Chapter 12 - THE SECOND ATTEMPT -
Chaos swept through the courthouse hallway.
Officers pushed reporters back.
Paramedics surrounded Dr. Mercer.
The dart contained a fast-acting sedative, but the dose was not fatal.
Security footage showed a maintenance worker leaving the hallway seconds before Mercer collapsed.
The worker’s identification badge was fake.
My mother had already disappeared.
Her attorneys claimed they did not know where she had gone.
Nathan did not believe them.
Neither did I.
Mercer regained consciousness at the hospital two hours later.
Detectives refused to let me enter his room, but Nathan received permission to observe the interview.
Mercer admitted that Vivian had paid him for years.
At first, the payments covered harmless favors.
He altered medical appointment records.
He wrote private reports about family members.
He prescribed medications without proper examinations.
Then my father discovered the financial transfers.
Vivian demanded something more serious.
According to Mercer, she asked him to give Arthur a drug that would mimic heart failure.
Mercer claimed he refused.
The detectives did not believe him.
Neither did Nathan.
When confronted with the ledger, Mercer began to cry.
He admitted that he had supplied the medication.
He insisted that Vivian administered it.
Rosa had seen Vivian crushing tablets into my father’s tea.
After Arthur died, Vivian paid Mercer to sign the death certificate without requesting an autopsy.
The same medication had later been given to Elena in smaller doses.
“What did Vivian want to accomplish?” a detective asked.
“To make Elena appear unstable.”
“Why?”
“Because of the trust.”
Nathan called me immediately.
“What trust?”
“Mercer says your father changed his estate plan before he died.”
I remembered the will.
My mother inherited the manor and received lifetime access to several family accounts.
Lucas and I divided the company shares.
There had been no mention of Elena.
“There must be another document,” Nathan said.
“Where?”
“Mercer only heard Vivian discuss it.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Arthur had tied control of the company to the birth of your first child.”
I looked through the hospital window at Elena.
My father had been excited when we announced the pregnancy, even though the baby had not yet been conceived when he died.
Perhaps he had anticipated the future.
Perhaps he had known my mother would try to retain control through Lucas.
My phone rang.
It was an international number.
Lucas spoke before I could answer.
“Mom is gone.”
“Where are you?”
“At the airport.”
“Do not get on that plane.”
“I already did.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You helped her.”
“I helped myself.”
His voice cracked.
“But she emptied the accounts and left me with everything.”
“What everything?”
“The shell companies.”
A boarding announcement sounded behind him.
Lucas lowered his voice.
“She planned for one of us to take the fall.”
“Then come back and testify.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
There was a long silence.
Then Lucas whispered the name of a private airfield outside the city.
“She is leaving tonight.”
The call ended.
May you like
Nathan checked the time.
We had less than forty minutes.
