Chapter 4 - The Man Upstairs
I turned so fast I nearly knocked over the lamp.
A shadow moved in the hallway.
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
One of my security guards, Tom, stepped in front of Rosie.
The second guard moved toward the door.
“Stay here.”
He disappeared into the hallway.
A crash came from downstairs.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Running.
Tom handed Rosie to Elena.
“Lock this door.”
I followed him.
“Mr. Mercer—”
“It’s Sofia’s house.”
“Then stay behind me.”
We ran down the stairs.
The back door was swinging open.
Rain blew across the kitchen floor.
Tom rushed outside.
I followed far enough to see a dark figure jump the fence.
A black SUV peeled away from the alley.
Tom shouted the license plate.
Too late.
It vanished.
We searched the house.
A drawer in Sofia’s office had been pulled open.
The desk had been disturbed.
Someone had been looking for something.
I called the police.
Then I remembered Sofia’s envelope.
NOT THE POLICE.
I stopped before pressing call.
Why would she write that?
I looked at Tom.
“Call Detective Hayes.”
He had handled Sofia’s crash.
Tom nodded.
I called someone else first.
A private forensic accountant named Laura Chen.
She had worked for Mercer Development five years earlier.
Sofia trusted her.
Forty minutes later, Laura was sitting at Sofia’s kitchen table with the bank documents spread out before her.
She studied them in silence.
Finally she looked up.
“This is bad.”
“How bad?”
“At least six million dollars.”
My stomach dropped.
“Stolen?”
“Moved.”
“To whom?”
“Shell companies. Some offshore.”
She pointed to one name.
“Northmark Consulting.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“I have.”
I looked at her.
She turned her laptop toward me.
Northmark Consulting LLC.
Registered agent: Michael Mercer.
My brother.
I stared at the screen.
“No.”
Laura didn’t blink.
“Daniel.”
“No. Michael has been with me since day one.”
“So?”
“He wouldn’t.”
“You asked me what the records say.”
She tapped the screen.
“They say he’s involved.”
Elena sat across from us.
“And Vivienne?”
Laura opened another document.
“Two of these transfers were approved using her credentials.”
I closed my eyes.
Everything inside me felt unstable.
My brother.
My fiancée.
Sofia.
Rosie.
A dead woman’s ring.
A hidden key.
An intruder.
Then Detective Hayes arrived.
He was a heavyset man in his fifties with tired eyes and an expensive watch.
He looked at the broken back door.
“Somebody break in?”
“Looks that way.”
“Anything stolen?”
“I don’t know.”
His eyes drifted toward the papers.
“What are those?”
I covered them with my hand.
“Personal documents.”
Hayes looked at me.
Then at Laura.
Then at Elena.
His expression changed.
Not much.
But enough.
“You found something,” he said.
I didn’t answer.
His phone rang.
He stepped outside.
Laura watched him leave.
Then she whispered,
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Look at his watch.”
I looked through the window.
Gold case.
Black leather band.
Nothing unusual.
Laura turned her laptop again.
One of the shell company payments included a purchase invoice.
Luxury goods.
Serial number listed.
A watch.
Same model.
Same year.
My chest tightened.
Then Rosie walked into the kitchen carrying Sofia’s old phone.
“Daddy.”
I stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Mommy hid it in my toy kitchen.”
The screen was cracked.
But it turned on.
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And there was one unsent video saved on it.
Recorded forty-three minutes before Sofia died.
