Chapter 1 - Beneath the Pier
River water reached Rosalind Mercer’s chest before she understood that Garrett was not coming to save her.
Rain hammered the roof of the sinking black SUV.
The current twisted the vehicle sideways near the abandoned shipping pier, pushing its nose deeper beneath the gray water.
Rosalind pulled the seat belt again.
Nothing.
“GARRETT!”
Through the rain-smeared driver’s window, she could see the riverbank.
Her husband stood beneath a black umbrella.
Garrett Vale.
Forty-two years old.
Expensive charcoal coat.
One hand resting around the waist of Rosalind’s pregnant half-sister.
Penelope Mercer.
Penelope touched Garrett’s face.
Neither moved toward the river.
Neither shouted for help.
Neither called emergency services.
They watched.
Rosalind struck the window.
“GARRETT!”
He turned.
Their eyes met.
And he smiled.
Barely.
A tiny lift at one corner of his mouth.
It was worse than laughter.
Rosalind looked at Penelope’s swollen belly.
Seven months.
Penelope had refused to tell anyone who the father was.
Now Rosalind knew.
The SUV sank another few inches.
Cold water reached her shoulders.
Rosalind twisted desperately.
Then she heard movement behind her.
Her brother Tobias sat in his wheelchair in the rear cargo area where Garrett had insisted he ride because the modified passenger van was “being serviced.”
Tobias Mercer had used that wheelchair for fifteen years.
Since the crash that killed their parents.
Since doctors told the twenty-year-old Tobias that spinal trauma might leave him unable to walk.
Rosalind turned.
“Tobias!”
He gripped the armrests.
Placed both shoes against the flooded floor.
And stood.
Rosalind forgot the river.
“Tobias…?”
“Quiet.”
He raised one finger.
“Play dead. Garrett is watching.”
Rosalind stared at his legs.
Strong.
Steady.
Working.
“What—”
“Later.”
He pulled a compact emergency cutting tool from beneath his jacket.
Then crouched beside her seat.
Rosalind’s breath became shallow.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding out whether I was right.”
“About what?”
His hand disappeared beneath the seat.
Then stopped.
His expression changed.
“Damn.”
“What?”
Tobias pulled something upward.
A thin metal wire.
It had been wound through the seat-belt release housing and anchored around the seat frame.
The buckle had been deliberately immobilized.
Rosalind went completely still.
“This wasn’t an accident.”
“No.”
Tobias cut the wire.
The belt snapped free.
Outside, Garrett remained beneath the umbrella.
Waiting.
Tobias glanced through the rear window.
“Don’t surface where he can see you.”
“What?”
“If he realizes we survived, whatever comes next happens tonight.”
The SUV shifted violently.
“Whatever comes next?”
“Rosalind, trust me once more.”
She almost laughed.
Trust him?
Her brother had just stood after pretending to be unable to walk for fifteen years.
But water reached her chin.
Tobias waited until the interior nearly equalized with the river.
Then he forced open the rear door.
Water exploded through the SUV.
Rosalind lost orientation.
Tobias grabbed her coat and dragged her outward.
She kicked toward the surface.
He stopped her.
“No!”
Panic took over.
Rosalind struck his arm.
Tobias shoved a small emergency breathing mouthpiece connected to a compact air cylinder into her hand.
“Breathe!”
He pulled her beneath the remains of an old wooden pier.
Concrete supports hid them from shore.
They surfaced inside a narrow cavity under the dock.
Rosalind gasped.
Then immediately shoved Tobias against the concrete.
“Fifteen years?”
Rainwater ran across her face.
“You could walk?”
“I had to make them think I couldn’t.”
“Them?”
Tobias looked through a gap between the pilings.
On shore, Garrett wrapped both arms around Penelope.
Rosalind followed his gaze.
Her SUV vanished beneath the water.
Garrett did not look horrified.
He looked relieved.
Rosalind’s voice trembled.
“He thinks I’m dead.”
“That’s what we need.”
She turned back to Tobias.
“Need?”
“Rosalind, Mom and Dad’s crash wasn’t an accident.”
She stared.
“No.”
“Garrett’s family has wanted Mercer Shipworks for fifteen years.”
The name made her stomach turn.
Mercer Shipworks.
Their family’s Baltimore-area shipyard on the Patapsco River.
Founded by their grandfather.
Expanded by their father.
Now worth hundreds of millions because of naval repair contracts, commercial dry-dock capacity and waterfront development rights.
Rosalind had inherited controlling voting shares.
Tobias inherited a smaller block.
Penelope, their father’s daughter from his first marriage, owned another portion through trust.
Rosalind whispered:
“Garrett married me for the shipyard?”
Tobias hesitated.
“That’s not the worst part.”
“What could possibly be worse?”
He looked at her carefully.
“Think about the warm milk Garrett makes you every night.”
Rosalind stopped breathing.
Every night.
For years.
Garrett warming milk in the kitchen.
Stirring it himself.
Smiling when he brought it upstairs.
You never sleep unless I make this.
Finish it.
You’ve had another stressful day.
Drink.
Her hands started shaking.
“What has he been giving me?”
Tobias did not answer immediately.
Rosalind grabbed his coat.
“What has he been giving me?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You just told me—”
“I know he has been putting something in it.”
“How?”
“I saw him crush tablets three nights ago.”
Rosalind stared.
“You were in my house?”
“I’ve been in a lot of places people stopped noticing because they thought I couldn’t stand.”
Through the wooden gap, Garrett suddenly stepped closer to the water.
He looked toward the spot where the SUV disappeared.
Penelope said something.
Garrett replied:
“It’s done.”
Rosalind heard it faintly through the rain.
Then Penelope touched her belly.
Garrett kissed her forehead.
Something inside Rosalind hardened.
Not healed.
Not calm.
Hardened.
She looked at Tobias.
“If he thinks I’m dead…”
“He’ll start moving immediately.”
“Moving what?”
“Your shares. Your estate. The insurance. The shipyard vote.”
Rosalind’s heart began pounding.
“What insurance?”
Tobias looked at her.
“You have a twelve-million-dollar life policy.”
“I have two million.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“Garrett increased it six months ago.”
Rosalind stared.
“I never signed that.”
Tobias answered:
“I know.”
Sirens sounded somewhere in the distance.
Penelope jerked toward the road.
Garrett did not.
He simply watched the river.
Rosalind’s fear became something else.
“If they find out we survived?”
May you like
Tobias looked at the black water around them.
“Then tonight becomes the second murder attempt.”
