Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Came With Him.
Julianne expected Special Agent Rachel Sloan to sound suspicious when she called from the hotel bathroom.
Instead, Sloan asked one question.
"Are you safe right now?"
Julianne looked at the locked door.
"Yes."
"Is David Mercer with you?"
"He's asleep in the other room."
Sloan told her not to confront him again.
She asked Julianne to describe how she had paid for the trip, what Blue Meridian Holdings was, and whether David had access to the company's bank account.
Julianne explained that she had formed Blue Meridian because David wanted her to build a corporate wellness consulting business.
He had offered to send clients.
He had told her the nineteen-thousand-dollar payment was an advance for work she would perform after the trip.
She had believed him.
Sloan asked whether Julianne had invoices.
Julianne opened her laptop.
There was one invoice created by David and emailed to her three weeks earlier.
It listed "executive wellness strategy services" but had no scope, dates, or deliverables.
Julianne had never sent it to anyone.
David had instructed her to save it in case the bank asked questions.
Sloan's tone changed slightly.
"Can you forward that to me?"
Julianne did.
Then she forwarded the yacht receipts, the bracelet receipt, and photographs of David's laptop screen.
One image showed a transfer spreadsheet.
Another showed a folder labeled FAMILY RESERVES.
Sloan asked whether Julianne could access the laptop itself.
"It's password protected."
"Do not attempt to bypass it."
Julianne nodded even though Sloan could not see her.
"Am I in trouble?"
Sloan did not reassure her carelessly.
"I can't give you legal advice."
She paused.
"You should consider speaking with an attorney."
Julianne closed her eyes.
"I didn't know Lilly was dying."
"Tell me what you did know."
Julianne described the airport call.
She remembered Maya's voice through David's phone, sharp with panic.
She remembered asking David whether they should delay the connection.
He had laughed and said Maya once took Lilly to urgent care for a rash that was only detergent irritation.
He said hospitals made Maya dramatic.
Julianne had accepted the explanation because accepting it allowed her to board the next flight.
That truth hurt more than she wanted to admit.
"I knew Lilly was in a hospital."
Julianne's voice broke.
"I didn't know she was dying, but I knew something was wrong."
Sloan let the silence remain.
Julianne continued.
"I should have told him to go home."
"You are responsible for your own decisions."
Sloan's voice remained calm.
"David is responsible for his."
Julianne wiped her face.
"What do you need me to do?"
Sloan gave her a secure address for preserving copies of messages.
She told Julianne not to delete anything.
She told her that if David discussed the trust, she could listen, but she should not provoke him into making statements.
Most importantly, she told Julianne to get home safely.
The next morning, Julianne changed hotels.
She told David she needed space.
He accused her of betrayal.
She said she was sick.
He said Maya had poisoned her against him.
Julianne did not mention Sloan.
For three days, she stayed in a small room near the airport while trying to move her return flight forward.
A tropical storm canceled several departures and overbooked the rest.
David called twenty-three times.
Julianne answered only twice.
On the second call, he sounded sober.
"I need you to understand something."
Julianne recorded the conversation using the voice memo function on her tablet after confirming with her attorney that local law allowed her to record a call she participated in.
"What?"
"The money was borrowed."
"From your daughter's account."
"From a family account."
"Named after your daughter."
David became irritated.
"Semantics are not useful right now."
Julianne almost hung up.
Then he kept talking.
"Maya had no right to freeze it."
"It required her approval."
There was a pause.
"She approved the rule change."
Julianne looked at the notes Sloan had told her not to discuss.
"Did she?"
"Yes."
"Then why is she claiming the signature was forged?"
David's silence lasted three full seconds.
"Because she wants leverage in the divorce."
Julianne felt cold.
"You told me you weren't getting divorced."
"I told you the marriage was over emotionally."
"That is not the same thing."
David exhaled.
"You are focusing on irrelevant details."
Julianne thought of Lilly's memorial program.
"When did you learn Lilly died?"
Silence.
"David?"
"I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"Messages were coming constantly."
"Did you see Nicole's message?"
"I saw previews."
Julianne gripped the tablet.
"Did you see the words 'Lilly died'?"
David's voice changed.
"I saw something like that."
Julianne stopped breathing.
"When?"
"The next morning, maybe."
"And you stayed?"
"I thought Maya was escalating."
"Nicole sent it."
"Maya uses other people."
Julianne stared at the wall.
No amount of charm could make the sentence sound normal anymore.
"Did you ever call the hospital?"
"No."
"The funeral home?"
"No."
"Your mother?"
"I called Mom."
"Did she tell you?"
"She was hysterical."
Julianne's voice rose.
"Did she tell you Lilly was dead?"
David snapped.
"I did not let her manipulate me into a conversation."
There it was.
The sentence Sloan had not asked Julianne to obtain but would later replay in a courtroom.
Julianne ended the call.
She sent the recording to her attorney.
Her attorney sent it to Sloan under a cooperation agreement.
Two days later, a seat opened on David's original return flight.
Julianne could have taken an earlier connection through Atlanta, but her attorney advised her to remain on the ticket already documented by investigators unless she felt unsafe.
She agreed.
That decision would place her three steps behind David when he entered his house.
For the rest of the trip, Julianne avoided him.
David spent his days by the pool, drinking less and checking his phone more.
He searched federal fraud penalties.
He searched whether a spouse could withdraw from a child's trust.
He searched whether bank records could identify IP addresses.
Sloan obtained those search histories later.
David also searched one phrase repeatedly.
Can deleted texts be recovered from iPhone.
By then, the answer no longer mattered.
Julianne had copies.
Maya had copies.
May you like
The bank had logs.
And Lilly's final night had already been preserved minute by minute.
