Chapter 10 - The Dead Man’s Number
“Your father is dead,” Maria said.
Daniel stared at the card. “I watched them lower his coffin.”
“Did you see his body?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
Jonathan Mercer had supposedly died of a heart attack while traveling in Costa Rica. The body was returned in a sealed casket because of “transport damage.” Daniel had been too numb to challenge it.
He dialed the number on the card.
It rang once.
A man answered. “You shouldn’t be there.”
Daniel went white.
“Dad?”
The line went quiet.
Then: “Daniel.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
Daniel gripped the phone. “Where are you?”
“Leave the house. Now.”
“What did you do to Anna?”
“I tried to protect this family.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you get if you want your daughter alive.”
Daniel’s anger exploded. “Don’t you threaten Lily.”
“I’m warning you, not threatening you. Claire isn’t the only person who wants those records gone.”
Maria stepped closer. “Ask him who Ray works for.”
Daniel did.
His father laughed without humor. “Ray works for money. Claire works for herself. And you, son, have spent your whole life working for men you never bothered to meet.”
“What men?”
“City officials. Contractors. Developers. People who don’t go to prison because they buy the people who build prisons.”
Daniel looked sick.
“Anna found the ledger,” Jonathan continued. “The real one. Not Claire’s little red notebook.”
“Where is it?”
“She hid it.”
“In the box?”
“No.”
Maria looked around Lily’s room.
Jonathan’s voice dropped. “Your wife was smarter than all of us. She knew someone would find the obvious hiding place.”
A crash came from the front of the house.
The officer shouted.
Daniel turned toward the hall.
On the phone, Jonathan said, “You have thirty seconds.”
“For what?”
“To get Lily out.”
May you like
Maria smelled gasoline.
Then orange light bloomed under the bedroom door.
