Chapter 4 - The Dark House
The mansion became silent.
Not ordinary silence.
Electronic silence.
The security panel stopped humming.
The refrigerator cut off.
The lights vanished.
Even the faint motors controlling the window shades went dead.
Walter immediately moved.
“Claire, down.”
She obeyed without understanding why.
Thomas pulled Ryan behind the marble kitchen island.
Ryan resisted.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving you from yourself,” Thomas whispered.
Evelyn reached beneath her jacket and removed a compact flashlight.
She did not panic.
That worried Claire more than panic would have.
“Backup power should have activated,” Evelyn said.
Walter pressed his radio.
Nothing.
“No signal.”
Thomas looked toward the front windows.
The black vehicles remained outside.
But their lights were off.
The driveway gate stood open.
Claire whispered, “What’s happening?”
Walter crouched beside her.
“Someone knew we opened the file.”
“How?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
Glass shattered in another room.
Claire jumped.
Walter held one finger to his lips.
Footsteps followed.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Ryan whispered, “Call the police.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“We already did.”
Ryan blinked.
“When?”
“Before your father arrived.”
“Then where are they?”
Nobody answered.
Ryan understood before Claire did.
The police were not coming.
Or someone had made sure they would come late.
Walter moved toward the hallway.
Claire grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
He looked back.
“I need to see who came inside.”
“You’re seventy.”
Walter’s mouth twitched.
“So I’ve been told.”
Despite everything, Claire nearly smiled.
He disappeared into the dark hallway.
Thomas stayed near Claire.
She looked at him.
“You seem very calm.”
“I’m not.”
“You look calm.”
“That’s different.”
Footsteps sounded again.
Closer.
Then Walter’s voice came from the hall.
“Stop.”
A second voice answered.
“Still giving orders, Walter?”
Thomas’s face changed.
He knew the voice.
A man stepped into the living room.
He was approximately fifty-five.
Gray suit.
No tie.
Rain on his shoulders.
He held no visible weapon.
Walter walked behind him.
The stranger raised both hands slightly.
“Relax.”
Walter did not.
Thomas stood.
“Marcus.”
Claire looked between them.
“You know him too?”
Thomas gave a humorless laugh.
“Apparently everyone knows everyone except us.”
Marcus smiled.
“That was always the idea.”
Walter’s eyes stayed fixed on him.
“Marcus Vale.”
Claire had heard the name.
Everybody in Bellweather County had.
County Executive Marcus Vale had been elected three times.
He gave speeches at high schools.
He opened hospitals.
He appeared in charity commercials every Christmas.
He was also the man Claire’s mother had once called “the future of honest government.”
Marcus looked at Claire.
“You look like Laura.”
Claire felt sick.
“You knew my mother.”
“Very well.”
Walter stepped between them.
“Why are you here?”
“Because someone killed the power.”
“And you happened to arrive at the same moment?”
Marcus smiled.
“Suspicious timing.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You still enjoy games.”
“I enjoy surviving.”
Marcus walked toward the window.
Outside, one of Evelyn’s people appeared and waved.
A few seconds later, the lights returned.
The security system rebooted.
Evelyn checked her phone.
“External line was physically cut.”
Walter looked at Marcus.
“Who told you we opened the file?”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“Daniel Cross.”
Nobody spoke.
Walter’s expression became unreadable.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus removed a small envelope from inside his coat.
“He contacted me six days ago.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Cross is alive?”
“So he claims.”
Walter took the envelope.
Inside was a Polaroid photograph.
It showed an older man standing beside a newspaper.
The date on the front page was from the previous week.
Walter sat down.
Claire had never seen him look shaken.
“Where is he?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Then how did you get this?”
“A courier.”
Claire studied Marcus.
“Why would he contact you?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Because he thinks your mother left something behind.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Thomas and Walter exchanged a look.
Claire noticed.
“You know about it.”
Thomas answered first.
“We knew Laura kept records.”
Walter added, “We never found them.”
Marcus pointed toward Ryan.
“Apparently someone else thinks she gave them to him.”
Ryan stared.
“To me?”
Marcus nodded.
Ryan laughed.
“I was sixteen when she died.”
“Exactly.”
Claire frowned.
“Why would that matter?”
Marcus studied Ryan.
“Because your mother wasn’t the only person hiding things inside the Mercer family.”
Thomas went pale.
Ryan turned toward him.
“Dad?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Marcus continued.
“Laura had an ally inside Mercer Consolidated.”
Claire looked at Thomas.
“Was it you?”
“No.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It was Ryan’s mother.”
Ryan stared at him.
“My mother died when I was seventeen.”
Marcus nodded.
“Eight months after Laura Bennett.”
Walter looked at Thomas.
“You told everyone Katherine had cancer.”
“She did.”
Marcus gave Thomas a hard look.
“That isn’t the whole story.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“What are you saying?”
Marcus reached into his pocket.
Thomas grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
The room froze.
Ryan stared at his father.
“What is he about to show me?”
Thomas said nothing.
Marcus pulled his hand free.
Then he placed a folded note on the table.
Ryan recognized the handwriting before he opened it.
Claire saw the recognition on his face.
“My mom wrote this.”
Ryan unfolded it.
His lips moved silently.
Then his entire expression changed.
Claire watched his arrogance collapse into confusion.
“What does it say?” she asked.
Ryan looked at Thomas.
May you like
His voice was barely audible.
“She says my father isn’t Thomas Mercer.”
