Chapter 8 - The Man From the Cliff
Mercer hit like a truck.
He drove me into a filing cabinet and reached for Claire. Lucas swung a fire extinguisher into his shoulder. Mercer cursed, shoved him aside, and ran toward the rear stairwell.
"Stay with Sophie!" I yelled.
I chased him.
I grabbed the back of his jacket.
He spun and punched me across the mouth.
"You should've stayed in New York," he said.
Then he tore free and sped away.
Those six words mattered.
Only a handful of people knew I was supposed to be in New York.
Adam was one of them.
The fire department contained the blaze before Lucas's office was destroyed. His digital backups survived.
So did one physical file Mercer had apparently tried to find.
Inside was a copy of Vanessa's employment history.
Three years earlier, she had worked as "client relations director" for a private medical company called Meridian Behavioral Services.
Meridian had owned St. Catherine's.
Claire stared at the page.
"Vanessa was there."
"When you were nineteen?"
"No. She would've been a teenager. But her mother worked there."
Claire closed her eyes.
"Dr. Evelyn Hale."
The name came back to her like a bad smell.
Evelyn Hale had been the psychiatrist who treated Claire after a suicide attempt at nineteen.
Vanessa's mother.
"She knew everything about me," Claire whispered. "My diagnosis. My medications. My family history."
Lucas nodded grimly. "And Vanessa later used that information in the death petition."
I felt sick.
"So she didn't just meet Claire before me. Her family had access to Claire's medical records for years."
Claire looked toward Sophie sleeping in Mrs. Alvarez's arms.
"This was never about meeting you by accident."
My phone rang from an unknown number.
I answered.
Vanessa's voice whispered, "If you want Sophie to live, stop digging."
I stood. "Where are you?"
"Somewhere Martin can't hear me."
"You expect me to believe you're protecting her?"
"No. But you should believe I'm afraid."
Her breathing shook.
"Adam isn't the one in charge, Ethan. Martin isn't either."
"Then who is?"
Vanessa was silent for two seconds.
"My mother."
Claire's face went white.
May you like
Vanessa continued.
"And she just found out Claire is alive."
