Chapter 4 - THE SECRET MY MOTHER TOOK TO HER GRAVE
I read the sentence twice.
Then a third time.
Ryan stared over my shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Dad looked terrified.
Mom sat down.
“Your mother did know.”
Dad turned toward her.
“Don't.”
Mom shook her head.
“It's too late.”
I looked at her.
“Tell me.”
She wiped her eyes.
“Years ago, before you joined the Navy, your father became involved in a contract dispute.”
“With whom?”
“The company that supplied equipment to several government agencies.”
“That doesn't explain the note.”
“It will.”
She looked at Dad.
“He was accused of falsifying invoices.”
Dad's face tightened.
“I was never charged.”
“Because Emily found the records.”
I stared.
“What records?”
Dad looked at me.
“You were sixteen.”
I remembered.
Boxes in the garage.
Old paperwork.
My mother crying.
My father telling me never to touch his office files.
I had forgotten the details.
Or maybe I had been told to forget.
“You were sixteen when you found evidence that someone was stealing from the company.”
I looked at Dad.
“That was me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you call me disappointing?”
Dad's face crumbled.
“Because I was ashamed.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“Ashamed of what?”
“That my daughter had found what I couldn't.”
Silence.
Mom continued.
“Your father wanted to fix it quietly.”
“And?”
“He couldn't.”
“Who was responsible?”
Mom looked at Commander Hayes.
He answered.
“We don't know yet.”
“Then what's the connection to Ryan?”
Dad spoke.
“When Ryan entered the SEAL pipeline, someone began asking questions about Emily.”
I felt cold.
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the records you found at sixteen disappeared.”
I stared.
“Someone took them.”
Dad nodded.
“Someone who believed you copied them.”
“But I didn't.”
“I know that now.”
Ryan looked at me.
“What did you find?”
“Financial records.”
“From Carter Industries?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
I thought.
“I don't know.”
Commander Hayes interrupted.
“That's not entirely true.”
He placed a small memory card on the table.
“This was recovered from the old family house.”
My pulse jumped.
“When?”
“Last week.”
I recognized the handwriting on the label.
My mother's.
For Emily.
I inserted it into the secure reader.
A video appeared.
My mother sat in front of the camera.
She looked tired.
Older.
Afraid.
I couldn't breathe.
“Emily,” she said on the recording.
“If you're watching this, something happened that I couldn't prevent.”
Tears filled my eyes.
She continued.
“Your father was not the person I feared.”
Dad lowered his head.
“The person I feared was inside our family.”
The recording ended.
Ryan stared at the screen.
“Who?”
Nobody knew.
Then the door opened.
A senior chief entered.
“Commander, we have a problem.”
Hayes turned.
“What?”
“The June incident file was accessed remotely.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“By whom?”
The chief handed him a tablet.
“An account belonging to Captain Emily Carter.”
I froze.
“That wasn't me.”
“I know.”
Hayes looked at the screen.
“Someone is using your credentials.”
Ryan's face changed.
“Why would someone use Emily's credentials?”
Admiral Brooks entered behind the chief.
“To make it look like she accessed Ryan's file.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“So that if something happens to him, suspicion falls on her.”
The room went cold.
Dad stood.
“Who would want Ryan hurt?”
Hayes looked at him.
“That's the question.”
I looked at the silver watch.
The hidden message.
The old records.
My mother's warning.
Then I remembered something.
The note in the photograph had said:
She was there first.
Not Ryan.
Me.
I turned toward Commander Hayes.
“My first deployment.”
He looked at me.
“What about it?”
“There was someone on the helicopter manifest.”
“A civilian consultant.”
I nodded.
“And he disappeared after the crash.”
Hayes stared at me.
“What was his name?”
I closed my eyes.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Admiral Brooks looked at Hayes.
Hayes's expression changed.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel Mercer disappeared twelve years ago.”
Ryan frowned.
“Who was he?”
Hayes answered quietly.
“Your uncle.”
My stomach dropped.
Dad staggered backward.
“You said he died.”
Hayes looked at him.
“I said he disappeared.”
I turned to Dad.
“You knew?”
He couldn't answer.
Then the senior chief rushed back into the room.
“Sir.”
Hayes turned.
“We found the account that accessed the file.”
“Whose?”
The chief swallowed.
May you like
“Daniel Mercer's.”
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