.
Grant gave a sad smile.
“First and only time I ever saw Rachel hit anyone.”
“What happened next?”
“Vanessa laughed.”
Grant’s voice weakened.
“She said Rachel could hate her or protect you, but not both.”
Daniel looked at the emails again.
“Northstar financed Riverstone deliberately.”
“Yes.”
“To compromise me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s fury rose.
Grant held up both hands.
“I told you I’m not innocent.”
“Why are you talking now?”
“Because Vanessa is selling the company, and once Calder Peak closes, she won’t need me.”
“So you’re afraid.”
“Yes.”
“You deserve to be.”
“Yes.”
Grant looked straight at him.
“But Lily doesn’t.”
Daniel went still.
“What about Lily?”
Grant removed his phone.
“There’s something Vanessa doesn’t know I kept.”
He played an audio file.
Vanessa’s voice filled the booth.
“If Rachel won’t sign, Patricia can make the pages say whatever we need.”
Grant’s recorded voice answered, “That’s forgery.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Forgery is when you get caught.”
Daniel felt the hairs rise on his arms.
Then Grant’s recording continued.
“What about Daniel?”
“He’ll sign anything if Lily is in the room.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Hospital.
Lily sleeping on his lap.
Yellow signature flags.
Vanessa had planned it.
Grant stopped the recording.
“There are nine more.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Grant.”
“I want immunity.”
“You’re asking the wrong person.”
“I know.”
Grant stood.
“I’ll surrender everything if prosecutors give me a deal.”
Daniel rose too.
“Then do it.”
Grant’s eyes shifted toward the diner entrance.
His face changed.
Daniel turned.
Vanessa stood outside the glass.
Watching them.
She did not come inside.
She simply lifted her phone.
And took a photograph.
Grant whispered, “Oh, God.”
Vanessa smiled through the window.
Then she walked away.
Grant grabbed Daniel’s sleeve.
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“She knows I recorded her.”
“How?”
Grant’s face went white.
“Because I only told one other person.”
“Who?”
May you like
Grant’s answer was almost inaudible.
“Patricia.”
