Chapter 5 - THE MAN THEY ARRESTED
Emma couldn't breathe.
“Daniel didn't kill Mom.”
Noah nodded.
“Then someone wants him blamed.”
Jack looked at Luke.
“Where is he?”
“Downtown.”
“Let's go.”
They reached the police station forty minutes later.
Daniel was sitting alone in an interview room.
His tuxedo was gone.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up.
For the first time, he looked exhausted.
When Emma entered, he stood.
“Emma.”
She stopped outside the glass.
Daniel looked at her cheek.
The bruise had darkened.
His face fell.
“I am sorry.”
She said nothing.
“I should never have hit you.”
“You shouldn't have.”
“I lost control.”
“That doesn't explain eleven months.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“No.”
“You cheated.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You humiliated me.”
“Yes.”
“And you gave her my bracelet.”
Daniel looked down.
“I know.”
Emma finally entered.
“I don't forgive you.”
“I don't expect you to.”
“Then why are you here?”
Daniel stared at her.
“Because I didn't kill your mother.”
Emma's eyes remained cold.
“I know.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“You believe me?”
“I believe the evidence matters.”
He nodded.
Then he told her something she didn't expect.
“My father knew your mother.”
Emma's expression changed.
“How?”
“They were investigating the same company.”
“Which company?”
“Mercer Holdings.”
“That makes no sense.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My father was chief financial officer.”
Emma knew that.
He had died years before she met Daniel.
“He discovered money disappearing.”
“Through Richard?”
Daniel nodded.
“Richard was already involved.”
“Why did your father trust him?”
“He didn't.”
Daniel's voice lowered.
“My father was trying to expose him.”
Emma sat down.
“Then what happened?”
“My father died.”
“Accident?”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at him.
“Like my mother.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Silence.
Then Daniel pulled a photograph from his pocket.
It showed four people standing outside a warehouse.
His father.
Emma's mother.
Richard Bell.
And a fourth person whose face had been scratched away.
Emma took it.
“Who is that?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did you get this?”
“My father left it in a safety deposit box.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Daniel's face twisted.
“Because I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“I knew my father had done something illegal.”
Emma stared.
“What?”
“He helped create the shell companies.”
Emma understood.
“So your father wasn't innocent.”
“No.”
Daniel looked down.
“But he tried to stop it.”
Emma remembered her mother's recording.
Don't hate him either.
Maybe she hadn't been talking about Daniel's father.
Maybe she had been talking about Daniel.
A detective entered.
“Mr. Mercer, we need to continue.”
Emma stood.
“Can I speak to him first?”
The detective hesitated.
Noah stepped forward.
“She's his wife.”
The detective allowed it.
Emma turned back to Daniel.
“Where is Richard?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he know you were arrested?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He called me before I left the house.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel swallowed.
“He said, ‘If they arrest you, let them.’”
Emma's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“He said you would come looking for the truth.”
“And?”
Daniel looked at her.
“He said you'd open the red door.”
Emma froze.
The same phrase.
Daniel continued.
“He told me the red door was never meant to protect a secret.”
“What was it meant to protect?”
Daniel's face became pale.
“A witness.”
Emma left the station.
Outside, Jack was waiting.
“What did he say?”
Emma told him.
Noah immediately pulled out the old photograph.
“There is something we've missed.”
He pointed to the warehouse in the background.
A red door.
Above it was a small number.
17.
Luke checked his laptop.
“Warehouse seventeen was demolished nine years ago.”
Jack frowned.
“No.”
“What?”
“I remember the property.”
Jack's eyes narrowed.
“It wasn't demolished.”
He showed them a photograph taken recently.
The warehouse was still there.
But the red door had been replaced.
Luke zoomed in.
Behind the new door was a symbol.
A circle with three lines.
Emma recognized it.
Her mother had drawn that symbol on the back of letters.
“What is it?”
Noah answered.
“A storage company.”
“Whose?”
Luke searched.
Then stopped.
“Daniel's.”
Emma stared.
“That's impossible.”
Luke shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at the screen.
“The warehouse is owned by a trust.”
“Who controls it?”
Luke's face went blank.
“Emma.”
“What?”
May you like
“The trustee is listed as Eleanor Hayes.”
Emma's dead mother.
