Chapter 5 - What Eli Remembered
Eli did not want to tell his father.
That surprised Nora.
Not because the boy feared Dante.
He clearly loved him.
But children knew things adults forgot.
They knew when a parent already carried too much.
Nora sat beside the bed.
“Why don’t you want your dad to know?”
Eli picked at the edge of his blanket.
“He’ll get mad.”
“At you?”
“No.”
“Then at who?”
“Everybody.”
Nora almost smiled.
“That sounds possible.”
Eli looked toward the doorway.
“Dad says the library room is private.”
“What room?”
“There’s a wall that opens.”
Nora had seen enough movies to think hidden rooms belonged in ridiculous mansions.
Then she remembered whose son she was talking to.
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve never been in?”
Eli shook his head.
“Dad keeps papers there.”
“How do you know Reed has a key?”
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“Three nights ago.”
Nora leaned closer.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Eli inhaled.
“I woke up because I wanted water. I went downstairs. Mr. Reed was in Dad’s library.”
“At night?”
Eli nodded.
“He had this little metal key.”
“What did he do?”
“He moved one of the books. Then part of the wall opened.”
Nora’s pulse quickened.
“Did he see you?”
“No.”
“What happened after?”
“He went inside.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know. I got scared.”
“Why?”
Eli looked ashamed.
“Because I knew he wasn’t supposed to.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I went upstairs.”
“And the next day?”
“He gave me the silver candy.”
The connection hit Nora immediately.
“Was that the first time?”
“No.”
“But something changed?”
Eli nodded.
“He watched me swallow it.”
Her throat tightened.
“Did he usually?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
“That I had to stop hiding them.”
Nora went still.
“You were hiding them?”
Eli looked at her.
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“They made me feel weird.”
“What kind of weird?”
“Tired. My chest felt jumpy.”
Every instinct Nora had developed while caring for Sam screamed.
“And Reed knew you were hiding them?”
“I think.”
“How?”
“He found one in my desk.”
Nora sat back.
This had not been a random attempt.
Reed had been adjusting because Eli was resisting.
“What happened yesterday?”
Eli’s eyes darkened.
“I heard him on the phone.”
Nora waited.
“He said, ‘The boy is becoming a problem.’”
Her stomach turned.
“What else?”
“Something about Friday.”
“Try to remember.”
“He said Dad would sign after the funeral.”
Nora stopped breathing for one second.
“Eli.”
The boy’s eyes filled.
“I think he meant mine.”
Nora grabbed his hand.
“No one is taking you anywhere.”
Tears slipped down his cheeks.
“I ran.”
“You did exactly the right thing.”
“I didn’t have shoes.”
“That part could use work.”
Eli laughed weakly.
It broke the tension.
Then Dante entered.
The smile vanished from Eli’s face.
Dante noticed.
“What?”
Neither spoke.
Dante looked at Nora.
“What happened?”
She stood.
“Eli remembered something.”
Fear entered Dante’s eyes immediately.
He moved closer.
“Buddy?”
Eli stared at the blanket.
Nora sat beside him.
“You want me to tell him?”
Eli nodded.
So she did.
The library.
The hidden wall.
Reed’s key.
The phone call.
The words about a funeral.
By the time Nora finished, Dante had become frighteningly quiet.
“You have a hidden room?” she asked.
“A secure records vault.”
“And Reed had access?”
“No.”
“Apparently he did.”
Dante did not argue.
“What’s in there?”
“Business records. Trust documents. Personal files.”
“Anything worth killing Eli over?”
Dante looked at his son.
Then at Nora.
“Yes.”
Detective Walsh arrived within thirty minutes.
Police were dispatched to the Mercer estate.
Dante wanted to leave immediately.
Dr. Morris refused to release Eli.
Eli refused to remain without Nora.
Nora watched father and son stare at each other.
Finally she said, “Go.”
Dante looked at her.
“I’ll stay.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
“I know.”
Something passed through Dante’s face.
Trust.
Reluctant.
Unfamiliar.
But real.
“Call me if anything changes.”
“I will.”
He crouched beside Eli.
“I’ll be back.”
“Promise?”
Dante hesitated only because promises had become dangerous in this room.
Then he touched his son’s hair.
“I promise.”
After he left, Eli slept.
Nora sat by the window.
Outside, Chicago moved as if no one had tried to kill a child.
Buses ran.
People carried coffee.
Cars honked.
She thought about Sam.
Toward the end, he had hated people treating him as fragile.
“I’m sick,” he once told Nora. “I’m not made of glass.”
Eli reminded her of him.
Not physically.
In the stubbornness.
The quiet courage.
At 4:30 that afternoon, Dante called.
“Nora.”
She heard movement.
“What happened?”
“The vault was opened.”
“What’s missing?”
“Three documents.”
“What documents?”
“One involves Eli’s trust.”
Her heart sank.
“The others?”
“A controlling agreement for Mercer Logistics and a sealed letter from Eli’s mother.”
Nora hesitated.
“His mother?”
Dante went silent.
Nora had not asked.
Eli never mentioned her.
“She died when he was four.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
“What was in the letter?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never opened it?”
“She asked that it be given to Eli when he turned eighteen.”
Nora looked at the sleeping boy.
“And Reed took it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That is what I’m trying to understand.”
Someone spoke behind Dante.
Then he said, “We found blood.”
Nora stiffened.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know.”
“Is anyone hurt?”
“No one here.”
A pause.
“We also found another candy wrapper.”
Nora shut her eyes.
“In the vault?”
“On the floor.”
Something about that made no sense.
“Why would Reed eat or carry one there?”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Then Eli was inside.”
Silence.
“Nora.”
“Ask him when he wakes.”
Dante exhaled.
“You really think—”
“Yes.”
Twenty minutes later Eli opened his eyes.
Nora waited until he drank water.
Then she asked gently.
“Did Mr. Reed ever take you into the hidden room?”
Eli’s face drained of color.
That was answer enough.
“What happened?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
“You’re safe.”
He shook his head.
“He said Dad would go to jail.”
Nora leaned closer.
“If you told?”
“Yes.”
“What did he show you?”
“A picture.”
“Of what?”
“Dad.”
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know. There were men.”
Eli struggled to remember.
“Mr. Reed said police would take Dad forever.”
Nora’s skin prickled.
“And then?”
“He told me if I wanted to keep Dad safe, I had to take the candy.”
The cruelty of it stole Nora’s words.
Reed had not merely poisoned Eli.
He had convinced a child that swallowing poison protected his father.
Eli began crying.
“I thought I was helping.”
Nora wrapped her arms around him.
“You were tricked.”
“I should’ve told Dad.”
“You were nine years old dealing with an adult who lied to you.”
“I’m nine now.”
Despite everything, Nora smiled.
“Yes. That’s generally how age works.”
He gave a watery laugh.
Then his face became serious again.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“The night I ran.”
Nora waited.
Eli looked toward the door.
“I heard another person with Mr. Reed.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Man or woman?”
“Man.”
“What did he say?”
Eli closed his eyes.
Then repeated the words.
“Dante will never suspect family.”
Nora felt cold.
Because Adrian Reed was dangerous.
But the voice Eli heard suggested Reed was not working alone.
May you like
And somewhere inside Dante Mercer’s own family was a second person who wanted his son gone.
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