Chapter 10 - The Letter From a Dead Man
Daniel Mercer's letter was six pages long.
Thea read it twice.
Lachlan read it once and remembered almost every word.
According to Daniel, his gambling debts had not started as gambling debts.
Graham Vale had recruited him.
Daniel had been married to Elena.
He had access to family events, schedules and conversations.
At first, Vale asked for harmless information.
When was Lachlan traveling?
Which companies were being considered for acquisition?
What did August Voss intend to do with voting shares?
Daniel received money.
Then Vale asked for more.
Documents.
Passwords.
Copies of Elena's files.
By the time Daniel realized the information was being used for fraud, he owed Vale hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He tried to stop.
Vale threatened to expose everything.
Then Julian appeared.
The letter claimed Julian knew about the arrangement.
Not necessarily the murders.
Not necessarily the theft.
But enough.
“I don't believe it,” Lachlan said.
They were in the hospital's private family room.
Thea looked at him.
“You don't want to.”
“Different.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
He stood near the window.
“Julian can be selfish. Ambitious. Cruel when it benefits him.”
“That is a fascinating defense.”
“He isn't a murderer.”
“Daniel apparently thought he was dangerous.”
“Daniel was an addict.”
Caroline flinched.
Lachlan saw.
“I'm sorry.”
She shook her head.
“He was.”
Her eyes filled.
“But he was also terrified.”
Caroline had found the letter hidden in an old storage unit.
“Why wait three years?” Thea asked.
“I didn't know it existed.”
“When did you find it?”
“Last week.”
“Why come now?”
“Because I saw Sophie's wedding photograph online.”
Caroline looked toward the child sleeping in the adjoining room.
“I realized she was back in public.”
Lachlan's expression hardened.
“She was never yours to worry about.”
Caroline stood.
“She is my niece too.”
“You disappeared.”
“Because you threatened me.”
Thea turned toward Lachlan.
“You what?”
His jaw tightened.
“After Daniel died, I told his family to stay away from Sophie.”
“You didn't tell me that.”
“It wasn't relevant.”
Thea gave him a look.
“No secrets.”
He exhaled.
“I was angry.”
Caroline laughed bitterly.
“You said if any Mercer approached Sophie, you'd destroy us.”
Lachlan looked uncomfortable.
Thea crossed her arms.
“Charming.”
“I had just buried my brother-in-law and believed his addiction had endangered Elena.”
“Understandable,” Thea said. “Still terrible.”
“Yes.”
Caroline wiped her eyes.
“I stayed away because I thought Sophie was safe.”
“Why don't you think she is now?”
“Because Graham Vale called me three days ago.”
Everyone became still.
“What did he say?” Lachlan asked.
“He offered me money.”
“For?”
“Daniel's storage unit.”
“He knew about the letter.”
“I think he suspected Daniel kept records.”
“How did Vale know you had access?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you accept?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He threatened my daughter.”
Thea's anger rose.
“You have a child?”
“Fourteen.”
“Where is she?”
“With federal protection now.”
Lachlan sat.
Another family pulled into the same nightmare.
All because of secrets left behind by dead people.
“What else was in the storage unit?” Thea asked.
Caroline opened her bag again.
“A key.”
Small brass.
Number engraved: 314.
“Locker?”
“I don't know.”
Lachlan examined it.
“Daniel worked near Union Station.”
Marcus nodded.
“Storage lockers there use electronic cards.”
“Bank box?”
“Possible.”
Thea turned the key over.
On the opposite side was a tiny logo.
A bird.
She nearly dropped it.
“Bellamy & Croft?”
Lachlan frowned.
“No.”
He studied the symbol.
“It resembles their logo.”
Caroline whispered, “Daniel called it the Sparrow.”
“What?”
“The group.”
Lachlan looked up.
“What group?”
“He said Vale wasn't working alone. He called the people behind the money 'the Sparrow.'”
Thea felt the mystery widening again.
“What is Sparrow?”
Nobody knew.
Marcus photographed the key and sent it for analysis.
Twenty minutes later, they had an answer.
Private safe-deposit company.
Sparrow House Depository.
Located beneath an old bank building downtown.
Box 314.
They went that night.
Federal agents accompanied them.
The safe-deposit company required a second credential.
Caroline produced Daniel's old driver's license.
No match.
Lachlan tried Elena's.
No.
Thea noticed the clerk examining the key.
“What?”
The woman pointed.
“This isn't the customer's key.”
“Whose is it?”
“Master beneficiary key.”
“What does that mean?”
“The box belongs to a trust.”
“Which trust?”
The clerk checked.
Then her expression changed.
“Voss Foundation.”
Lachlan stared.
His grandfather's charitable foundation.
Of course.
Paperwork took an hour.
At 10:23 p.m., box 314 opened.
Inside were no jewels.
No cash.
Only files.
A flash drive.
And a ledger.
Old-fashioned paper.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Thea turned pages.
Politicians.
Executives.
Consultants.
Doctors.
Private investigators.
Graham Vale appeared repeatedly.
Then Julian.
She looked at Lachlan.
His face went cold.
“How much?”
Julian had received money on seven occasions.
Total: $4.2 million.
Caroline whispered, “Daniel was right.”
Lachlan said nothing.
Then Thea found a date.
The week Elena died.
Payment to Graham Vale.
$500,000.
Payment to an unknown account.
$250,000.
Code: JV-17.
Julian Voss?
Maybe.
Lachlan turned away.
Thea touched his arm.
“We don't know.”
“You thought it five seconds ago.”
“Thinking isn't knowing.”
He looked at her.
Those were his own words from earlier.
He recognized them.
“Guilt isn't evidence,” she said.
“No.”
“Neither is betrayal until we understand what these payments were.”
Lachlan nodded.
Marcus connected the flash drive to an isolated forensic laptop.
Encrypted.
Federal technicians began working.
Then Thea noticed an envelope beneath the ledger.
Her name was written on it.
Not Thea.
FOR THE GIRL WHO MARRIES LACHLAN.
Everyone stared.
Thea's fingers trembled.
“How could Daniel know you'd marry?”
“He couldn't,” Lachlan said.
“Then who wrote this?”
She opened it.
The letter inside was in Elena's handwriting.
Lachlan recognized it instantly.
Thea read aloud.
> If you're reading this, Astrid succeeded in something I spent years trying to prevent: turning Lachlan into a respectable married man.
Despite everything, Lachlan almost laughed.
Thea continued.
> I'm sorry you were brought into our family without being told how dangerous loyalty can become here.
The room went quiet.
> Lachlan will tell you he doesn't need help. Ignore him. He will tell you he's protecting you by shutting you out. Don't let him.
Thea looked up.
Lachlan avoided her eyes.
Caroline smiled faintly.
The letter continued.
Elena described discovering the financial scheme.
She didn't name the mastermind.
She wasn't sure.
But she had suspicions.
Three people.
Graham Vale.
Julian Voss.
And—
Thea stopped.
“What?” Lachlan asked.
She couldn't say it.
He took the page.
Read.
His face changed.
The third name was Emil Hart.
The man who had served the Voss family for thirty-four years.
The man currently caring for Sophie.
Lachlan's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
No response.
“Emil?”
Nothing.
The line remained open.
Then a sound.
Sophie crying.
Lachlan went white.
A man's voice whispered through the phone.
“Uncle Lachlan?”
Not Emil.
Not anyone they recognized.
Then Sophie screamed.
The line died.
Security traced the phone.
The townhouse.
Thea's heart stopped.
They raced outside.
By the time they reached the secure property, the front door was open.
One guard lay unconscious in the hallway.
A second had been shot in the shoulder.
Emil was gone.
So was Sophie.
On the kitchen table lay the child's stuffed rabbit.
And beside it, one message.
BRING THE LEDGER. COME ALONE.
Lachlan stared at the empty room.
Everything controlled in him disappeared.
“Thea.”
She looked at him.
His voice broke.
“They took her.”
The little girl who had already lost her mother had now been taken by the same conspiracy.
And for the first time, Lachlan Voss wasn't thinking like a CEO.
May you like
He was thinking like an uncle who had one family member left to save.
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