Chapter 2 - The Account Daniel Recognized
Emily expected denial.
Daniel gave her something worse.
Fear.
He shut the bedroom door.
“Where did you get that?”
“An email.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel crossed the room and reached for the laptop.
Emily pulled it back.
“No.”
“Emily, this could be confidential company information.”
“So you recognize the account.”
He stared at her.
“That’s not what I said.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Daniel dragged both hands over his face.
Mercer Residential Group had been founded by his father, Robert Mercer, thirty-two years earlier. What began as a small suburban construction business had become one of the Chicago area’s most respected private residential developers.
After Robert died eighteen months ago, Daniel became chief executive.
Margaret retained a minority ownership interest and a seat on the board.
Emily had always believed the company was financially secure.
Daniel certainly lived as if it were.
Their home was worth nearly $2.8 million. Daniel drove a black Range Rover. Margaret owned a condominium downtown and held lifetime occupancy rights to the Mercer family lake house in Lake Geneva.
Yet the transfer on the screen looked wrong.
“Who is MCS Consulting?” Emily asked.
Daniel didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
“It’s a vendor.”
“For what?”
“Strategic consulting.”
“Your mother’s initials are Margaret Claire Mercer.”
His eyes sharpened.
“That proves nothing.”
Emily stared at him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“Did you know?”
Daniel walked to the window.
“I knew Dad used outside consultants.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Silence.
Emily felt the baby move.
She pressed her palm against her abdomen.
Daniel finally said, “After Dad died, our controller flagged some vendor payments. MCS was one of them.”
“And?”
“Mom said Dad had created it for confidential acquisition work.”
“Did you verify that?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because the company was collapsing around me.”
Emily frowned.
“What?”
Daniel sat heavily on the edge of the bed.
For months, he had told her business was “busy.”
Now he admitted the truth.
Mercer Residential Group had lost two large developments after interest rates and construction costs rose. A lender had threatened to tighten covenants. Daniel had personally guaranteed part of a revolving credit facility.
“How much?” Emily asked.
“Four million.”
Her stomach tightened.
“You personally guaranteed four million dollars?”
“It doesn’t mean we owe four million.”
“You never told me.”
“It was before Dad died.”
“We were married.”
“The guarantee is tied to my shares.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Daniel stood again.
“I was trying to keep five hundred people employed.”
“And apparently trying to keep me ignorant.”
He flinched.
Emily looked at the statement.
“Why would someone send this today?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who knew what happened in this kitchen?”
“Nobody.”
“The footage hasn’t left this house.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Mom.”
Emily shook her head.
“She wouldn’t send evidence against herself.”
“Maybe MCS has nothing to do with her.”
“Then call your controller.”
Daniel didn’t move.
Emily picked up her phone.
“I’ll call Margaret.”
“No.”
The force in his voice startled her.
“Why?”
Daniel looked cornered.
“Because if someone is leaking internal financial records, I need to know who and why before Mom knows.”
Emily studied him.
“You’re afraid of her.”
“I’m not afraid of my mother.”
“You slapped me because she cried.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“It’s exactly what happened.”
His jaw tightened.
Emily instantly regretted the cruelty in her tone.
But she did not withdraw it.
Daniel had regret in his eyes.
He also had anger.
That frightened her more.
“Send me the email,” he said.
“I’ll forward a copy.”
“Emily.”
“A copy.”
He nodded.
Later that afternoon, Daniel called his chief financial officer, Aaron Pike, from his study.
Emily did not eavesdrop.
She didn’t need to.
When he emerged twenty minutes later, he looked shaken.
“Aaron says MCS received almost nine hundred thousand dollars last year.”
Emily stared.
“For consulting?”
“He says the invoices were approved by Dad before he died and by Mom afterward.”
“Did you approve them?”
“Some.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re the CEO.”
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
“I became CEO while planning my father’s funeral, renegotiating debt, firing people I’d known since childhood, and trying to stop our lenders from tearing the company apart.”
Emily softened despite herself.
Robert’s death had devastated him.
Margaret had used that devastation like a leash.
“Then start looking now,” Emily said.
Daniel nodded.
He made another call.
This time to the company’s outside accountant.
At six that evening, Margaret called him eleven times.
He ignored the first ten.
On the eleventh, Emily watched him answer.
“Mom.”
Margaret was loud enough that Emily heard her.
“You removed my access to the company accounting system.”
“Temporarily.”
“Who told you to do that?”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“Nobody.”
Margaret’s voice lowered.
“She sent you something, didn’t she?”
Emily’s skin prickled.
Daniel went still.
“What do you mean?”
A pause.
Then Margaret laughed.
“I mean your wife has been snooping.”
“How do you know she received something?”
Silence.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Mom?”
Margaret hung up.
Emily and Daniel stared at each other.
Twenty minutes later, the unknown sender emailed again.
This time there was no bank statement.
Only a photograph.
Robert Mercer sat at his office desk, alive, six weeks before his death.
Across from him sat Margaret.
On the desk between them was a folder marked:
MCS — INTERNAL REVIEW.
Underneath the photograph was a message.
Robert found out.
Then another line appeared.
And Daniel knows more about that night than he has ever told you.
May you like
Emily turned slowly toward her husband.
Daniel had gone completely still.
