Daniel did not call Eleanor Mercer.
He shut Richard’s laptop.
“No more searches from company systems.”
Richard nodded. “Agreed.”
Marcus frowned. “Then how do we reach her?”
Daniel looked at the unknown message.
“We don’t.”
Richard understood first.
“You go.”
“Alone?”
“With one person she doesn’t associate with Bellmont.”
Marcus shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
Daniel looked at him.
“If someone inside headquarters is monitoring communications, every official movement tells them what we know.”
“They may already know.”
“They know we found her record. That doesn’t mean they know whether we believe she matters.”
Marcus folded his arms.
“You’re a possible attempted-murder target.”
“Three years ago.”
“And possibly today.”
Daniel had no answer for that.
Richard said, “Use a vehicle not registered to Bellmont. No company phone. No flight booked under your usual account.”
Marcus looked at him. “You’re helping him?”
“I’m helping make the bad idea less dangerous.”
Daniel said, “I’m not putting Sophie on a plane. I’m not bringing Claire. I’m not sending a Bellmont employee to Eleanor’s door.”
“Then who?”
Daniel thought of someone outside the company.
Someone Anna had trusted.
“Detective Lena Ortiz.”
Richard looked surprised.
“The officer from Anna’s accident?”
“Yes.”
“Is she still active?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why her?”
“Anna liked her.”
“That’s not enough.”
Daniel looked at him.
“She also questioned the accident longer than anyone else.”
Years earlier, Lena Ortiz had called Daniel twice after the case had been declared accidental.
She asked whether Anna had enemies.
Whether Daniel’s car had mechanical problems.
Whether anyone knew Anna had borrowed it.
Daniel had been drowning in grief.
Gregory had advised him not to prolong the investigation.
There was no evidence of anything criminal, Gregory had said.
Daniel had agreed.
Now shame settled heavily inside him.
He had stopped the one person who might have been looking in the right direction.
Richard searched public listings from a non-company device.
Lena had retired from the city police department eighteen months earlier.
She now worked as an independent investigator.
“Call her from my phone,” Richard said.
Daniel did.
Lena answered after four rings.
“Ortiz.”
“This is Daniel Mercer.”
Silence.
Then, “I wondered if I’d ever hear from you again.”
Daniel looked at Richard.
“You remember me.”
“I remember your wife.”
That sentence struck harder than expected.
“I need your help.”
“With what?”
“Anna’s accident.”
Another silence.
This one longer.
“What changed?”
“Everything.”
Lena did not ask for details over the phone.
“Where?”
Daniel gave her a café address two neighborhoods from the hospital.
They met forty minutes later.
Lena Ortiz was shorter than Daniel remembered, with gray threaded through dark hair and the same direct eyes she had carried into his house the morning after Anna died.
She sat down without ordering.
“Tell me.”
Daniel told her enough.
Not everything.
The forged signature.
The October meeting.
Gregory’s statement.
The fact that Anna had been driving Daniel’s car.
Lena did not interrupt.
When he finished, she leaned back.
“I knew something was wrong.”
Daniel felt sick.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you push harder?”
“I did.”
“You closed the case.”
“My supervisor closed it.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
Lena’s expression hardened.
“The crash was classified as loss of control during bad weather. I requested a deeper mechanical inspection.”
“Why?”
“The brake line.”
Daniel’s heartbeat changed.
“What about it?”
“It was damaged.”
The café noise seemed to fade.
“Accident damage?”
“That’s what the final report said.”
“And you disagreed?”
“I couldn’t prove it.”
“Why?”
“The vehicle was released for destruction before the secondary examination.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Who authorized that?”
“Insurance and legal representatives.”
“Bellmont legal?”
“Yes.”
“Charles Voss?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Voss was gone by then.”
“Who?”
Lena looked directly at him.
“Gregory Shaw.”
Daniel absorbed it.
Gregory had known.
He had helped remove evidence.
“He told me today the crash was meant for me.”
Lena’s expression did not change much, but her eyes did.
“That fits something I never understood.”
“What?”
“The driver-side impact.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Explain.”
“The collision happened after the brakes failed on a downhill curve. The other vehicle struck the driver’s side.”
“Yes.”
“What never made sense was the witness account.”
“What witness?”
“A delivery driver parked roughly half a mile up the road.”
Daniel had never heard this.
“He reported seeing a dark SUV following your sedan before the crash.”
“Why wasn’t that in the report?”
“It was.”
“Not in the copy I received.”
Lena’s mouth tightened.
“That’s interesting.”
Daniel felt anger rising again.
“What happened to the SUV?”
“Never identified.”
“Plate?”
“Obscured.”
“Did you tell Gregory?”
“I told legal.”
“Who?”
“Thomas Keene.”
Daniel went still.
Lena noticed.
“That name matters?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Daniel explained Eleanor.
Lena listened.
Then said, “You want me to take you to Vermont.”
“I want you to help me reach her without Bellmont knowing.”
Lena stood.
“Then we leave now.”
Daniel blinked. “That simple?”
“No.”
She finally smiled, but there was no humor in it.
“It’s just urgent.”
They drove north in Lena’s ten-year-old Subaru.
Richard remained behind to coordinate with police, compliance, and Sophie’s security.
Daniel carried no Bellmont phone.
Only a prepaid handset and printed directions.
During the drive, Lena asked about Anna.
Not the investigation.
Anna.
“What was she like when she was angry?”
Daniel looked out the window.
“Quiet.”
“Not loud?”
“Never at first. The quieter she got, the worse things were.”
Lena nodded.
“That matches the woman I met.”
“You only met her once.”
“Twice.”
Daniel turned.
“When?”
“Three months before she died.”
His blood ran cold.
“Anna contacted you?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She asked me not to.”
Daniel stared at Lena.
“What did she want?”
“Advice on documenting harassment.”
“Whose harassment?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Did she mention Bellmont?”
“Yes.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
Another thing Anna had carried alone.
Lena continued.
“She said someone was following her. She wanted to know what kind of evidence police would need to take it seriously.”
“What did you tell her?”
“License plates. photographs. repeated locations. direct threats if possible.”
“Did she bring anything?”
“One photograph.”
“Of?”
“A car.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Do you still have it?”
“Archived with my old files.”
“What kind?”
“Black SUV.”
The same kind described near the crash.
Daniel looked forward.
“Can you retrieve it?”
“I already asked someone.”
He turned.
“When?”
“Before I met you.”
For the first time all morning, Daniel felt that someone competent was moving ahead of him instead of forcing him to catch up.
They reached Vermont after dark.
Eleanor’s house sat beyond a narrow road bordered by pine and stone walls.
No lights showed from the front.
Lena parked half a mile away.
“We walk from here.”
Daniel nodded.
The air smelled of wet leaves and wood smoke.
They approached through darkness.
A porch light clicked on before they reached the steps.
An elderly woman stood behind the glass storm door holding a shotgun.
Daniel stopped.
Lena raised both hands.
“Eleanor Mercer?”
The woman’s face hardened.
“That name died a long time ago.”
Daniel stepped into the porch light.
Eleanor stared at him.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Daniel had not seen her since he was a child.
Age had changed her, but the resemblance to his father was unmistakable.
Same eyes.
Same straight nose.
Same habit of pressing the lips together when angry.
“Daniel,” she whispered.
He nodded.
Her shotgun lowered.
“What did you do?”
The question startled him.
“What?”
“What did you touch?”
Daniel looked at Lena.
Eleanor unlocked the door.
“Inside. Now.”
They entered.
Eleanor closed three locks behind them.
Her house was small, neat, almost bare.
No family photographs.
No Bellmont memorabilia.
Nothing linking her to the company.
She set the shotgun against the wall.
“How did you find me?”
“Public records.”
“Then they can too.”
“Who?”
She stared at him.
“Charles.”
Daniel felt the name land.
“Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Is he behind this?”
Eleanor looked toward Lena.
“Who is she?”
“Former detective. She investigated Anna’s death.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
“Anna.”
Daniel watched.
“You knew her?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Eleanor saw he noticed.
“I never met her.”
“But you knew about her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your father.”
Daniel stared.
“My father died before Anna and I married.”
“He knew about her before he died.”
Daniel remembered introducing Anna to Samuel shortly before his father’s final illness worsened.
“What did he tell you?”
“That you finally found someone who wouldn’t be impressed by your last name.”
Despite everything, Daniel almost laughed.
“That sounds like him.”
Eleanor’s eyes softened.
Then hardened again.
“Why are you here?”
Daniel took out copies of the incorporation clause.
Eleanor looked at the page.
Her face went pale.
“Where did you get this?”
“An archived legal repository.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“Because that clause is the reason your father and I stopped speaking.”
Daniel sat across from her.
“Tell me.”
Eleanor remained standing.
“Bellmont nearly failed in its fourth year.”
“I knew that.”
“No. You knew the version Samuel told afterward.”
“What version?”
“That we found investors.”
“You didn’t?”
“We found one investor.”
“Charles Voss?”
“He was the lawyer.”
“Then who?”
Eleanor looked toward the curtained window.
“A man named Victor Rane.”
Daniel had never heard it.
“Who was he?”
“Money.”
“What kind?”
“The kind that arrives quickly and asks for more than interest.”
Lena leaned forward.
“Organized crime?”
Eleanor gave a bitter smile.
“Victor never used ugly words. He called himself an investor.”
Daniel said, “What did he want?”
“Control if Bellmont succeeded.”
“The continuity clause.”
“Yes.”
“But my father remained owner.”
“Because he fought them after the company became profitable.”
“Legally?”
“At first.”
“And then?”
Eleanor finally sat.
“Victor died.”
Daniel waited.
“His son inherited the arrangement.”
“Name?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Adrian Rane.”
Daniel searched his memory.
Nothing.
“He’s not connected to Bellmont.”
“Not publicly.”
“Where is he?”
“No idea.”
Lena asked, “What role did Voss play?”
“Everything went through him. Contracts. holding companies. trustee replacements.”
“Thomas?”
Eleanor’s expression darkened.
“Thomas was Samuel’s friend.”
“Was?”
“He chose Bellmont over Samuel.”
Daniel felt another old certainty collapse.
“My father trusted him until he died.”
“No.”
Eleanor’s voice was firm.
“Your father feared him.”
Daniel stared.
“That’s not possible.”
“Samuel spent twenty years making you believe the family split was about money because the truth would have put you in danger.”
“What truth?”
“That Bellmont’s ownership was never as clean as you were told.”
Daniel thought of Anna.
“She found out.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I think so.”
“You never met her.”
“No.”
“How would you know?”
“Because someone contacted me three years ago.”
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. A woman’s voice. She asked about the continuity clause.”
“Anna.”
“I assumed.”
“Why didn’t you contact me after she died?”
Eleanor’s eyes filled with regret.
“Because two days after the crash, Charles Voss came here.”
Daniel went still.
“What did he want?”
“He told me Anna had died in an accident.”
“How did he know she contacted you?”
“I don’t know.”
Lena and Daniel exchanged a look.
Eleanor continued.
“He said if I cared about you or Sophie, I would disappear permanently.”
“And you listened?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he showed me photographs.”
Daniel already knew before asking.
“Of Sophie?”
Eleanor nodded.
“School. Playground. Your house.”
Daniel stood.
Rage moved through him so fast he had to walk away.
Eleanor let him.
After a moment, Daniel said, “Gregory told me the crash was meant for me.”
Eleanor looked sharply up.
“He’s alive?”
“For now.”
“Then they’ve made a mistake.”
“What?”
“If Gregory is talking, the arrangement is breaking.”
Daniel returned to the table.
“What arrangement?”
Eleanor looked between him and Lena.
“The one that kept everyone loyal.”
“Money?”
“Fear.”
She reached beneath the table and opened a hidden drawer.
From it she removed an old envelope.
“I kept one thing Samuel sent me before he died.”
Daniel recognized his father’s handwriting.
Eleanor pushed the envelope across the table.
Inside was a single page.
Daniel read.
Ellie,
If they ever try to activate the continuity clause through Daniel, it means they have stopped pretending this can be solved quietly. Charles will tell you the trust controls Bellmont. It does not. There is a second amendment he never filed.
Daniel looked up.
“Second amendment?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Samuel changed the succession terms.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
The letter continued.
The original is hidden where only Daniel will understand once he knows what Anna discovered.
Daniel stopped.
“Anna?”
Eleanor frowned.
“What?”
“My father wrote Anna’s name?”
She looked down.
Her face drained of color.
“No.”
Daniel read the line again.
There it was.
Anna.
But Samuel Mercer had written the letter years before Daniel ever met Anna.
Lena took the page.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
Eleanor stared at the handwriting.
Then whispered, “That line wasn’t there before.”
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“What?”
“When I received this letter, Samuel never mentioned Anna.”
Someone had altered the page.
Recently or years ago, Daniel did not know.
Lena held it toward the lamp.
“There’s different ink pressure.”
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
“Who has seen this letter?”
“No one.”
“Ever?”
“Charles.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Daniel understood.
After Anna died.
Voss had come here, threatened Eleanor with photographs of Sophie, and handled Samuel’s letter.
The added line was not a clue from Daniel’s father.
It was a message.
A planted instruction.
Someone had wanted Daniel, eventually, to connect Anna to whatever Samuel had hidden.
“Why?” Lena asked.
Daniel stared at the page.
“Because they expected this investigation someday.”
Eleanor looked frightened.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The second amendment.”
“You said you don’t know where it is.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what?”
“I know who witnessed Samuel signing it.”
Daniel waited.
Eleanor said, “Your mother.”
Daniel froze.
His mother had died when he was seventeen.
“That doesn’t help us.”
Eleanor shook her head slowly.
“Daniel, your mother didn’t die believing the copy was lost.”
“What do you mean?”
“She gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
Eleanor looked straight at him.
“Thomas Keene.”
Daniel stared at her.
Thomas had sat across from him that morning.
Denied remembering details.
Warned him against conclusions.
Signed the indemnification agreement.
And all along, if Eleanor was telling the truth, he had once possessed the document capable of destroying the old continuity arrangement.
Daniel’s prepaid phone vibrated.
Only Richard had the number.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
Richard’s voice was strained.
“Someone entered your house.”
Daniel stood.
“Sophie?”
“Safe. Security intercepted the intruder before he reached the second floor.”
“Who is he?”
“That’s the problem.”
“What?”
“He’s one of ours.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“Who?”
Richard answered.
“Harold Pike.”
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
The old director who had invited Gregory into Anna’s October meeting had broken into Daniel’s home while Sophie slept upstairs.
And when security searched Harold, they found no weapon.
Only a key.
A key tagged with the same two initials as Anna’s hidden storage locker.
E.M.
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: Harold’s Key Opens Anna’s Hidden Locker, but What Daniel Finds Inside Makes His Own Board Look Far More Dangerous
A Quiet Dinner With His Daughter Turns Into the Exact Kind of Test Daniel Mercer Came to Investigate
Part 8 of 47
