Chapter 9 - The Uncle Who Buried the Case
Chief Daniel Mercer entered the ballroom with twelve police officers.
Nobody stopped him.
Marcus could have ordered the barrier lowered again.
I told him not to.
I wanted Daniel inside.
My uncle looked almost exactly as I remembered him from family Christmases.
Tall.
Gray at the temples.
Calm eyes.
A gentle voice.
The man who sent birthday cards every year.
The man who hugged me at my college graduation.
The man whose signature sat beneath the words DECEASED AT SCENE on my mother’s case file.
He saw the photograph in my hand.
His face went blank.
“Where did you get that?”
I walked toward him.
“You tell me.”
Daniel glanced at Harrison.
Then Gavin.
Then Marcus.
“This event is now under police authority.”
“No.”
His eyes returned to me.
“Evelyn.”
“You’re standing in a privately controlled estate under an active security hold.”
“I have jurisdiction.”
“Then show me a warrant.”
A murmur moved through the crowd.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“There was a report of unlawful confinement.”
“There was also an assault.”
“I’ll investigate both.”
I held up the photograph.
“Start with this.”
He stared at it.
I turned it over.
“May 14, 2008.”
His face became pale.
“Mom was alive six months after you signed her death report.”
He lowered his voice.
“This is not the place.”
“It became the place when you walked in.”
Daniel looked around.
Three hundred witnesses.
Dozens of phones.
Cameras everywhere.
He could no longer control the audience.
He tried a softer approach.
“Your father is coming.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re his brother.”
“That doesn’t mean I track him.”
I showed him the payment record.
His expression changed again.
“Richard Mercer received two million dollars from Crowe-linked accounts.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you know I was kidnapped?”
His silence answered before his mouth did.
I felt something inside me break.
“You knew.”
“Evelyn.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
The word barely left his mouth.
I stepped backward.
“How many people in my family decided I wasn’t allowed to know my own life?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“You were a child.”
“I’m thirty-three now.”
“There were reasons.”
“There are always reasons when powerful people lie.”
Harrison gave a humorless laugh.
Daniel glared at him.
“You should keep your mouth shut.”
Harrison smiled.
“That stopped working tonight.”
I looked between them.
“You two knew each other long before Mom’s case.”
Daniel did not answer.
Harrison did.
“Your uncle was the first officer at the crash.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Harrison shook his head.
“He was there before the crash.”
Daniel moved toward him.
“Enough.”
Marcus stepped between them.
Harrison continued.
“Caroline called Daniel that night.”
“Why?”
“Because she trusted him.”
My uncle’s eyes filled with something I had never seen before.
Shame.
I whispered.
“What did she tell you?”
Daniel looked at me.
“She said she had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
He swallowed.
“That someone inside your family ordered your kidnapping.”
The room went silent.
My voice barely worked.
“Who?”
Daniel stared toward the locked service hallway.
May you like
Then he said.
“Your grandfather.”
