Chapter 6 - Daniel's Confession
Daniel Mercer did not deny the voice.
He sat beneath the conference-room lights with both hands clasped together while Detective Ortiz watched him carefully.
“I went to Room 617.”
Daniel spoke slowly.
“Charles called me from the hallway.”
Victoria stared at him.
“What did you see?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Claire was unconscious beside the bed.”
Sophie stopped breathing.
“Was she alive?”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
Sophie shot to her feet.
“You said she disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You saw her alive.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Sophie stepped toward him.
“Then where is she?”
Daniel looked at Victoria.
Then at Ortiz.
“I don’t know.”
Sophie’s face twisted with anger.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
Daniel stood.
“Charles ordered me to get a car from the private garage.”
Victoria remembered the garage beneath the east wing.
Few employees had access.
“Why?”
“He said Claire had fallen and needed treatment somewhere private.”
Ortiz leaned forward.
“You believed that?”
“No.”
Daniel swallowed.
“But I was afraid.”
He explained that Charles threatened to expose Daniel for helping Michael Torres copy financial records.
Daniel had secretly assisted Michael months before his disappearance.
If police found out, Charles claimed Daniel would be blamed for the missing money.
Worse, Charles threatened Daniel’s wife and infant son.
“I brought the car.”
Daniel whispered.
“Claire was wrapped in a hotel blanket.”
Sophie’s legs nearly gave way.
Ethan caught her chair.
Daniel continued.
“Evelyn was crying.”
“Was my grandmother with her?”
Sophie asked.
Daniel nodded.
“She climbed into the back seat.”
Victoria felt another memory return.
Her mother had vanished for almost two days after Claire disappeared.
Charles claimed Evelyn was staying with friends.
When Evelyn returned, she barely spoke.
Three years later, she developed a dependence on prescription medication.
Five years after Claire disappeared, Evelyn died from what the family called an accidental overdose.
Victoria had never questioned the timing.
“Where did the car go?”
Ortiz asked.
Daniel shook his head.
“Charles drove.”
“You didn’t follow?”
“No.”
“Did he return?”
“Four hours later.”
“Alone?”
Daniel nodded.
Sophie stared at him.
“What about my mother?”
“I never saw Claire again.”
Victoria pressed a hand to her forehead.
“What about Mom?”
“She returned the next afternoon.”
Daniel looked toward Victoria.
“She looked terrified.”
Sophie took the recorder from her backpack.
“My mother said the hotel wasn’t the only place.”
Everyone turned.
Sophie searched through the audio files.
“There’s another recording.”
Ortiz stopped her.
“How many?”
“Four.”
Victoria stared.
“You said there was more.”
Sophie nodded.
“My foster mother told me not to play everything until I found Victoria.”
Victoria’s guilt deepened.
“Who raised you?”
“Margaret Bennett.”
Claire’s mother-in-law.
“She died two months ago.”
Sophie looked down.
“She left me the backpack.”
Ortiz asked gently.
“Why come here now?”
“Because she left a letter.”
Sophie removed an envelope.
The paper was yellowed.
Victoria recognized Claire’s handwriting.
Sophie unfolded it.
“Find Victoria when you are old enough.”
“She may be the only person in that family who can still choose the truth.”
Victoria’s eyes burned.
Sophie looked at her.
“I wasn’t sure Mom was right.”
Victoria whispered.
“Neither am I.”
Sophie played the second recording.
Claire’s voice sounded calmer.
“If Room 617 is empty, go to the old Hale estate.”
Victoria stiffened.
The Hale estate had been abandoned since Evelyn’s death.
Claire continued.
“Behind the greenhouse is a stone well.”
Charles’s attorney appeared outside the conference room and knocked urgently.
Ortiz ignored him.
May you like
The recording finished with a sentence that sent cold through Victoria’s body.
“My father thinks no one knows what he buried there.”
