Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Daniel stared at the video.
“My father is dead.”
Mia saw the timestamp in the forwarded file.
It was dated nine months after William Mercer’s funeral.
Then Daniel noticed the silver watch on the man’s wrist.
He had placed that watch inside his father’s coffin himself.
Someone had lied about William Mercer’s death.
Daniel sat in his car without starting the engine.
The video lasted eleven seconds.
He played it again.
Elena moved through a hallway carrying a brown envelope.
The camera angle appeared to be from a security system.
She stopped near an elevator.
A tall older man crossed behind her.
Gray hair.
Broad shoulders.
A slight limp.
William Mercer.
Daniel’s father.
Impossible.
Daniel enlarged the image until the pixels blurred.
The man wore William’s watch.
A vintage Patek Philippe with a damaged clasp.
Daniel had grown up seeing it every morning at breakfast.
When his father died from what Vivian called a sudden cardiac event during a business trip, the casket had remained closed because the body had supposedly been badly damaged during emergency transport.
Daniel had insisted the watch be placed with him.
Vivian said the funeral director handled it.
Maybe Daniel had never actually seen it inside the coffin.
His hands began to shake.
Mia was still connected through the phone.
“You’re sure that’s him?”
“Yes.”
“How sure?”
“Ninety-nine percent.”
“That remaining one percent matters.”
“It’s him.”
“Then don’t go to Northbridge alone.”
Daniel started the car.
“Daniel.”
“I’m going.”
“I expected that.”
“Then why tell me not to?”
“Because I’m a lawyer. We’re required to occasionally say sensible things.”
Despite everything, Daniel nearly laughed.
Mia continued.
“I’m sending a private investigator.”
“No.”
“You lost the right to complain about people helping when you ignored every warning Elena gave you.”
That silenced him.
“His name is Marcus Hale. Former detective. He’ll meet you nearby.”
“How do you know him?”
“I’ve used him for domestic violence cases.”
Daniel flinched.
Domestic violence.
Was that how people would describe Elena now?
A woman shoved down stairs by a family member while her husband stood nearby?
He hated that the description fit.
Forty minutes later, Daniel reached Northbridge Genetics.
It sat inside a low commercial complex outside the city.
No grand hospital facade.
No illuminated sign.
Only smoked windows and a metal plaque beside the entrance.
A black SUV waited across the street.
Marcus Hale stepped out.
Mid-forties.
Dark jacket.
Expressionless face.
“You Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“Mia says you’re likely to do something stupid.”
“She sounds confident.”
“She knows you.”
“She knows my wife.”
Marcus studied him.
“From what I hear, you should start using ex-wife.”
Daniel looked away.
Marcus did not apologize.
“Building closes at six,” he said. “It’s almost four in the morning.”
“Then why are lights on?”
One room near the back glowed faintly.
Marcus noticed.
“You contacted them?”
“No.”
“Good.”
They walked around the perimeter.
Security cameras covered both entrances.
Marcus pointed toward a delivery dock.
“Don’t trespass.”
“You’re standing beside me.”
“I’m telling you not to trespass because when you ignore me, my report can say I warned you.”
Daniel glanced at him.
“You and Mia get along?”
“Beautifully.”
A vehicle turned into the parking lot.
Both men stepped back.
An older silver sedan approached the rear entrance.
Richard Bell got out.
Daniel moved before Marcus could stop him.
“Richard!”
The attorney froze.
He looked older than Daniel remembered.
Thinner.
His face was gray with fatigue.
When he saw Daniel, genuine terror appeared.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“That seems to be tonight’s favorite sentence.”
Richard looked toward the building.
“You need to leave.”
“My mother transferred my fertility samples here using a forged signature.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“So you know.”
“I know almost nothing.”
“Keep it that way.”
“My father appears on security footage taken after his funeral.”
Richard stared at him.
That confirmed more than words could.
“Is he alive?”
Richard said nothing.
Daniel grabbed his coat.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Hands off.”
Daniel released him.
Richard whispered, “Not here.”
“Then where?”
“My car.”
They got inside.
Marcus sat in the back.
Richard locked the doors.
For a full minute, nobody spoke.
Then Richard said, “Your father discovered something about the fertility clinic your family used.”
“What?”
“Mercer Development owned part of the medical property portfolio through shell companies.”
“I knew that.”
“Not all of it.”
Richard rubbed his face.
“William invested in Northbridge fifteen years ago. Quietly.”
“Why?”
“Genetic research. Fertility technology. Long-term storage.”
Daniel remembered his father’s obsession with legacy.
The Mercer name.
Heir.
Continuation.
It had always sounded like old-fashioned pride.
Suddenly it sounded darker.
“Was my father infertile?”
Richard looked toward him.
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“Was he?”
“I don’t know what William was biologically capable of.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Because the answer involves information I cannot verify.”
“Try.”
Richard looked out the windshield.
“Your mother learned, years ago, that there were inconsistencies in your family’s genetic records.”
Daniel felt the car shrinking.
“What inconsistencies?”
“Your father ordered tests.”
“And?”
“He became convinced you might not be his biological son.”
Daniel stared.
Marcus stopped writing.
“What?”
Richard continued.
“William believed Vivian had deceived him.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he fake his death because of that?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because somebody tried to kill him.”
Silence.
Daniel could hear the ventilation fan from the building.
“Who?”
Richard shook his head.
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“You were his lawyer.”
“I was also his friend. Those were not always the same thing.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“But you saw him after the funeral.”
“Yes.”
“Why was Elena here?”
Richard turned.
“You should ask Elena.”
“She disappeared.”
“I know.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“How?”
Richard looked uncomfortable.
“She contacted me nine months ago.”
“Why?”
“She found an old invoice in your father’s study.”
“What invoice?”
“A genetic panel.”
Daniel thought about Elena spending weekends cataloging William’s papers after his supposed death.
Vivian had called it intrusive.
Daniel had told Elena to stop upsetting his mother.
Again.
Always Vivian.
“What did Elena discover?”
“That your fertility records had been altered.”
Daniel went still.
“Altered how?”
“The first test showing infertility was genuine.”
“And the later test saying I was normal?”
“Not genuine.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
Elena had spent nearly two years believing she was the reason they could not conceive.
She had undergone procedures.
Hormones.
Pain.
He remembered holding her when she vomited after one treatment.
And someone in his family had known.
“Why?”
Richard’s voice dropped.
“Because Vivian wanted Elena to keep trying.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Daniel’s eyes opened.
Richard looked terrified.
“The sample transferred here under your name wasn’t yours.”
Daniel froze.
“Whose was it?”
Before Richard could answer, headlights swept across the car.
A second vehicle entered the parking lot.
Vivian’s Mercedes.
Daniel stared.
“She followed me.”
Richard panicked.
“You have to go.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You don’t understand.”
The rear door of Northbridge opened.
A man stepped out.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Limping slightly.
Daniel stopped breathing.
The man looked toward the parking lot.
Toward Daniel.
Then he said one word.
“Son.”
Daniel opened the car door.
His father was standing thirty feet away.
May you like
Alive.
And Vivian had just stepped from her car behind him.
