Chapter 6 - What Wendy Was Protecting
Fiona held Elliot's phone in both hands.
"I thought it might help."
Nobody spoke.
Then I crouched immediately.
"When did you take that?"
"At the first building."
"Why?"
"He left it on the table."
"Fiona."
Her face fell.
"I know stealing is bad."
I almost laughed from sheer exhaustion.
"Yes. It is."
"But he was bad."
"Still stealing."
"Sorry."
I took the phone.
The federal agent stepped closer.
"We need that."
I handed it over.
"How did it upload anything?"
The agent examined the screen.
"Scheduled synchronization."
Nathan nodded.
"Elliot was keeping his own insurance."
Against Rebecca.
The agent introduced herself as Special Agent Mara Cole.
She had been investigating financial crimes connected to Project Harbor for nearly four years.
"We thought Charles Mercer was dead," she said.
"Join the club."
Charles almost smiled.
Almost.
Mara looked at Wendy.
"We need to speak with Mrs. Vale."
Jessi stepped forward.
"About what?"
Mara held up the ledger.
"Her signatures."
Wendy didn't resist.
Before agents escorted her away, she asked to speak with Fiona.
I hesitated.
Then allowed it while standing beside my daughter.
Wendy knelt.
"I love you."
Fiona stared at her.
"Then why did you scare me?"
Wendy's face crumpled.
"Because sometimes adults convince themselves that doing something wrong is acceptable if they're afraid enough."
"Is Mommy going away?"
"No."
"You promised that before."
Wendy closed her eyes.
"You're right."
Fiona looked at me.
I said nothing.
Wendy continued.
"I don't get to ask you to trust me today."
That was perhaps the first completely honest thing I'd heard her say.
Agents took her away.
Jessi cried silently.
Nathan watched the car disappear.
"Will she go to prison?" Fiona asked.
I knelt.
"Adults have rules too."
"Even grandmas?"
"Especially grandmas."
She nodded.
The next seventy-two hours changed everything.
Elliot was arrested attempting to cross into Canada.
Rebecca disappeared.
The evidence from Harbor led investigators through companies in five states.
My lawyers discovered that Halcyon Analytics had been constructed partly as an evidence repository by people inside the network who didn't trust one another.
My acquisition had accidentally placed the archive under my control.
That was why Rebecca had watched me.
Why Wendy wanted the token.
Why Jessi became afraid.
But one question remained.
Where was Rebecca?
The answer came three days later.
We were back in Greenwich.
Fiona refused to sleep alone.
I didn't blame her.
Jessi and I had barely spoken except about Fiona.
Trust wasn't something we could repair in a weekend.
But neither of us wanted to walk away.
That mattered.
At midnight, I found Jessi sitting in the kitchen.
The same place everything began.
She looked at me.
"Can we talk?"
I sat.
She told me everything.
Three nights before my planned Chicago trip, Wendy showed her a photograph of Nathan alive.
Wendy claimed Nathan had evidence that could destroy Jessi's life unless they accessed Project Harbor.
Jessi panicked.
She asked Wendy to obtain my token.
She never asked her to involve Fiona.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Mom said the moment you knew, Rebecca would know."
"Did you believe her?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she showed me pictures of you."
My stomach tightened.
"What pictures?"
"Chicago. Boston. New York."
Business trips.
Someone had been following me.
"For how long?"
"Years."
I rubbed my face.
Jessi reached toward me, then stopped.
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"I don't expect that to fix anything."
"Good."
She nodded.
"I want counseling."
That surprised me.
"For us?"
"For all of us."
I looked upstairs.
Fiona.
"Yes."
Jessi exhaled.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
We looked at each other.
She answered on speaker.
Rebecca.
"Jessica."
Jessi went rigid.
I began recording.
"Where are you?"
Rebecca laughed.
"Still thinking like your husband."
"What do you want?"
"The ledger."
"Federal agents have it."
"Copies."
"What do you want?"
Rebecca paused.
"To finish what Anna started."
I looked at Jessi.
That didn't make sense.
Rebecca had spent decades fighting Anna.
Then Rebecca said:
"Ask Daniel why his mother really disappeared."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Jessi whispered:
"She wants us to doubt each other."
Maybe.
Then someone knocked at the front door.
At midnight.
I checked the camera.
Charles.
I let him in.
He looked exhausted.
"Rebecca called you."
"How do you know?"
"She called me first."
He handed me an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
My mother.
Rebecca.
Wendy.
All three standing together.
Smiling.
"What is this?"
Charles sat.
"Before everything fell apart, they were friends."
"Wendy knew my mother?"
"Yes."
I looked upstairs.
My mother-in-law had known my supposedly dead mother.
The lies had layers.
Charles explained.
Anna, Rebecca and Wendy met while working for the same charitable foundation.
Anna discovered financial irregularities.
Rebecca created them.
Wendy helped hide them.
"Why?"
"Money."
Simple.
Ugly.
Human.
"Nathan discovered Wendy's involvement?"
"Eventually."
"Is that why he disappeared?"
"Partly."
I felt sick.
Jessi sat beside me.
"My mother knew Daniel's mother?"
Charles nodded.
"That's why Wendy encouraged your relationship."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"She recognized your name."
Jessi looked at me.
Our marriage.
Our first meeting.
Had that been manipulated too?
"No."
Jessi stood.
"No. Daniel and I met at Columbia's alumni fundraiser."
"Your mother suggested you attend."
Jessi's face changed.
She remembered.
Charles continued.
"Wendy hoped marrying you would keep her close to the Mercer family."
I couldn't breathe.
Jessi shook her head.
"She didn't make me love him."
"No."
"She didn't make us have Fiona."
"No."
"Then don't make our entire marriage sound like a plan."
Charles nodded.
"You're right."
But damage had already been done.
I walked outside.
Jessi followed.
"Daniel."
"I need a minute."
"Don't shut me out."
I turned.
"Was any of it real?"
Her face broke.
"All of it."
"Your mother positioned you near me."
"I didn't know."
"How can I know that?"
"You can't."
That answer stopped me.
She came closer.
"You can't know tonight. You can't trust me because I demand it. I have to show you."
I looked at her.
For the first time, nobody was asking me to accept a secret for my own protection.
Jessi was asking for time.
I nodded.
"Okay."
She cried.
Not because everything was fixed.
Because maybe it wasn't destroyed.
Then the upstairs alarm sounded.
Fiona.
I ran.
Her bedroom was empty.
The window was open.
My heart stopped.
Then I saw movement outside.
Fiona stood in the garden.
Barefoot.
Facing the guest cottage.
Someone was inside Wendy's cottage.
A light moved behind the curtains.
I ran downstairs.
"Fiona!"
She turned.
"Daddy, I saw Grandma."
Impossible.
Wendy was in federal custody.
"Stay here."
Jessi reached us.
I crossed the lawn.
The guest cottage door was unlocked.
Inside, a woman stood with her back to me.
Same height as Wendy.
Same coat.
"Don't move."
She turned.
Rebecca Crane smiled.
"Daniel."
I stepped forward.
"What are you doing here?"
She held up a folder.
"Returning something."
"What?"
"Your mother's last letter."
She placed it on the table.
Then raised her hands.
"I'm done running."
I stared at her.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
Police lights appeared beyond the windows.
Rebecca had called them herself.
Before they entered, she said:
"There's one more thing Wendy never told you."
"What?"
Rebecca looked toward Fiona through the window.
"She wasn't protecting herself."
"Then who?"
Rebecca's smile disappeared.
"Ask Nathan what happened the night Anna's car went off that bridge."
Police entered.
They took Rebecca into custody.
I opened the folder.
Inside was my mother's letter.
And beneath it was an old police report.
One name had been blacked out.
May you like
But the ink had faded enough to read underneath.
Nathan Vale.
