Chapter 9 - The Photograph With Three Faces
Rebecca insisted she had not deleted the footage.
Daniel wanted to believe her.
That frightened him.
Because belief had failed his family before.
"Take my phone," Rebecca said.
She placed it on the table.
"My laptop. My passwords. Everything."
Claire studied her.
"Victor may have stolen her credentials."
"Exactly," Rebecca said.
Daniel remained silent.
Elise watched him.
"You trust her?"
"I did yesterday."
Rebecca flinched.
Daniel regretted it immediately.
Before he could apologize, Rebecca's phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived from an unknown number.
All four gathered around the screen.
It was old.
Margaret Mercer stood outside the original hotel.
Beside her was Arthur.
And beside Arthur—
Rebecca.
Except impossible.
Rebecca was forty-one.
She would have been fourteen when the photograph was taken.
Elise looked closer.
"That's not Rebecca."
Rebecca whispered, "It's my mother."
Daniel turned.
"What?"
"Her name was Helen Sloan."
Claire stared.
"I knew Helen."
Rebecca nodded slowly.
"She worked for Mercer Development."
The missing person Margaret mentioned on the tape.
Someone Arthur trusted.
Rebecca looked devastated.
"My mother died when I was seventeen."
"How?"
"Suicide."
No one spoke.
Rebecca had joined Mercer Hospitality years later, never realizing her mother's history connected to Daniel's family scandal.
Or perhaps someone knew exactly.
Daniel asked, "Why didn't you tell me she worked for my father?"
"Because I didn't know it mattered."
"What did she do?"
"Executive assistant."
Claire whispered, "To Victor."
Everything shifted.
Margaret believed someone inside the company was helping Victor.
Could that person have been Helen?
Rebecca shook her head.
"My mother wasn't a criminal."
Claire gently replied, "Neither was I."
Rebecca looked at her.
The sentence wasn't accusation.
It was warning.
Evidence could lie.
That night they went through Helen Sloan's records.
Old employment files.
Tax documents.
Personal papers Rebecca kept after her death.
Inside one box they found a diary.
Most entries were ordinary.
Bills.
Work.
Rebecca's school activities.
Then one page mentioned Margaret.
M came again today. She knows about V. I told her I would help. God forgive me for waiting so long.
Rebecca began crying.
Her mother hadn't helped Victor.
She had been helping Margaret.
Another entry:
If V discovers what I've copied, Rebecca could be in danger.
Daniel closed the book.
"Your mother was trying to expose him."
Rebecca wiped her face.
"So Victor destroyed her too."
The final diary entry came two days before Helen's death.
Arthur has the photographs. T has the negatives. C found the money. M found the names. All the pieces exist. If one of us survives long enough, the truth survives too.
Elise read it again.
"Four people."
Margaret.
Thomas.
Claire.
Arthur.
Each held one piece.
Victor had spent decades eliminating or frightening them one by one.
But he hadn't counted on their children bringing those pieces together.
The photograph that had been anonymously sent contained writing on the back.
They enhanced the image.
Three words:
ASK ABOUT REBECCA.
Victor was trying to divide them.
Daniel realized it.
"He wants us suspicious."
Rebecca looked at him.
"Is it working?"
Daniel met her eyes.
"Almost."
Then he pushed her phone back.
"Which means we stop playing his game."
They took everything to federal investigators.
The case expanded.
Hawthorne accounts.
Bribery.
Fraud.
Potential obstruction.
Possible involvement in suspicious deaths.
But investigators warned them.
Evidence from decades ago would be difficult.
They needed current criminal activity.
Daniel smiled grimly.
"Victor threatened Claire last night."
"Can you prove it?"
"No."
The elevator malfunction?
No direct proof.
The fire?
Credentials traced to Rebecca.
Victor had insulated himself.
Again.
So Daniel decided to make Victor come to them.
They announced publicly that Claire Mercer was alive.
The story exploded.
News networks gathered outside Mercer Tower.
Old photographs of Claire appeared online.
Daniel released a statement:
"My sister was wrongly accused more than two decades ago. Our family is cooperating with authorities to establish the truth."
He deliberately didn't mention the ledger.
Victor appeared on television hours later.
He expressed joy at Claire's survival.
He said he hoped the family could heal.
Elise nearly threw something at the screen.
"He's good."
Daniel nodded.
"Very."
Then Victor made one mistake.
A reporter asked when he had first learned Claire was alive.
"Yesterday," Victor replied.
Daniel paused the television.
The text message to Elise had arrived two nights earlier.
And Victor had called Daniel at Claire's house before any announcement.
They couldn't prove who sent the text.
But Daniel had recorded Victor saying he heard about the dinner.
Rebecca smiled.
"He lied publicly."
"Not criminal."
"No."
"But useful."
Public opinion shifted when reporters discovered Victor had chaired the trust committee during the old theft investigation.
Questions multiplied.
Victor's reputation began cracking.
Then Elise received another message.
This one included a photograph.
Claire sleeping.
Taken inside Daniel's secured apartment.
Elise's blood turned cold.
Beneath it:
THE NEXT PICTURE WILL BE WORSE.
Daniel called security.
No forced entry.
No unknown visitors.
Which meant whoever took the photograph had legitimate access.
Only five people did.
Daniel.
Elise.
Claire.
Rebecca.
And Daniel's longtime head of security.
Michael Grant.
Michael had worked for Daniel for eighteen years.
Daniel trusted him more than almost anyone.
Which was exactly why, when Michael entered the room ten minutes later, Daniel looked at him differently.
"Everything okay?" Michael asked.
Daniel studied his oldest employee.
Then noticed something.
A tiny red scratch on Michael's wrist.
The same kind of scratch Elise had seen on the maintenance man who followed Daniel in the garage.
Michael followed Daniel's gaze.
Too late.
Daniel's expression changed.
May you like
And Michael slowly reached inside his jacket.
---
