Chapter 4 - The Man Behind Mercer
Evan stared at the photograph.
His father.
Charles Mercer.
Impossible.
Charles had supposedly been in London when Caroline died.
Thomas revealed the truth.
Charles had secretly returned to New York two days before the crash.
Caroline discovered he was using the Mercer Foundation to move money into private investments.
Daniel Pike discovered the accounting trail.
Thomas had attempted to stop Charles.
That was why Caroline distrusted him.
She saw Thomas deleting records and assumed he was destroying evidence.
In reality, Thomas claimed, he was moving copies somewhere Charles couldn't reach.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Your father controlled everything.”
“My father has been dead for eighteen months.”
“And until tonight, I couldn't prove what he did.”
Thomas produced records.
Millions stolen.
Payments to Pike.
A payment to the mechanic who serviced Caroline's car.
But Charles's death created another mystery.
The transfers continued.
Someone had inherited his scheme.
Rebecca traced the authorization.
The trail led to Victor Lang, Mercer Holdings' chief financial officer.
Evan had known Victor since college.
Victor attended Caroline's funeral.
Victor sat beside Evan during the worst night of his life.
And Victor was scheduled to meet Evan the next morning.
Evan wanted him arrested immediately.
Reed refused.
“We need him to expose the remaining network.”
They set a trap.
Evan invited Victor to breakfast.
Victor arrived smiling.
He asked about Evan's health.
He joked about rumors that a little girl had cured his insomnia.
Evan played along.
Then he mentioned M17.
Victor's coffee cup stopped halfway to his mouth.
There.
The reaction.
Tiny.
Unmistakable.
Victor recovered.
“What is M17?”
Evan smiled.
“I didn't say it meant anything.”
Victor set down the cup.
The meeting ended ten minutes later.
Federal agents followed him.
He drove directly to a private warehouse.
Inside, investigators found servers containing years of hidden transactions.
Victor was arrested.
But during interrogation, he revealed something devastating.
Charles Mercer hadn't ordered Caroline's death.
He ordered surveillance.
Someone else escalated it.
“Who?” Evan demanded.
Victor refused to say.
Then he offered a deal.
Immunity in exchange for the name.
Federal prosecutors negotiated.
At 7:40 that evening, Victor finally agreed.
Before he could sign the statement, the fire alarm sounded.
Sprinklers activated.
Lights failed.
By the time emergency power returned, Victor had collapsed.
Poison.
Someone had reached him inside federal custody.
He survived.
Barely.
And before losing consciousness, he wrote one word with his finger in spilled water.
THOMAS.
May you like
Evan stared at the security feed.
Thomas Harlan had disappeared.
