Dad kept staring at the name Mason had written.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mercer.<\/p>\n
I had never heard it before, but Dad looked as though the letters themselves had reached into his past.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said he was Henry\u2019s best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s voice remained on my phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Robert. He was assigned to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad lifted his head. \u201cAssigned by whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason took the phone from me and switched to speaker. \u201cArthur, which agency?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCustoms originally. Later Treasury.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was Mercer investigating?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMeridian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
If Daniel Mercer had been a federal informant decades ago, then the government had known about Arthur\u2019s financial network long before Richard died.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did Henry meet him?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Arthur gave a tired laugh. \u201cThat depends whether you want the story Henry believes or what actually happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer approached him through Bennett & Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Henry\u2019s accounting firm.<\/p>\n
The one that had audited Harlow South subsidiaries.<\/p>\n
The same firm that gave Henry accidental proximity to Richard\u2019s business records.<\/p>\n
Arthur continued. Mercer presented himself as an accountant looking for consulting work. He befriended Henry, learned what he knew about Arthur\u2019s old structures, then gradually pushed him toward records connected to Meridian.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Henry know Mercer was federal?\u201d Mason asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Laura died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca was not with us, but I imagined what that would do to her. Henry had spent decades chasing the truth about Laura while one of the people closest to him had apparently been conducting an investigation all along.<\/p>\n
Dad asked, \u201cWhy did Daniel work on Richard\u2019s car?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur did not answer immediately.<\/p>\n
Mason repeated the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t sabotage it.\u201d<\/p>\n
My grip tightened around the edge of Richard\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you name him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was the mechanic of record.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t what you implied.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur laughed softly. \u201cYou inferred.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to throw the phone.<\/p>\n
Mom touched my arm.<\/p>\n
Mason remained calm. \u201cWho sabotaged Richard\u2019s car?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the question Mercer was trying to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Mercer alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t seen him in twenty-seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad gave a bitter laugh. \u201cConsidering your talent for declaring living people dead, that tells us nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For once Arthur had no response.<\/p>\n
Mason asked about the second mechanic.<\/p>\n
Laura\u2019s car had been altered by a man named Peter Vale, whose payment appeared in Richard\u2019s records.<\/p>\n
Richard\u2019s car had been serviced by Daniel Mercer.<\/p>\n
Mercer had supposedly discovered damage to the brake system the day before Richard died and warned him not to drive.<\/p>\n
Richard drove anyway.<\/p>\n
Mom went rigid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard called me the night before he died. He said his car was fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe he misunderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He specifically said someone had found a cut line and replaced it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason looked at her. \u201cThen someone sabotaged it twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea settled over us.<\/p>\n
First attempt discovered.<\/p>\n
Second attempt successful.<\/p>\n
That meant Richard\u2019s killer knew Mercer had repaired the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Either Mercer told them.<\/p>\n
Or someone was watching.<\/p>\n
Arthur said nothing.<\/p>\n
Mason asked, \u201cWhere was Mercer after the crash?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConvenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed his cover had been exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s voice lowered.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone inside the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The informant had been betrayed.<\/p>\n
Mason asked for names.<\/p>\n
Arthur refused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I never knew which one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGive us possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur listed three.<\/p>\n
A Treasury supervisor named Paul Keene.<\/p>\n
An assistant U.S. attorney named Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
And a New York detective named Samuel Hodge.<\/p>\n
Mason wrote all three down.<\/p>\n
Dad suddenly looked toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHodge?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know that one too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe investigated my father\u2019s warehouse fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s fake death.<\/p>\n
The burned body of Victor\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
The same detective had handled the case.<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he also investigate Richard\u2019s crash?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
One detective.<\/p>\n
Two suspicious deaths.<\/p>\n
Eight years apart.<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s warehouse fire.<\/p>\n
Richard\u2019s car crash.<\/p>\n
And perhaps access to the federal Meridian investigation between them.<\/p>\n
Mason ended the call with Arthur after warning him not to contact anyone else.<\/p>\n
Arthur laughed before disconnecting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t understand warnings,\u201d Dad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Mason replied. \u201cBut detention facilities understand recorded calls.\u201d<\/p>\n
We drove north toward the lake property while federal agents began searching for Daniel Mercer and Samuel Hodge.<\/p>\n
The city fell behind us.<\/p>\n
Mom sat beside Dad.<\/p>\n
Neither spoke.<\/p>\n
I watched highway barriers pass and thought about how easily one hidden fact created an entirely different story.<\/p>\n
Richard had not simply died because he discovered Victor.<\/p>\n
Laura had not simply died because she discovered Meridian.<\/p>\n
Arthur had not simply disappeared.<\/p>\n
Henry had not simply abandoned Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Mark had not simply met me.<\/p>\n
Every truth came with a trapdoor beneath it.<\/p>\n
Mason received the first update forty minutes into the drive.<\/p>\n
Samuel Hodge was dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c2011.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCause?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHeart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad gave a humorless laugh. \u201cDo we believe anyone\u2019s death certificate anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason ignored that.<\/p>\n
Hodge had retired early in 2002.<\/p>\n
But his financial records showed something interesting.<\/p>\n
Six months after Richard\u2019s death, he bought a vacation property in Florida.<\/p>\n
Cash.<\/p>\n
Three hundred eighty thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
A large amount for a detective.<\/p>\n
\u201cSource?\u201d Mom asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s archive might contain it.<\/p>\n
Then came the second update.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mercer was alive.<\/p>\n
Dad leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason stared at his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has he been doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning a marine-engine repair shop under his own name.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
After twenty-seven years of hidden identities, forged deaths, secret trusts, and shell corporations, the federal informant had apparently been living openly.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we call him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgents are already there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s phone rang again less than five minutes later.<\/p>\n
He listened.<\/p>\n
Then put the call on speaker.<\/p>\n
An older man\u2019s voice came through.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer exhaled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wondered if this day would come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou let me think you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never told you I was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody has reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer was silent.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s anger sounded almost weary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you really Henry\u2019s friend?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr was he just an assignment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, an assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
There was that phrase again.<\/p>\n
At first.<\/p>\n
The two words that had poisoned my marriage.<\/p>\n
Mercer continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry became my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Laura?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s mother had known Mercer was working with federal investigators.<\/p>\n
That changed her final days.<\/p>\n
Laura had not been blindly trying to reach authorities.<\/p>\n
She already had a channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d Mason asked.<\/p>\n
Mercer said Laura gave him copies of Meridian records.<\/p>\n
He passed them to his supervisor.<\/p>\n
Three days later, Victor confronted Laura about the exact documents she had supplied.<\/p>\n
The leak was undeniable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho had access?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKeene, Briggs, Hodge, and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne analyst.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret Ellis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason wrote it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you suspect Hodge?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kept asking where Laura stored originals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you report him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Keene.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKeene told me I was paranoid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer\u2019s voice changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Laura died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s mother had been killed after a compromised federal operation exposed her.<\/p>\n
Mercer blamed himself.<\/p>\n
He continued working undercover because he believed stopping would make her death meaningless.<\/p>\n
Richard became his next source.<\/p>\n
Mom leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard knew Daniel was federal?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That explained why Richard intended to meet investigators.<\/p>\n
Mercer said Richard had discovered Arthur was alive.<\/p>\n
He also discovered Victor had been working with Arthur.<\/p>\n
But Richard\u2019s greatest concern was not Meridian\u2019s stolen money.<\/p>\n
It was the leak.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed someone in law enforcement was protecting Arthur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason asked, \u201cHodge?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat proof?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
Everyone in this family seemed to understand that paper could be forged but voices were harder to erase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI buried it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lake house.\u201d<\/p>\n
We were already driving there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind the boathouse?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer went silent.<\/p>\n
Mason looked at me.<\/p>\n
The X on Richard\u2019s map.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Mercer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it isn\u2019t a body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur had lied by omission again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is buried there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA steel evidence canister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard\u2019s recording. Copies of bank transfers. Photographs. My original case notes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy bury them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the night Richard died, someone entered my apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer had arrived home to find every drawer opened.<\/p>\n
Nothing valuable taken.<\/p>\n
Only his case files.<\/p>\n
He knew his identity had been compromised.<\/p>\n
He drove to the lake property because Richard had once told him it contained an old hunting cache.<\/p>\n
Mercer sealed copies inside the canister and buried them.<\/p>\n
Then he disappeared from the operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you go to another federal office?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA man met me in Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe identified himself as internal affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I saw him six years later on television.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer gave the name.<\/p>\n
Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
The assistant U.S. attorney supposedly supervising parts of the Meridian case.<\/p>\n
Briggs had intercepted Mercer before he could expose the leak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he tell you?\u201d Mason asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Laura was dead because I had failed to control a source.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom whispered, \u201cHe threatened you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threatened Henry too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer said he had not spoken to Henry since 1998.<\/p>\n
Henry believed Mercer had abandoned the case.<\/p>\n
Mercer believed staying away protected him.<\/p>\n
Another person making choices for someone else.<\/p>\n
Another silence lasting decades.<\/p>\n
We reached the lake property shortly before sunset.<\/p>\n
The house sat among tall pines, gray and neglected.<\/p>\n
The lake behind it was perfectly still.<\/p>\n
Diane had once stayed here.<\/p>\n
Laura had been here.<\/p>\n
Thomas.<\/p>\n
Victor.<\/p>\n
Arthur.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Mark had been conceived here.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that story was another lie.<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s team secured the grounds.<\/p>\n
The old boathouse leaned toward the water.<\/p>\n
Behind it, exactly where Richard\u2019s map indicated, officers found disturbed soil beneath decades of leaves.<\/p>\n
A metal detector confirmed something underground.<\/p>\n
Excavation took twenty minutes.<\/p>\n
The steel canister emerged rusted but intact.<\/p>\n
Mason photographed it before opening.<\/p>\n
Inside were plastic-wrapped files.<\/p>\n
A cassette.<\/p>\n
Several photographs.<\/p>\n
And one sealed envelope.<\/p>\n
FOR HENRY BENNETT.<\/p>\n
Dad stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel buried a letter for Henry?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer remained on speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard gave it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe morning he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you deliver it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry had already vanished.<\/p>\n
The letter remained with Mercer\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n
Mason opened it.<\/p>\n
Richard apologized to Henry.<\/p>\n
Not for Laura\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
For failing to trust him sooner.<\/p>\n
Richard explained that Laura had discovered Arthur and Victor\u2019s network.<\/p>\n
He had initially believed Henry might be involved because Bennett shell companies appeared throughout the records.<\/p>\n
Then Laura proved Henry\u2019s identity had been used too.<\/p>\n
Richard wrote that Henry had been framed exactly as Helen had.<\/p>\n
Dad closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
For decades, Henry believed Richard suspected him.<\/p>\n
Richard had died trying to tell him otherwise.<\/p>\n
Rebecca should hear the letter.<\/p>\n
Mason set it aside.<\/p>\n
Then he played the cassette.<\/p>\n
Richard\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Another man.<\/p>\n
Samuel Hodge.<\/p>\n
The recording began mid-conversation.<\/p>\n
Richard accused Hodge of warning Victor about Laura.<\/p>\n
Hodge denied it.<\/p>\n
Richard mentioned bank deposits.<\/p>\n
Hodge became angry.<\/p>\n
Then Richard said a name.<\/p>\n
Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
Hodge went silent.<\/p>\n
Richard accused Briggs of directing the leak.<\/p>\n
Not Arthur.<\/p>\n
Not Victor.<\/p>\n
Briggs.<\/p>\n
The federal prosecutor.<\/p>\n
Hodge finally said, \u201cYou don\u2019t understand who Briggs works for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard asked.<\/p>\n
Hodge answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Arthur had penetrated the investigation through a federal prosecutor.<\/p>\n
Hodge was corrupt, but not the top of the chain.<\/p>\n
Richard demanded to know why Briggs protected Arthur.<\/p>\n
Hodge said Arthur had files on him.<\/p>\n
Blackmail.<\/p>\n
Then came the important part.<\/p>\n
Richard asked who ordered the second sabotage of his car.<\/p>\n
Hodge said he did not know.<\/p>\n
Richard pressed.<\/p>\n
Hodge finally whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cBriggs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Walter Briggs had ordered the second attempt.<\/p>\n
Not Arthur directly.<\/p>\n
But likely for Arthur.<\/p>\n
The recording continued.<\/p>\n
Richard said he was going to expose them.<\/p>\n
Hodge warned him that Sophie would become a target.<\/p>\n
My name.<\/p>\n
On a tape recorded when I was an infant.<\/p>\n
I felt suddenly cold.<\/p>\n
Richard asked why.<\/p>\n
Hodge said Arthur had hidden Meridian interests through Robert\u2019s future descendants.<\/p>\n
Once I existed, I became a living key.<\/p>\n
Richard already knew.<\/p>\n
That was why he built his trust around Mark and me.<\/p>\n
Not to enrich us.<\/p>\n
To place a barrier between Arthur and the assets.<\/p>\n
Two beneficiaries from different branches of the story.<\/p>\n
Neither could be controlled easily alone.<\/p>\n
At least that had been the theory.<\/p>\n
Then Hodge said something that made Dad grip the boathouse wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur has someone near Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard asked who.<\/p>\n
Hodge refused.<\/p>\n
Richard threatened him.<\/p>\n
Hodge said:<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone Robert trusts more than you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tape ended.<\/p>\n
Mom looked at Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason began reviewing the photographs.<\/p>\n
One showed Hodge meeting Briggs.<\/p>\n
Another showed Victor entering Meridian offices.<\/p>\n
Another showed Arthur alive in 1996.<\/p>\n
Then I saw a familiar face.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the photograph.<\/p>\n
A younger Dad stood outside a restaurant.<\/p>\n
Across from him was Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
Dad stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The date was 1997.<\/p>\n
Three weeks before Richard died.<\/p>\n
Mom looked at Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou met him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the back, Mercer had written:<\/p>\n
BRIGGS MEETING R. BENNETT \u2014 CONTACT UNKNOWN.<\/p>\n
Dad shook his head repeatedly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Mom whispered, \u201cUnless he used another name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stopped.<\/p>\n
He looked again.<\/p>\n
Recognition arrived slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called himself Walter Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett & Cole.<\/p>\n
Henry\u2019s accounting firm.<\/p>\n
The surname Cole.<\/p>\n
Dad had met Briggs believing he was Henry\u2019s former business associate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Henry had contacted him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSophie.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse accelerated.<\/p>\n
Dad said Briggs claimed Henry was unstable and might try to reach me.<\/p>\n
That was why Dad became hypervigilant.<\/p>\n
That was why, years later, when Henry called about my school pickup, Dad immediately believed he was dangerous.<\/p>\n
Briggs had planted the fear years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe manipulated you into distrusting Henry,\u201d Mom said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd did Henry know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
Federal agents had located Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Eighty-one years old.<\/p>\n
Living in Virginia.<\/p>\n
He had already heard about the Meridian warrants.<\/p>\n
Agents arrived at his house forty minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
It was empty.<\/p>\n
A neighbor saw him leave before dawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did he go?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Mason looked at the lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then an officer shouted from inside the boathouse.<\/p>\n
Another compartment had been found beneath the floor.<\/p>\n
Not buried.<\/p>\n
Hidden.<\/p>\n
Inside was a recent duffel bag.<\/p>\n
Fresh clothes.<\/p>\n
Medication.<\/p>\n
A burner phone.<\/p>\n
Someone had been staying here.<\/p>\n
Mason checked the medication label.<\/p>\n
Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
The old prosecutor had returned to the lake house.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently?\u201d Dad asked.<\/p>\n
Mason examined the prescription.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The burner phone contained one outgoing number.<\/p>\n
Called six times since yesterday.<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s detention attorney.<\/p>\n
Mason immediately contacted federal custody.<\/p>\n
Arthur was still secured.<\/p>\n
Then another number appeared.<\/p>\n
One incoming call.<\/p>\n
Twenty minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
The hospital.<\/p>\n
Henry\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n
Rebecca answered when Mason called her.<\/p>\n
Her voice was panicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe disappeared during a transfer for imaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mason looked toward the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid anyone see him leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA nurse saw an older man in a physician\u2019s coat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDescription?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhite hair. Glasses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Briggs.<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca, where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Henry\u2019s room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStay there.\u201d<\/p>\n
She suddenly went quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something on the bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sent it.<\/p>\n
The image appeared on Mason\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n
Henry, unconscious in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
Beside him stood Walter Briggs.<\/p>\n
Behind them was a sign.<\/p>\n
Not the hospital.<\/p>\n
A road marker.<\/p>\n
Route 22.<\/p>\n
Dad recognized it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat goes toward St. Aldwyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Rebecca found a note beneath the photograph.<\/p>\n
Only one sentence.<\/p>\n
ARTHUR LIED ABOUT WHO KILLED LAURA.<\/p>\n
Rebecca read it aloud.<\/p>\n
Her voice broke.<\/p>\n
Mason asked, \u201cIs there more?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned the note over.<\/p>\n
Another sentence.<\/p>\n
HENRY KNOWS BECAUSE HE WAS THERE.<\/p>\n
Dad kept staring at the name Mason had written. Daniel Mercer. I had never heard it before, but Dad looked as though the letters themselves had reached into his past. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8591","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\/8591","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=8591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8611,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8591\/revisions\/8611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}