Chapter 11 - Four Stones
Briggs wanted the family out of the house.
Evelyn refused at first.
Then Wren asked, “If we leave, does Cole win?”
The question changed her mind.
“This isn’t about winning,” Evelyn said.
“It feels like it.”
“I know.”
They moved temporarily into Helen’s condominium downtown.
Police monitored the Mercer property.
Evelyn hated leaving.
Cole had already occupied Nathan’s chair, Nathan’s office, Nathan’s company.
Now he had driven them from Nathan’s home.
It felt like surrender.
On Monday morning, Cole submitted his proxy certification.
He disclosed Barrett Strategic.
But he described every payment as a board-authorized financing fee.
Leah nearly laughed.
“He’s rewriting history before our eyes.”
“Can he?”
“He can try.”
One director, Samuel Price, signed a declaration that the board had never approved Barrett Strategic payments.
A second agreed.
The proxy dispute went before a judge that Thursday.
Cole appeared calm.
His attorney argued Nathan had created Bracken Ridge and authorized Cole’s compensation.
Leah presented Nathan’s recording, Samuel’s declaration, and the undisclosed ownership records.
The judge did not terminate the proxy.
Not yet.
But she ordered expedited discovery and prohibited Cole from disposing of company assets outside ordinary operations.
A partial victory.
Cole glared at Evelyn across the courtroom.
Outside, he approached her.
“You’re going to bankrupt Mercer before you get control of it.”
“No. You already tried that.”
“Wren deserves better than this.”
Evelyn stopped.
“Do not say her name.”
He smiled.
“You think putting her at Helen’s makes her safe?”
Evelyn’s face went white.
Cole walked away.
Briggs was informed.
That afternoon, investigators traced the email sent to Wren through a privacy service and public Wi-Fi.
No identification.
Cole again remained one inch beyond proof.
At Helen’s condo, Wren drew pictures instead of doing homework.
Walls.
Trees.
Four stones.
Evelyn sat beside her.
“Thinking about the garden?”
Wren nodded.
“Dad buried treasure with me once.”
Evelyn looked up.
“When?”
“Last summer.”
“What treasure?”
“A time capsule.”
“Where?”
“Not by the oak.”
Wren drew another shape.
A low brick wall near the old greenhouse.
“We put pictures and a letter in it.”
“Did Dad say anything strange?”
Wren thought.
“He said gardeners hide things in layers.”
Evelyn’s pulse quickened.
“Layers?”
“First thing is for someone who finds it. Second thing is for someone who knows to keep looking.”
Evelyn called Briggs.
Police searched the greenhouse garden.
They found Wren’s time capsule beneath a flagstone.
Photographs.
A movie ticket.
A drawing.
A note Nathan had written to future Wren.
Nothing criminal.
But under the metal tin was a second cavity.
Empty.
Recently empty.
A rectangular stain marked the soil.
Someone had removed a second box.
Briggs looked at Evelyn.
“Who knew about the time capsule?”
“Wren. Nathan. Me, vaguely.”
“Cole?”
“I don’t know.”
Wren shook her head.
“Dad told me not to tell.”
Briggs crouched.
“Did you ever?”
“No.”
“So how did someone know to look beneath it?”
Wren stared at the empty cavity.
“Because Dad told them.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”
She pointed to the brick wall.
“He marked it.”
Scratched into one brick was a tiny letter N.
Beside it:
IV.
Four.
Four stones.
Nathan had created a repeating code.
Roots.
Walls.
The fourth stone.
A system simple enough Wren could remember.
They searched every fourth stone along the greenhouse wall.
At the final corner, Evelyn found a hollow.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Not the missing box.
A note.
Nathan’s handwriting.
Evelyn—
If you’re reading this, I failed to fix what I helped break.
Cole will say I stole from the company. I signed false records. That part is true.
But the underlying transfers belong to him.
The original supporting documents are not at Mercer.
I moved them after Cole searched my office.
Do not confront him alone.
Do not let Wren near him.
And check my prescription history.
I think he knows I found out he accessed it.
I’m sorry for the house.
I’m sorry I made you part of my lie.
N.
Evelyn’s hands shook.
Helen whispered, “He knew.”
Wren looked at the final line.
“Where are the documents?”
Evelyn turned the paper over.
Nothing.
Briggs examined the envelope.
“There’s no location.”
Wren frowned.
Then she pointed to the bottom corner.
A tiny drawing.
A bird.
Its wings shaped like the letter W.
May you like
“Birdie,” she whispered.
Nathan had left the final clue for Wren.
