Frank grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter as though it were the only solid object left in the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cMother?\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman on the phone said nothing for a moment.<\/p>\n
Then, \u201cYou always did need things repeated when you didn\u2019t like the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane looked at Ross.<\/p>\n
Ross mouthed, Is that really her?<\/p>\n
Frank sat down slowly.<\/p>\n
I had never seen him afraid of a voice before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do to Howard?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKept him alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is more of one than you deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reed leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Investigator Malcolm Reed. Identify yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman laughed once.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Frank remained still.<\/p>\n
I watched decades move across his face.<\/p>\n
Whatever he remembered about his mother had just collided with the woman on the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was she like?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He stared at the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cDead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not what I asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrict. Smart. Private.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know Margaret?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought she met her after we married.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joanna slid the Mercer Consulting documents toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank rubbed both hands over his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father died when I was nineteen. Mother took over the bookkeeping for his construction business. She handled contracts. Insurance. Accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was the company called?\u201d Joanna asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer & Sons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho were the clients?\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank looked at her.<\/p>\n
Then he understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrescent Holdings was one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joanna nodded.<\/p>\n
Another connection.<\/p>\n
Another old door opening.<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s family business had worked for the same company linked to Thomas.<\/p>\n
He stood abruptly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother used to keep duplicate files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reed\u2019s head lifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHMC?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. It was called Mercer Materials back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank walked toward the hallway.<\/p>\n
Reed blocked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside Port Angeles. Near the old mill road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reed called dispatch.<\/p>\n
Within minutes, officers were heading there.<\/p>\n
I wanted to go.<\/p>\n
Reed refused.<\/p>\n
I told him I had spent the last day discovering dead relatives were alive and alive relatives were liars.<\/p>\n
He still refused.<\/p>\n
For once, someone saying no to me felt almost reassuring.<\/p>\n
Frank sat with me in the living room while Diane and Ross stayed in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Sunlight entered through the plywood officers had temporarily placed over the shattered window.<\/p>\n
Morning had fully arrived.<\/p>\n
It felt offensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did your mother die?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cCar accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBody?\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFuneral?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClosed casket.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
He gave me a wounded look.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared at the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy uncle identified her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs your uncle alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n
That almost became a laugh.<\/p>\n
Almost.<\/p>\n
Frank said his mother\u2019s car had gone off a coastal road during heavy rain.<\/p>\n
The vehicle burned.<\/p>\n
Identification was based on dental records.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecords can be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sound like you know from experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
He accepted that.<\/p>\n
He said Helena Mercer had opposed his marriage to Margaret.<\/p>\n
Not because she disliked Margaret.<\/p>\n
Because she distrusted Thomas.<\/p>\n
That made no sense if Frank supposedly had never known Thomas then.<\/p>\n
Frank realized it too.<\/p>\n
\u201cMother used to call him \u2018that Vale man.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Margaret and I married.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joanna, listening from the doorway, asked, \u201cHow would she know him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a business partner before I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Thomas and Howard\u2019s family name.<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding again.<\/p>\n
Joanna took out her notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry could be related.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry Vale was their father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I remember Howard mentioning his father\u2019s name when I found him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The families had not crossed once.<\/p>\n
They had been entangled for generations.<\/p>\n
Henry Vale worked with Frank\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
Helena handled the books.<\/p>\n
Thomas and Howard grew up around the company.<\/p>\n
Crescent Holdings became a major client.<\/p>\n
The roots went back before any of us were born.<\/p>\n
Reed called from the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHelena?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The building was empty.<\/p>\n
But there were signs people had left recently.<\/p>\n
Food.<\/p>\n
Medical supplies.<\/p>\n
Blood.<\/p>\n
And dozens of file cabinets.<\/p>\n
Frank asked how much blood.<\/p>\n
Reed answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough to concern me. Not enough to prove anyone died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also found photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every stage.<\/p>\n
Me as a child.<\/p>\n
My parents.<\/p>\n
My sister.<\/p>\n
Frank and me dating.<\/p>\n
Our wedding.<\/p>\n
Diane and Ross.<\/p>\n
My house.<\/p>\n
Some photographs were decades old.<\/p>\n
Others had been taken within the week.<\/p>\n
Someone had watched us for years.<\/p>\n
Helena.<\/p>\n
Or the people around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d Frank asked.<\/p>\n
Reed hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cA hospital bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The warehouse appeared to have been where Thomas had been kept during his final months.<\/p>\n
That meant the photograph of Frank, Margaret, and Thomas had likely been taken there.<\/p>\n
Frank nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked trapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew where Thomas was. I didn\u2019t know my mother owned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you act as if you just remembered the building?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it had a different name.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was possible.<\/p>\n
It was also convenient.<\/p>\n
I was beginning to hate both facts equally.<\/p>\n
Joanna received photographs from the warehouse.<\/p>\n
She showed us one.<\/p>\n
A wall covered with dates.<\/p>\n
1971.<\/p>\n
1972.<\/p>\n
1973.<\/p>\n
1974.<\/p>\n
1975.<\/p>\n
1976.<\/p>\n
1977.<\/p>\n
Beside each date were initials.<\/p>\n
H.H.<\/p>\n
T.V.<\/p>\n
H.M.<\/p>\n
M.V.<\/p>\n
F.M.<\/p>\n
E.H.<\/p>\n
Our lives reduced to letters and years.<\/p>\n
Then Diane pointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n
At the bottom was another line.<\/p>\n
SEPT 25 \u2014 CORRECTION.<\/p>\n
Today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat correction?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Nobody knew.<\/p>\n
Reed said investigators had also found a recording setup.<\/p>\n
Microphones.<\/p>\n
Cameras.<\/p>\n
A computer wiped clean except for one audio file.<\/p>\n
The file was labeled FRANKLIN.<\/p>\n
Frank listened to it in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
His mother\u2019s voice filled the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re hearing this, Frank, then you found the warehouse after we left.\u201d<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou spent your life thinking I died because Thomas Vale threatened me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank looked at Reed.<\/p>\n
He had apparently never known that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not leave because Thomas threatened me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI left because your father did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank whispered, \u201cDad?\u201d<\/p>\n
Helena said Frank\u2019s father, Samuel Mercer, had helped Henry Vale and Thomas build the earliest financial scheme.<\/p>\n
Construction projects provided cover.<\/p>\n
False repair costs.<\/p>\n
Inflated land values.<\/p>\n
Forced sales.<\/p>\n
Coerced signatures.<\/p>\n
Families lost property.<\/p>\n
Companies acquired it cheaply.<\/p>\n
Thomas later expanded the system.<\/p>\n
Samuel wanted out.<\/p>\n
Henry did not.<\/p>\n
Helena discovered the records.<\/p>\n
She copied them.<\/p>\n
Samuel found out.<\/p>\n
He beat her badly enough that she spent three days hospitalized under another name.<\/p>\n
Frank stared at the floor.<\/p>\n
I touched his wrist before I could stop myself.<\/p>\n
He looked at my hand.<\/p>\n
Neither of us moved.<\/p>\n
Helena escaped.<\/p>\n
Her supposed death was arranged with Howard\u2019s help.<\/p>\n
Howard had already broken with Thomas by then.<\/p>\n
He believed exposing everything openly would get them killed.<\/p>\n
So they built a hidden network of their own.<\/p>\n
Not criminals.<\/p>\n
Witnesses.<\/p>\n
Accountants.<\/p>\n
Former employees.<\/p>\n
Victims.<\/p>\n
They collected evidence slowly.<\/p>\n
Helena and Howard had worked together for thirty-five years.<\/p>\n
Frank stared at the recorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew my mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
The audio continued as if answering him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward did not tell you because I asked him not to. I watched you from a distance. I saw you become a better man than your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n
Then her tone changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil you repeated his worst mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank stiffened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou decided you had the right to control truth for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He did not look at me.<\/p>\n
Helena said the body switch had endangered everything.<\/p>\n
Frank believed staging his death would force Thomas\u2019s network into movement.<\/p>\n
He was partly right.<\/p>\n
But he had not understood who the network\u2019s current leader was.<\/p>\n
Not Howard.<\/p>\n
Not Margaret.<\/p>\n
Not Helena.<\/p>\n
Not Gregory Hale.<\/p>\n
Someone closer.<\/p>\n
Someone who had access to family finances, estate documents, properties, and private schedules.<\/p>\n
Someone who had spent years appearing harmless because nobody considered them important enough to suspect.<\/p>\n
Diane said, \u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
The recording continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank, if Eileen is with you, tell her I am sorry. She was never supposed to become part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
Never supposed to become part of it.<\/p>\n
But I had been part of it before I was born.<\/p>\n
Then Helena said the sentence that changed the direction of everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward is with me because he came willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the recorder.<\/p>\n
Frank stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was not kidnapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
The blood.<\/p>\n
The chair.<\/p>\n
The photograph.<\/p>\n
Staged.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
I nearly screamed.<\/p>\n
Helena explained.<\/p>\n
They needed the current leader to believe Howard had been captured.<\/p>\n
The abandoned vehicle had been part of the deception.<\/p>\n
The blood was Howard\u2019s, drawn deliberately.<\/p>\n
The wallet was planted.<\/p>\n
The photograph was staged.<\/p>\n
The shooting at my house had not been.<\/p>\n
That was real.<\/p>\n
Their trap had gone wrong.<\/p>\n
Someone else found the abandoned vehicle before Helena\u2019s team expected.<\/p>\n
Someone copied the setup.<\/p>\n
Someone fired at us.<\/p>\n
Howard and Helena were now in hiding because their operation had been penetrated.<\/p>\n
The final ledger had been stolen.<\/p>\n
Frank whispered, \u201cBy who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Helena answered from the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have failed, look at the person who benefited every time the families fought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about nineteen years.<\/p>\n
Every fight.<\/p>\n
Every inheritance argument.<\/p>\n
Every comment from Diane.<\/p>\n
Every time Ross blamed me.<\/p>\n
Every time Margaret remained unseen.<\/p>\n
Someone benefited from division.<\/p>\n
Frank said, \u201cAaron.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone turned.<\/p>\n
Aaron Bell had not been in the room for Helena\u2019s recording.<\/p>\n
He had left an hour earlier.<\/p>\n
To retrieve additional trust documents.<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
Aaron knew Frank\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n
My address.<\/p>\n
The cameras.<\/p>\n
The trust structure.<\/p>\n
The seventy-two-hour deadline.<\/p>\n
The storage unit.<\/p>\n
He had arrived at exactly two.<\/p>\n
He had access to everything.<\/p>\n
Reed reached for his phone.<\/p>\n
Before he could dial, Joanna\u2019s phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
She looked at the screen.<\/p>\n
A transfer alert.<\/p>\n
Money was moving out of the Franklin Mercer Family Trust.<\/p>\n
Millions.<\/p>\n
Authorized by trustee credentials.<\/p>\n
Mine.<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another transfer.<\/p>\n
Then another.<\/p>\n
Ross swore.<\/p>\n
Diane looked terrified.<\/p>\n
Joanna said, \u201cWho has access to your trustee documents?\u201d<\/p>\n
I answered with the only name that fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAaron.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank grabbed his jacket.<\/p>\n
Reed stopped him.<\/p>\n
Then my phone rang.<\/p>\n
Aaron Bell.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
His voice was calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cEileen, I need you to listen carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re stealing from the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joanna shook her head urgently.<\/p>\n
Aaron continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m moving the money somewhere they can\u2019t reach it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then Aaron said, \u201cFrank.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at my husband.<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
Aaron continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour husband didn\u2019t stage his death to catch Thomas\u2019s network.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank said, \u201cHang up.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Aaron\u2019s voice lowered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe staged it because they were about to expose him as the current leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter as though it were the only solid object left in the room. \u201cMother?\u201d The woman on the phone said nothing for a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19853","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\/19853","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=19853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19888,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19853\/revisions\/19888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}