Chapter 4 - What Jack Lost
Jack Hayes did not want to tell Daniel about the night Thomas Mercer disappeared.
Daniel had to earn it.
That realization was new to him.
Daniel was accustomed to doors opening when he entered.
Jack seemed determined to keep one closed.
They met at a small veterans' center near Pilsen.
Jack had agreed only because Daniel arrived without lawyers, security guards, or cash.
“Better,” Jack said.
Daniel sat across from him.
“I found Elias Grant's widow.”
Jack's eyes changed.
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“How is she?”
“Still protecting secrets.”
Jack gave a sad smile.
“She was always tougher than Elias.”
Daniel placed the Polaroid on the table.
“Richard found you.”
Jack looked at the photograph.
His shoulders sank.
“I wondered if that survived.”
“What happened?”
Jack stared at the picture for a long time.
Then he began.
Twenty-two years earlier, Thomas Mercer had hired Jack for security work after noticing irregularities inside Mercer Financial.
At first, Thomas suspected internal fraud.
Then he discovered the fraud involved shell companies, pension funds, and municipal investment accounts.
Millions were being diverted through offshore entities.
Some of that money came from retirement funds belonging to ordinary workers.
Police officers.
Teachers.
City employees.
Thomas quietly investigated.
He found signatures belonging to Richard Mercer.
But Richard was not alone.
Two senior executives.
An outside attorney.
A political fundraiser.
And at least one bank compliance officer.
Thomas prepared to take the evidence to federal authorities.
Then files disappeared.
His office was searched.
Someone followed Daniel home.
Jack remembered Thomas calling him at 2:14 in the morning.
“He didn't sound scared for himself,” Jack said.
“He asked about you.”
Daniel swallowed.
Jack continued.
Thomas believed his family was being watched.
Daniel was twenty-six then, newly building his first technology company.
Unmarried.
Ambitious.
Oblivious.
“Why not tell me?”
Jack's expression sharpened.
“Because you would have confronted Richard.”
Daniel knew immediately that was true.
“And Richard knew that.”
Jack nodded.
Thomas and Jack built a plan.
Elias Grant arranged for an unclaimed body of similar height and age to be incorrectly identified after a vehicle fire.
Thomas vanished.
Jack drove him out of Illinois.
Before leaving, Thomas removed his watch.
“He said he couldn't take anything recognizable.”
Jack looked at his wrist.
“He handed it to me.”
Daniel's voice was low.
“Why you?”
“Because I was supposed to give it to you when everything was safe.”
“Twenty-two years.”
Jack looked away.
“It never became safe.”
Daniel stared.
“What happened after the Polaroid?”
Jack exhaled.
“We were in Minnesota.”
“We?”
“I stayed with him intermittently.”
Daniel felt another surge of anger.
“You knew where he was.”
“Yes.”
“And never told me.”
“Yes.”
“I visited his grave.”
“I know.”
“I spoke at that grave.”
Jack's eyes hardened.
“You think I don't know what it cost you?”
“You don't.”
Jack leaned forward.
“And you don't know what keeping you alive cost everyone else.”
The room went still.
Daniel's anger faltered.
Jack continued.
“Richard's people found us twice.”
“People?”
“Private investigators at first. Then men who didn't ask questions.”
Daniel said nothing.
“We moved Thomas through Minnesota, then North Dakota, eventually west.”
“What did you lose?”
Jack laughed bitterly.
“Everything gradually enough that I didn't notice until it was gone.”
He had missed work.
Lost contracts.
Refused to testify falsely about stolen documents.
Mercer Financial's lawyers accused him of theft.
His security license became difficult to renew.
Clients disappeared.
His wife left after years of unexplained absences and threats she did not understand.
His son stopped speaking to him.
Jack took warehouse jobs.
Driving jobs.
Night security.
Each time his identity surfaced in background checks, questions followed.
Then came medical bills.
A foreclosure.
A benefits dispute.
By sixty-three, he was sleeping in his truck.
By sixty-five, the truck was gone.
Daniel sat silently.
“Why didn't you come to me?”
Jack smiled without humor.
“And say what? Hello, billionaire son of the man I helped fake his death. Your uncle destroyed my career. Can I sleep in your guest room?”
“I could have helped.”
“You couldn't help when you didn't know.”
“Then you should have told me.”
Jack's expression softened.
“Thomas made me promise.”
Daniel looked down.
“Where is my father?”
Jack did not answer.
Daniel raised his eyes.
“Is he alive?”
Jack stared at him.
The hesitation was answer enough.
Daniel whispered, “He's dead.”
Jack looked away.
“When?”
“Seven years after he disappeared.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
His father had died fifteen years ago.
Not twenty-two.
He had gained seven years and lost them in the same second.
“How?”
“Cancer.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Cancer?”
“Pancreatic.”
“Where?”
“Arizona.”
“Was he alone?”
“No.”
Daniel's breath caught.
“I was there.”
Jack's voice broke for the first time.
“He asked about you every day.”
Daniel stood so quickly his chair scraped backward.
“Don't.”
Jack looked up.
“Don't tell me he asked about me.”
“He did.”
“He could have called.”
“He believed Richard was still watching.”
“I don't care.”
“He cared.”
Daniel turned away.
“He stole seven years from me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel spun back.
Jack did not defend Thomas.
That made it worse.
“He made the wrong choice,” Jack said.
Daniel stared.
“He thought he was protecting you.”
“He wasn't.”
“I know.”
Jack's eyes glistened.
“He knew too.”
Silence.
Daniel slowly sat.
“What do you mean?”
“Near the end, your father knew the danger had changed. He knew he should have contacted you earlier.”
“Why didn't he?”
“Because by then he was ashamed.”
Daniel looked at him.
Jack continued.
“He thought you'd hate him.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“I might have.”
“He knew.”
Daniel stared at the watch.
“You were with him when he died?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Jack looked down at his wrist.
“He gave me a letter.”
Daniel stopped moving.
“A letter?”
“For you.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Daniel's anger returned.
“You've withheld enough.”
“The letter is the last piece.”
“Then give it to me.”
Jack shook his head.
“Not until you understand what Richard did.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Daniel slammed his hand against the table.
“Stop deciding what I can handle!”
Jack did not flinch.
“I promised your father I would give you the letter when you had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Richard didn't just steal money.”
Daniel's pulse slowed.
“What else?”
Jack looked toward the door.
“He betrayed your father twice.”
Daniel stared.
“The first betrayal forced Thomas to disappear.”
Jack's voice grew quiet.
“The second ensured he could never come home.”
Daniel felt cold.
“What did Richard do?”
Jack took a folded photocopy from his coat.
He placed it on the table.
It was a death certificate.
Not Thomas's.
A woman named Laura Mercer.
Daniel stopped breathing.
“That’s my mother.”
Laura had died when Daniel was sixteen.
Cancer.
At least, that was what Daniel had always been told.
Jack pointed to a handwritten notation attached to the archived file.
Daniel read it.
AUTHORIZED RECORD ACCESS — R. MERCER.
Date: six years after Laura Mercer's death.
One year before Thomas died in Arizona.
Daniel looked up.
“Why was Richard accessing my mother's medical records?”
Jack's expression was grim.
“Because your mother knew about the money before she died.”
Daniel stared at him.
May you like
“And your father eventually discovered that Richard had been afraid of her too.”
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