Chapter 5 - What Happened to the Other Maids
“Margaret.”
The woman stopped.
She was in her early sixties, dressed conservatively, silver hair pinned back.
Grace had never seen her.
Julian had.
“Margaret Vale was my father’s executive assistant.”
Margaret looked at Elena.
“You were supposed to stay gone.”
Ruiz immediately moved between them.
Margaret raised both hands.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
“Then why are you here?” Julian asked.
“Because Victoria called me.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Victoria had disappeared.
Police surveillance outside her Manhattan apartment had lost her during a shift change.
Margaret placed the envelope on the table.
Inside were original incorporation documents for Bellweather Consulting.
Julian’s father, Richard Mercer, had created the company.
But not to steal.
Bellweather had originally been a confidential investigative fund.
Richard suspected senior executives were embezzling from Mercer Harbor Group.
He used Bellweather to pay investigators without alerting the board.
After Richard died, someone repurposed the company.
Margaret had discovered the theft.
She confronted the wrong person.
“Who?” Julian asked.
Margaret hesitated.
“Martin Shaw.”
The missing CFO.
Grace frowned.
“But the video showed Victoria and Damon attacking Martin.”
“Because alliances changed.”
Margaret explained.
Martin had taken control of Bellweather after Richard’s death.
He began siphoning money.
Years later, Victoria discovered the scheme.
Instead of exposing him, she joined him.
Then she brought Damon.
Eventually Victoria wanted Martin out.
Greed had eaten its own partnership.
“Where is Martin now?” Ruiz asked.
Margaret shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Grace remembered the former employees.
“What happened to them?”
Elena answered.
Most had not been physically harmed.
They had been threatened, framed, paid off, or frightened into disappearing.
Victoria had learned that destroying credibility was safer than violence.
Elena escaped before Damon could force her into signing a false confession.
Martin helped conceal her escape.
“Why would he help you?” Grace asked.
“Insurance. He wanted someone alive who could destroy Victoria if she betrayed him.”
Everything was leverage.
Every relationship transactional.
Julian seemed disgusted.
Then Margaret revealed why she had come.
“Victoria wants to negotiate.”
“With me?”
“No.”
She looked at Grace.
“With her.”
Julian immediately refused.
Grace didn't.
“What does she want?”
“The memory card.”
Ruiz laughed softly.
“Police already copied it.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not that card.”
Victoria meant another recording.
One Grace had never seen.
A recording made the night her father died.
Grace stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Margaret nodded.
“Daniel Miller knew Richard Mercer.”
Julian stared at Grace.
She stared back.
Their lives had crossed long before either knew it.
Daniel had provided security training for one of Richard’s investigative teams.
He discovered irregularities connected to Martin.
Then Daniel died in a car accident.
Grace had always believed it was random.
Margaret did not claim otherwise.
But Victoria apparently possessed a recording Daniel made shortly before his death.
Grace’s knees weakened.
Julian reached toward her, then stopped, allowing her to decide whether she wanted help.
She steadied herself against the table.
“Where?”
“Victoria will tell you after sunset.”
Ruiz prepared a controlled meeting.
Grace agreed.
At seven thirty, her phone rang.
Victoria.
“You’ve caused a lot of trouble.”
Grace’s voice remained level.
“You started it.”
“You still think this is about Julian.”
“It isn't?”
Victoria laughed.
“No, Grace. It’s about what your father found.”
“Where’s the recording?”
“Come to the old Miller studio.”
Grace’s heart tightened.
Her father’s taekwondo school had been closed for eight years.
The building remained empty.
Police surrounded the block before Grace entered.
Inside, dust covered the training mats.
Memories hit harder than she expected.
Daniel tying her first belt.
Daniel cheering after her first tournament.
Daniel telling her strength meant knowing when not to strike.
Victoria emerged from the office.
No designer gown.
No diamonds.
Jeans.
Dark coat.
A frightened woman stripped of performance.
She held a flash drive.
“Your father recorded Martin.”
Grace extended her hand.
Victoria smiled.
“You think it's that easy?”
“No.”
“Smart girl.”
Grace hated the condescension.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Damon wasn't supposed to shoot Julian.”
“Who was he supposed to shoot?”
Victoria looked directly at her.
“You.”
Grace had suspected it.
Hearing it was different.
“Why?”
“Because you noticed him.”
“That happened minutes before he drew the gun.”
“No. You noticed everything for three years.”
Victoria's smile disappeared.
“You were becoming dangerous.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Victoria glanced toward the window.
“You brought police.”
“Of course.”
Victoria laughed.
Then threw the flash drive.
Grace caught it.
“Congratulations.”
Grace frowned.
Victoria stepped backward toward the emergency exit.
“You finally found what your father died trying to protect.”
She disappeared through the door.
Police intercepted her outside.
Grace stood alone in the studio.
Ruiz entered.
They connected the flash drive to an isolated computer.
One video.
Daniel Miller appeared on-screen.
Grace covered her mouth.
Her father looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, something happened to me.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
Daniel continued.
“Martin Shaw isn't working alone.”
He lifted a document.
“There is someone inside the Mercer family helping him.”
Julian leaned closer.
Daniel spoke the next words slowly.
“The person signing the transfers is—”
The video froze.
The file corrupted.
Ruiz cursed.
Then another file appeared automatically.
Audio only.
A man's voice.
Grace had never heard it.
Julian had.
He whispered:
“No.”
Grace turned.
Julian stared at the speakers.
May you like
“That’s my brother.”
And according to every official record, Julian Mercer’s brother had been dead for eleven years.
