Chapter 14 - My Father’s Last Command
I watched the video three times.
Each time, my father’s words became harder to accept.
Especially then.
He had been willing to risk his own grandson.
Grace sat beside me on the pool-house floor with a blanket around her shoulders. Her hair smelled like smoke.
“You saved him,” I said.
“I did what anyone would do.”
“No.” I looked at her. “You ran into a burning room.”
She looked away.
I wanted to thank her. I also wanted to demand why she had hidden so much from me. Both feelings existed at once, sharp and uncomfortable.
Melissa broke the silence.
“There’s more.”
The ledgers showed that Martin Hale controlled several shell companies tied to the stolen trust money. Adrian had access. Eric had received payments. Victoria had received smaller transfers labeled consulting fees.
But the largest account belonged to someone identified only by initials.
R.M.
Grace went pale.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head too quickly.
“Grace.”
“My sister used those initials in her notes.”
“For who?”
“She called the person ‘R.M.’ because she was afraid to write the full name.”
Melissa typed through the corporate records.
Then she stopped.
“Daniel.”
She turned the laptop toward me.
A trust company in Nevada listed an authorized beneficiary.
Rebecca Mercer.
My dead wife.
I laughed once because the alternative was shouting.
“That’s impossible.”
Grace stared at the screen.
“Maybe R.M. wasn’t receiving the money.”
Melissa nodded slowly. “Maybe the account was created in her name to frame her.”
I thought of Eric’s message.
SHE WASN’T THE VICTIM YOU THINK SHE WAS.
Then the front door of the pool house opened.
A detective entered with two officers.
“Mr. Mercer, we need to speak privately.”
“About what?”
He held up an evidence bag.
Inside was a bloodstained wrench.
“We recovered this from your brother Eric’s storage unit.”
My stomach dropped.
“The lab matched residue on it to the brake line from your wife’s vehicle.”
He paused.
“And there’s a second set of fingerprints.”
“Whose?”
May you like
The detective looked directly at Grace.
“Hers.”
