Chapter 14 - HOME
Our house was surrounded by police within thirty minutes.
Mercer wasn’t there.
Not anymore.
But he wanted us to think about home.
About the place where David and I had built our life.
About the nursery where Logan had slept.
About every ordinary thing he had poisoned.
Internal affairs moved us to a secure federal building.
Alessandro disappeared.
Nobody would tell me where.
David was discharged early under guard.
He looked terrible.
He also refused to stay in bed.
“He wants something,” David said.
Rachel nodded.
“The files are already out.”
“So it isn’t evidence.”
“What, then?”
David looked at me.
“Revenge.”
I hated that he was probably right.
At 11:47 p.m., every phone in the room rang.
Simultaneously.
Then the lights went out.
Backup power came on.
An agent shouted.
“Lockdown!”
A screen on the wall turned on by itself.
Mercer appeared.
Live video.
He sat inside my house.
In Logan’s bedroom.
Rage nearly blinded me.
Mercer smiled.
“I always liked this room.”
David moved closer.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“You already had me.”
“I want you to admit what you did.”
David frowned.
“Philadelphia?”
“Not just Philadelphia.”
Mercer leaned toward the camera.
“Tell Catherine why I chose you.”
David’s face changed.
Mercer laughed.
“There it is.”
I looked at David.
“What?”
He said nothing.
Mercer continued.
“Your husband didn’t accidentally discover me, Catherine.”
My skin prickled.
“He approached me.”
I turned.
“David?”
David looked sick.
“Years ago, yes.”
“Why?”
Mercer answered for him.
“Because he wanted revenge for his father.”
David closed his eyes.
Mercer smiled.
“He agreed to infiltrate Romano finances for me.”
I looked at Alessandro’s empty chair.
“So he did work against Alessandro.”
“Yes.”
Mercer nodded.
“Your sweet husband wanted everyone responsible for his father’s death destroyed.”
David spoke.
“I believed Alessandro ordered it.”
Mercer laughed.
“And I encouraged that belief.”
I finally understood.
“You used him.”
“For years.”
Mercer shrugged.
“Then David became inconveniently moral.”
David stared at the screen.
“You sold witness names.”
“You murdered a man in Philadelphia.”
“So did you.”
“Difference is, I was better at hiding it.”
Agents were tracing the signal.
Rachel whispered, “Keep him talking.”
I stepped closer to the camera.
“You’re sitting in my son’s bedroom bragging because you’re scared.”
Mercer’s smile faded.
“Excuse me?”
“You lost.”
“You think this is losing?”
“The files are out.”
“Files disappear.”
“Witnesses don’t.”
He leaned toward the screen.
“I’ve buried witnesses before.”
I forced myself not to react.
Then something moved behind him.
A shadow.
Mercer noticed too late.
Alessandro stepped into frame.
Gun raised.
Mercer spun.
The video shook.
A shot fired.
Then another.
The feed went dark.
David shouted.
“Alessandro!”
Agents rushed toward the exits.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at my house.
Police everywhere.
The front door hung open.
I ran toward it.
Inside, Alessandro sat against the wall bleeding from his shoulder.
Alive.
Mercer lay facedown nearby.
Hands cuffed behind him.
Also alive.
Alessandro looked annoyed.
“He talks too much.”
I stared at him.
“You could’ve killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He smiled weakly.
“You people keep trying to make me a better person.”
Mercer lifted his head.
“You think this is over?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
He smiled.
Then he said something that froze David in place.
“Tell her about the second copy.”
David’s face went white.
I slowly turned.
“What second copy?”
May you like
Mercer laughed as officers dragged him away.
David whispered, “The one I never found.”
