Harold asked everyone except Sheriff Mercer to leave.<\/p>\n
She refused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold looked toward the deputy standing outside his hospital room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also potentially homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes dropped.<\/p>\n
Mercer pulled out a chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad and I remained because Harold had already authorized our presence for matters connected to Mom.<\/p>\n
Vanessa stayed at the sheriff\u2019s office awaiting news about Ethan.<\/p>\n
Harold looked at Mercer.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca didn\u2019t die in the crash.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s expression did not change.<\/p>\n
I understood the effort that required.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat crash?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one I created.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad muttered a curse.<\/p>\n
Harold continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer car went into the ravine empty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou falsified her death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she saw something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour brother?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timing did not fit.<\/p>\n
David died twenty-one years ago.<\/p>\n
Rebecca supposedly died twenty-six years ago.<\/p>\n
Mercer noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe saw something involving David five years before his death?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold stared at the blanket.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe saw us moving a body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s voice came low.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEdward Carver.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the ledger.<\/p>\n
The insurance agent supposedly drowned at Lake Mason.<\/p>\n
But the dates we had seen were approximate.<\/p>\n
Mercer checked her notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarver died eighteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe certificate says that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did he actually die?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-six years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou changed a man\u2019s death by eight years?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold nodded.<\/p>\n
The implications were staggering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was useful alive on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInsurance licenses. Corporate filings. Accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant had not invented identity manipulation.<\/p>\n
Harold had.<\/p>\n
He kept dead people legally alive when their signatures, licenses or ownership records remained useful.<\/p>\n
Then created deaths later when the identity needed closing.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had witnessed Harold and David moving Carver\u2019s body near the cabin.<\/p>\n
She confronted Harold.<\/p>\n
He panicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do to her?\u201d Mercer asked.<\/p>\n
Harold began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t kill her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen where is she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not lie to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou staged her funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fabricated her child\u2019s father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sent Neil away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo a couple who owed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat couple?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel and Ruth Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy cousins?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold nodded.<\/p>\n
Mercer looked physically struck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told us Neil was theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey raised him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy keep the surname?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause changing it would create more questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer gripped the chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe ran.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew I could frame her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCarver\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad gave a disgusted laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour favorite trick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold did not deny it.<\/p>\n
Rebecca agreed to disappear.<\/p>\n
Harold staged the crash.<\/p>\n
Created the funeral.<\/p>\n
Sent Neil to relatives.<\/p>\n
Rebecca promised never to return.<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice trembled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you let her twelve-year-old son believe she was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Neil know later?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he know now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Grant told him.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
Grant had found another old secret.<\/p>\n
Another person.<\/p>\n
Another wound.<\/p>\n
And turned it into leverage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d Mercer asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Eleanor died?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did Grant find out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid\u2019s old records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he tell Neil you killed Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was when she left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you last hear from her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you do not know whether she\u2019s alive now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad crossed his arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Grant tell Neil?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Harold murdered his mother.<\/p>\n
That the sheriff\u2019s family covered it up.<\/p>\n
That Rebecca\u2019s body was buried at the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s eyes closed briefly.<\/p>\n
Grant had given Neil a complete false story built from real fragments.<\/p>\n
A staged death.<\/p>\n
A hidden cabin.<\/p>\n
Human remains.<\/p>\n
A corrupt funeral director.<\/p>\n
Every piece true except the conclusion.<\/p>\n
Exactly Grant\u2019s method.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Neil work for him?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Harold answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant promised him proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProof of what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere Rebecca was buried.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked toward Mercer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant told Neil one of the bodies was his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice became hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just said she left alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t answer me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe contacted David two years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wanted Neil back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s breathing changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid told her it wasn\u2019t safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she come anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer slammed her palm against the bedside table.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The monitor jumped.<\/p>\n
A nurse appeared.<\/p>\n
Mercer waved her away.<\/p>\n
Harold looked frightened.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid disappeared for two days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he say he saw Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ask?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat I had already destroyed enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Rebecca may have returned.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd David may have helped her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd one of the bodies in that well could still be hers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold whispered, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer walked out.<\/p>\n
Dad followed her into the hallway.<\/p>\n
She stood against the wall, hands trembling.<\/p>\n
He did not touch her.<\/p>\n
He simply stood nearby.<\/p>\n
After a moment she said, \u201cYou can say it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat evidence comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked at the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWouldn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Then her radio crackled.<\/p>\n
Federal agents had located the train associated with Ethan\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
A ticket from Gary to Chicago had been purchased in cash.<\/p>\n
Passenger name: Ethan Cole.<\/p>\n
The train had departed twenty minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
Agents contacted transit police.<\/p>\n
They searched.<\/p>\n
No Ethan.<\/p>\n
But in a restroom trash bin they found his wallet.<\/p>\n
Another false trail.<\/p>\n
The Detroit ticket under Caroline\u2019s name produced something different.<\/p>\n
A woman matching Caroline Webb\u2019s description had boarded.<\/p>\n
Police met the train.<\/p>\n
Caroline tried to run.<\/p>\n
She was arrested.<\/p>\n
Under questioning, she admitted forging notarizations for Grant.<\/p>\n
She admitted printing Mom\u2019s photograph.<\/p>\n
She admitted giving Neil the picture.<\/p>\n
But she denied knowing Ethan would be abducted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy give Neil the photograph?\u201d Mercer asked over video.<\/p>\n
Caroline stared at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant said Neil needed motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat motivation?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make Vanessa cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant told Neil Vanessa helped kill Eleanor.\u201d<\/p>\n
That part was substantially true.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Eleanor have to do with Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caroline hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant said Eleanor knew Rebecca was buried at the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
Again, Grant had blended truths.<\/p>\n
Mom knew about the cabin.<\/p>\n
Mom knew about Harold.<\/p>\n
Mom may have known Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Neil was being told those facts meant Mom helped conceal his mother\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Ethan?\u201d Mercer asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho does?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeil.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Neil?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caroline looked frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stopped answering Grant.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he found something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer leaned toward the camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaroline.\u201d<\/p>\n
She began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca\u2019s letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold\u2019s hospital room seemed to become smaller.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant had one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t Neil have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant kept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
Leverage.<\/p>\n
Grant had possessed a letter from Neil\u2019s mother while convincing Neil she had been murdered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI only saw the first page.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caroline swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca said she was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Dad stared at Harold.<\/p>\n
He looked genuinely stunned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen was it written?\u201d Mercer asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four years.<\/p>\n
One year before Mom died.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had survived for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to the letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Neil see it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVanessa opened the red folder at Frank\u2019s house. Grant panicked. He moved files. Neil found the letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd realized Grant had lied.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Neil stopped working for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
That changed Ethan\u2019s abduction.<\/p>\n
Maybe Neil had taken him for Grant.<\/p>\n
Maybe he had taken him from Grant.<\/p>\n
Dad asked the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Neil turned, why kidnap Ethan?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caroline looked toward the camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Grant had already sent someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know his real name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer showed her Russell.<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Sloan.<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Marcus.<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Then another photograph from Grant\u2019s business records.<\/p>\n
Caroline pointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHim.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man was older.<\/p>\n
Fifties.<\/p>\n
Heavyset.<\/p>\n
Receding hair.<\/p>\n
Dad recognized him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Patel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s physician.<\/p>\n
The man who had documented Dad\u2019s mental competence when he changed the house trust.<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s expression sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Samuel Patel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad nodded.<\/p>\n
Caroline shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t his name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant called him Sam. But once, when they were arguing, Grant called him Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
The name Harold had just given us.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mercer.<\/p>\n
One of the relatives who raised Neil.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer\u2019s cousin.<\/p>\n
The man supposedly entrusted with Neil after Rebecca disappeared.<\/p>\n
Mercer pulled up family records.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mercer had died nine years earlier.<\/p>\n
Officially.<\/p>\n
Another death.<\/p>\n
Another identity.<\/p>\n
Dad looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Daniel is dead, who has been treating me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer was already calling the medical board.<\/p>\n
The answer came twenty minutes later.<\/p>\n
Dr. Samuel Patel was real.<\/p>\n
Licensed.<\/p>\n
But the man Dad had been seeing was not him.<\/p>\n
The real Dr. Patel lived in Arizona and had retired two years earlier.<\/p>\n
Someone had assumed his professional identity.<\/p>\n
Someone with access to medical systems.<\/p>\n
Prescriptions.<\/p>\n
Competency records.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s sleeping pills.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s medication history.<\/p>\n
Mercer looked at Harold.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was supposed to be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stepped toward the bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold whispered, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold stared at Mercer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe helped me create Rebecca\u2019s false death.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
Then Mercer\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
Chicago.<\/p>\n
Ethan had been found.<\/p>\n
Vanessa\u2019s scream of relief could be heard through the speaker when Mercer relayed the news.<\/p>\n
He was alive.<\/p>\n
Injured but conscious.<\/p>\n
He had walked into a police station in Hammond.<\/p>\n
And he was not alone.<\/p>\n
Neil was with him.<\/p>\n
Neil had surrendered voluntarily.<\/p>\n
Before officers separated them, Neil gave them one message for Sheriff Mercer.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel is going after Frank tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harold asked everyone except Sheriff Mercer to leave. She refused. \u201cThis is my investigation.\u201d Harold looked toward the deputy standing outside his hospital room. \u201cIt\u2019s your sister.\u201d \u201cIt is also … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18343,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18293\/revisions\/18343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}