Chapter 14 - Everything He Lost
The judge did not remove Daniel from Caleb’s life.
But she refused to issue the broad injunction he wanted.
Sloan remained trustee temporarily.
The shareholder vote stayed scheduled.
Daniel left court feeling as though the floor had vanished.
Maya waited until they reached the car.
“What did I tell you?”
“I know.”
“No. Say it.”
“Don’t meet witnesses alone.”
“And?”
“Don’t surrender control of evidence.”
“And?”
“Don’t assume I’m smarter than people who have been manipulating records for twenty years.”
Maya opened the car door.
“Good.”
Daniel did not move.
“I thought I could get her to admit something.”
“She got you to admit things.”
“Out of context.”
“Context is expensive to restore.”
That afternoon the Mercer Riverworks board voted to remove Daniel as chairman and place his board seat under investigation.
His office access was revoked.
His company email was disabled.
For the first time since he was twenty-three, Daniel Mercer had no position inside the company carrying his surname.
At home he found Caleb packing a backpack.
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to Aunt Melissa’s.”
“Why?”
Melissa appeared behind him.
“Only for tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not sleeping.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“I’m Caleb’s father.”
“Yes. And I’m his aunt. He asked to come.”
Daniel looked at Caleb.
“You want to leave?”
The boy stared at his shoes.
“Just tonight.”
That hurt worse than losing the company.
Daniel forced himself to nod.
“Okay.”
Caleb looked surprised.
Daniel knelt.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
After they left, Blackwater House became unbearable.
Daniel walked through rooms filled with Mercer history.
Arthur’s awards.
Evelyn’s photographs.
Rachel’s empty chair.
He opened a bottle of whiskey.
Then closed it.
At midnight Owen knocked.
“How did you get through the gate?”
“The gate code is your father’s birthday. You really should change everything.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Owen entered.
“I heard about the board.”
“Everybody did.”
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
Owen sat.
Daniel stared at him.
“Caleb went to Melissa’s.”
“He’ll come back.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know children get tired of living inside adult disasters.”
Daniel looked down.
“I scared him.”
“Yes.”
“I keep saying I’m protecting him.”
Owen nodded.
“Family phrase.”
Daniel winced.
“You enjoy that?”
“No.”
Silence.
Then Owen placed a photograph on the table.
It showed the dock from years earlier.
Arthur.
Rachel.
Owen.
And in the background, a red cylindrical chart case tied beneath the boathouse landing.
Daniel leaned closer.
“What is this?”
“Rachel took it during one of our searches.”
“That case.”
“I’d forgotten it.”
“Did you open it?”
“No. By the time we found the photograph, the case was gone.”
Daniel stared.
“Maybe not gone.”
The next morning Caleb returned.
Daniel did not ask about the red book.
He made pancakes.
They ate quietly.
Then Caleb said, “Are you still boss?”
“No.”
“Because Grandma?”
“Partly because of Grandma. Partly because of me.”
“What did you do?”
“I signed things I didn’t read.”
Caleb frowned.
“That’s why teachers tell us to read before signing.”
Daniel laughed for the first time in days.
“Yes.”
Then Caleb became serious.
“Grandpa told me that too.”
Daniel froze.
“When?”
“Before he died.”
Caleb had been three.
“You remember that?”
“He let me draw in his red book.”
Daniel’s fork stopped.
“What?”
“The red one.”
“You drew in the ledger?”
Caleb nodded.
“A boat.”
“Where?”
“On the last page.”
Daniel’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Caleb, when you found that book in the boathouse last week, did you recognize it?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because everybody was yelling.”
Daniel stayed quiet.
Caleb continued.
“When Grandma came, I thought she’d take it.”
“So you hid it.”
Caleb nodded.
Daniel’s voice remained gentle.
“Do you remember where?”
Caleb’s eyes moved toward the river.
“I put it in Grandpa’s tube.”
Daniel stood.
“What tube?”
“The red one under the dock.”
Owen and Maya arrived twenty minutes later.
Detective Vega came shortly after.
No one touched the water until police authorized a dive search.
A diver descended beneath the private dock.
Three minutes later, he surfaced.
Empty-handed.
Daniel’s hope collapsed.
Then the diver said, “There’s a line down there attached to something farther out.”
Caleb looked at his fishing rod leaning against the boathouse wall.
Daniel followed his gaze.
The rod.
The same small rod Caleb had been holding when Evelyn attacked him.
Caleb whispered, “I tied the line to it so I could find it.”
Everyone stared.
Police followed the fishing line beneath the dock.
May you like
At its end, wedged between two submerged pilings, was a faded waterproof chart tube.
Inside was the red leather ledger.
