Chapter 7 - The Family Business
The ambulance took Claire upstairs.
Daniel wanted to follow.
She stopped him.
“Find the files.”
“What files?”
“Under the cot.”
They returned to the steel room.
Michael pulled a loose tile from beneath the bed.
Inside was a waterproof folder.
Daniel opened it.
Bank statements.
Property records.
Photographs.
Names.
Too many names.
He recognized city officials.
Former police chiefs.
Judges.
Contractors.
And one name appeared again and again.
Richard Mercer.
Their father.
Daniel stared at Michael.
“You knew?”
Michael shook his head.
“Not until Claire came to me.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“You knew for four years that she was alive?”
“For three days.”
“What?”
Michael pointed toward the folder.
“She came to me after she found these records. She wanted help taking them to the FBI.”
“Why not me?”
“She thought you were involved.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Everybody seems to think that.”
“Your signature was everywhere.”
“I trusted you.”
“I know.”
Daniel grabbed Michael’s jacket.
“That doesn’t make this better.”
Grant pulled them apart.
Michael’s eyes filled with anger.
“You want the truth? Fine. Dad trained you not to look too closely. He taught you that asking questions meant you didn’t trust family.”
Daniel released him.
The words hurt because they were true.
Michael continued.
“Claire disappeared before we could meet the agents.”
“Because Vanessa took her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa’s father was one of Dad’s partners.”
Daniel stared.
Vanessa had told him her father died in a boating accident when she was a teenager.
Michael shook his head.
“Not true.”
“Who was he?”
“Arthur Vale.”
Daniel knew the name.
Everybody in their city did.
Arthur Vale had been a powerful property developer.
He disappeared after a corruption investigation fifteen years earlier.
His body was never found.
Daniel looked toward the stairs.
“Vanessa Vale.”
Michael nodded.
“She changed her last name.”
“Why marry me?”
“Control.”
The answer came from Claire behind them.
She was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a paramedic beside her.
Daniel rushed toward her.
“You should be upstairs.”
“I’ve spent four years being told where I should be.”
Her voice was weak, but her eyes were fierce.
“I’m done.”
Daniel stopped.
Claire looked at Michael.
“Tell him the rest.”
Michael hesitated.
Claire snapped, “Tell him.”
Michael exhaled.
“Vanessa wanted access to the Mercer holdings.”
“For her father?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Michael looked at Claire.
Claire answered.
“For herself.”
Daniel frowned.
“Arthur Vale is alive.”
Daniel felt the floor drop beneath him.
“What?”
Claire nodded.
“He helped build the entire bribery network with your father.”
Michael added, “When the investigation got close, they staged Vale’s death.”
Daniel stared at them.
“Where is he?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“I don’t know.”
A sound came from upstairs.
A shout.
Then glass breaking.
Officer Grant grabbed his radio.
“Unit one, status?”
Static.
Then an officer screamed:
“Vanessa’s loose!”
Daniel ran for the stairs.
By the time he reached the hallway, the chair was empty.
One officer lay unconscious beside the shattered window.
Sophie was crying.
Ethan stood in front of her holding a fireplace poker like a weapon.
Daniel grabbed both children.
“Where did she go?”
Ethan pointed toward the back door.
“She took your gun.”
Daniel froze.
May you like
Then Sophie said something worse.
“She said Grandpa is coming.”
