Chapter 4 - My Sister's Name
Irene called Elaine before Reed could stop her.
Elaine answered on the second ring.
"Irene?"
"Where are you?"
Silence.
Then:
"Why?"
Irene tightened her grip on the phone.
"Answer me."
"I'm home."
"No, you're not."
Another silence.
Irene heard an airport announcement behind her sister's voice.
Reed's head snapped up.
"Elaine," Irene said. "Where are you going?"
The call ended.
Reed immediately requested a location trace.
Sarah stood against the warehouse wall.
"You think Aunt Elaine helped Walter?"
"I don't know what to think."
But Irene remembered too much now.
Elaine had been at the hospital the night Daniel supposedly died.
She arrived before Irene.
Elaine handled phone calls.
Elaine convinced Irene to go home for several hours.
"You can't sit beside a hospital bed all night," she had said.
And when Irene returned, Daniel was already gone.
Transferred to the morgue.
Walter was waiting.
Elaine hugged her.
Irene had never questioned why her sister and Walter seemed so coordinated.
Grief made normal things invisible.
Reed received the trace.
Elaine was at the regional airport.
Her ticket destination was Phoenix, with a connection to Mexico City.
"She knows we're coming," Sarah said.
"Maybe," Reed replied.
Police at the airport detained Elaine before boarding.
She was brought to an interview room two hours later.
Irene watched through one-way glass.
Elaine was sixty-five, impeccably dressed, silver-blonde hair cut at the chin.
She looked irritated rather than frightened.
Reed entered.
"You were leaving the country."
"I was taking a vacation."
"Without luggage?"
Elaine looked at the small handbag beside her.
"I travel light."
"With a one-way ticket?"
Elaine's expression shifted.
Reed placed a transcript of Daniel's recording on the table.
Elaine read it.
Her face drained.
"Where did you get this?"
"Daniel Mercer."
"Daniel is dead."
"Are you sure?"
Elaine looked toward the mirrored glass.
Directly toward Irene.
For a moment, Irene felt her sister could see her.
Elaine said, "I want an attorney."
The interview stopped.
But that look was enough.
Elaine knew.
Irene walked outside.
Sarah followed under supervision.
"Mom."
Irene kept walking.
"Mom, please."
"What?"
"I need you to understand something."
Irene turned.
"No. You need to understand something. Your father may be alive. Your aunt may have helped fake his death. Walter broke into my house. You attacked me because you believed a stranger before you believed your own mother."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Sarah's eyes filled.
"I can't undo it."
"No."
"But I can help fix it."
Irene looked away.
"Some things aren't fixed."
That hurt Sarah.
Irene saw it.
She also knew Sarah deserved to feel some of what she'd caused.
Reed emerged.
"Elaine lawyered up."
"Of course."
"But we found something in her purse."
He held up a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was an old silver key.
Sarah said, "What's that?"
Irene knew.
"Daniel's lake cabin."
The cabin had belonged to Daniel's father.
It sat three hours north.
Daniel used to disappear there when business overwhelmed him.
After his supposed death, Irene never returned.
Too many memories.
"Why would Elaine have the key?" Reed asked.
Irene couldn't answer.
They drove north that afternoon with local law enforcement alerted.
The cabin looked abandoned.
Dust covered the porch.
No vehicle.
No obvious signs of occupancy.
But inside, the kitchen sink contained a recently washed coffee cup.
Reed touched the machine.
Still warm.
Someone had been there that morning.
They searched the rooms.
In Daniel's old study they found maps, burner phones, and photographs.
Walter.
Elaine.
Several business executives.
A judge.
A bank manager.
And Sarah.
One photograph showed Sarah meeting Walter at a restaurant two months earlier.
Another showed Walter entering Irene's house the day after Daniel's funeral.
Irene's stomach tightened.
Reed opened a desk drawer.
A thick folder sat inside.
Label: MERCER, IRENE.
Irene whispered, "That's my name."
The file contained her bank information.
Medical records.
Travel patterns.
Security questions.
Copies of her signature.
Someone had been building a profile of her.
Sarah stared at the pages.
"Walter planned to steal everything."
"Not everything," Reed said.
He held up an insurance policy.
Daniel Mercer.
Death benefit: $5 million.
Beneficiary: Irene.
Irene frowned.
"I received that."
"Where is it?"
"In an investment account."
Reed examined the document.
"This isn't the policy you received."
"What?"
"This is a second policy."
Sarah stepped closer.
"Who's the beneficiary?"
Reed turned the page.
The beneficiary line had been changed six weeks before Daniel's reported death.
Not Irene.
Not Sarah.
Elaine Mercer Bennett.
Irene stared at her sister's name.
Five million dollars.
"She helped fake his death for insurance money?"
Reed shook his head.
"If Daniel is alive, collecting any death benefit would be fraud."
"Did Elaine collect it?"
"We'll check."
Sarah suddenly called from the bedroom.
"Mom."
Irene entered.
Sarah stood beside the closet.
A man's jacket hung inside.
Daniel's size.
Daniel's brand.
Irene touched the sleeve.
The fabric smelled faintly of his cedar cologne.
Her legs nearly gave way.
He had been here.
Recently.
On the dresser was a photograph of Irene sleeping.
Taken through her bedroom window.
A date was written on the back.
Three weeks ago.
Sarah whispered, "Dad was watching you."
Irene felt something crack inside her.
If Daniel was alive, why hadn't he come home?
Why let her grieve?
Why secretly photograph her?
Reed's voice came from the hall.
"We found a trapdoor."
They followed him to the pantry.
Under a rug was a square hatch.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Reed drew his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
At the bottom was a small underground room.
Monitors.
Files.
Radios.
A cot.
Someone had been using it as a surveillance station.
One monitor displayed Irene's house.
Live.
She stared at herself on a security feed from that morning.
Sarah whispered, "They've been watching everything."
Another monitor showed the airport interview room where Elaine had been questioned.
Another showed the marina.
Then one screen flickered.
A live feed appeared.
A man sat in a dim room.
Gray hair.
Broad shoulders.
The scar beside his eyebrow.
Daniel.
Alive.
Irene stumbled forward.
"Daniel."
He looked directly into the camera.
As if he could hear her.
Then he lifted one finger to his lips.
Behind him, a door slowly opened.
Daniel turned.
May you like
His face changed.
And someone stepped into the room.
