Chapter 5 - WHAT HIS FATHER LEFT
Martin met them in a private family room at the hospital.
He spread three documents across the table.
“The property belonged to a company your father controlled,” he said. “His trust held the company’s ownership interest.”
Daniel stared at the address.
Their address.
“The seller was Harbor Ridge Holdings.”
“Yes. A separate company that acquired the house during the estate administration.”
“From who?”
“From your father’s company. At a fraction of market value.”
Elena folded her arms.
“Then sold it to us.”
Martin nodded.
“For almost three times that amount.”
Daniel felt his chair shift beneath him.
They had emptied savings for the down payment.
Taken on a mortgage that kept Elena awake at night.
Thanked Vivian for finding them a bargain.
“Who owns Harbor Ridge?” Elena asked.
“We’re tracing that.”
Daniel already knew one name they would find.
He looked toward the hallway, where Lily was drawing beside a nurse.
“Why put Noah under the floor?”
Martin didn’t answer.
Bell did.
“He found something they wanted. And when he wouldn’t keep quiet, they confined him.”
“For six hours?”
“The length of time may not have been their original plan. That doesn’t change what they did.”
Daniel pressed his hands together until they hurt.
Martin slid over the settlement Ruth had wanted him to sign.
A paragraph near the bottom released the estate administrator from claims based on disclosed transactions.
Attached was a schedule listing the house transfer.
The description was buried among dozens of entries.
“She wanted my signature before I understood it.”
“Yes.”
Elena pointed at another attachment.
“What’s this?”
A scanned acknowledgment bearing Daniel’s name.
Martin watched his face.
“Did you sign it?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
Daniel leaned closer.
The signature looked right.
Almost.
Then he saw the date.
March 18.
He pulled out his phone and searched his photographs.
A hospital wristband.
A monitor.
Lily asleep against Elena’s shoulder.
“That’s the day Lily had her appendix out,” he said. “We were at Children’s Memorial from five in the morning until the next afternoon.”
Martin sat back.
“Then we have somewhere concrete to start.”
Across the room, Bell answered a call.
She listened without speaking.
When she hung up, her expression had hardened.
“Wade Mercer’s truck was found behind a storage facility.”
“Did they get him?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
She looked at the brass key sealed in an evidence bag.
“But the facility has a unit numbered 214.”
Elena reached for Daniel’s hand.
May you like
Bell’s next words made him grip it harder.
“And someone requested access to that unit twenty minutes ago.”
