Chapter 13 - The Call at 6:12 A.M.
The next morning, my phone rang at 6:12.
Unknown number.
"Mr. Mercer?"
"Yes."
"My name is Thomas Vale. I used to work security at your house."
I remembered him vaguely.
Night shift.
Quiet.
Left six months earlier.
"Why are you calling?"
"Because I saw the news."
"Which part?"
"Mrs. Mercer's petition."
My stomach tightened.
"Talk."
Thomas took a breath.
"I didn't quit."
"You resigned."
"That's what the paperwork says."
"What happened?"
"I caught Beatriz in your office after midnight."
"When?"
"January."
I remembered January.
I had been in London.
"What was she doing?"
"Using your tablet."
"Did you report it?"
"To Owen Price."
Of course.
"Then?"
"He told me you authorized it."
"I didn't."
"I figured that out when Beatriz offered me twenty grand to forget what I saw."
"Did you take it?"
"No."
"Then why leave?"
Thomas went quiet.
"Because someone sent me pictures of my daughter walking to college."
Cold moved through me.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Did you keep anything?"
"Yes."
He had copied one security log before leaving.
It showed Beatriz entering my office seventeen times during my travel.
More importantly, it showed another badge entering after her.
A contractor credential assigned to a security consultant named Raymond Mercer.
I stared at the name.
"That's not possible."
"You know him?"
"He's my uncle."
My father's younger brother.
Raymond Mercer.
R.M.
I had not considered him because he had retired to Florida years ago.
At least, that was what I believed.
Raymond had spent his career building Mercer Global with my father.
When my father died, the board chose me as CEO.
Raymond left six months later.
He never forgave me.
But why Isabella?
Leah found the answer in the old family trust.
If I became legally incapacitated or removed as trustee for misconduct, the successor trustee named in Lauren's original documents was not Beatriz.
It was Raymond.
Lauren had signed the trust before our relationship with Raymond collapsed.
We never updated the succession clause.
Beatriz could get settlement money.
Rebecca could get control of the company.
Owen could steal fees.
Raymond could get the trust.
Everyone had a different prize.
My daughter was the common doorway.
I felt physically sick.
"Where is Raymond now?"
Leah checked.
"Not Florida."
"Where?"
She turned her screen.
A property record.
A small house nine miles from mine.
Purchased eleven months ago through a trust company.
The same month Beatriz moved in.
I drove there with investigators.
The house was empty.
Almost.
In the garage we found boxes of surveillance equipment identical to the device inside Isabella's stuffed rabbit.
Then an investigator called from upstairs.
"Grant."
I entered a bedroom.
One wall held photographs.
My daughter leaving school.
Maya arriving at my house.
Me at the airport.
Beatriz in the garden.
Then I saw the newest photograph.
Taken the previous night.
Isabella asleep in her bed.
May you like
Someone had been close enough to photograph her after Beatriz left the house.
