Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Knew Kaye's Name
The truth arrived in fragments.
August had committed terrible crimes.
Michael's attempted murder was one.
Blackmail was another.
But Toby's kidnapping?
Someone had copied August's methods.
Someone wanted Dominic to believe August was responsible.
They examined the videos again.
Different voice compression.
Different camera angles.
Different vehicles.
Two operations.
Two enemies.
Kaye thought about the first clue.
Dominic's watch.
Only someone close to Dominic could have obtained it.
Then Dominic remembered.
His watch had disappeared during the attack before he entered Mercer's Kettle.
The ambush.
Twenty wounded men.
Someone had orchestrated that too.
“Who knew your route?” Kaye asked.
“Mateo. Carlo. My security chief.”
“And?”
Dominic hesitated.
“My attorney.”
“Name?”
“Rebecca Sloan.”
They found Rebecca's office empty.
Her computer had been wiped.
But the receptionist remembered Rebecca leaving with a woman.
Description:
Brown hair.
Late fifties.
A scar on her wrist.
Evan went pale.
“Kaye's aunt.”
Kaye stared.
“Aunt Laura died when I was twelve.”
“No,” Evan said. “That's what Helen told you.”
Kaye laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Laura Mercer had been Helen's sister.
She had also worked for the Vales.
Unlike Helen, Laura believed the family owed her.
Michael's ledger could prove ownership of hidden accounts worth millions.
Laura needed Michael alive to access them.
And Toby?
Leverage.
They tracked Rebecca's car to an abandoned school.
Kaye entered with Dominic.
Children's drawings still hung on the walls.
In the gym, they found Michael.
Alive.
Tied to a chair.
No Toby.
Dominic freed his brother.
Michael whispered one word.
“Laura.”
Kaye nodded.
“I know.”
“She wants you.”
“Why?”
Michael looked at her.
“Because the account isn't mine.”
Dominic frowned.
“Whose?”
Michael looked at Kaye.
“Her father's.”
Kaye's father had created the financial structure years ago.
He had hidden stolen money from August.
Then tried to return it to victims.
Laura wanted it.
But the access phrase had been left to Kaye.
“Where?”
Michael whispered, “Your diner sign.”
Kaye remembered the old neon sign her father refused to replace.
MERCER'S KETTLE.
One letter had never worked.
The R.
Her father used to joke:
Remember the missing R.
Kaye suddenly understood.
R wasn't a letter.
It was an instruction.
Remove R.
The remaining letters formed part of a cipher.
They returned to the diner.
Kaye dismantled the sign.
Inside the metal frame was a sealed envelope.
Her father's handwriting.
For Kaye.
She opened it.
Inside were instructions for accessing a trust.
Not criminal money.
Recovered money.
Millions intended for families August had extorted.
Kaye was the trustee.
That was why Laura needed her.
Dominic stared.
“You've been sitting beneath a fortune for years.”
Kaye looked around her failing diner.
“My roof leaks.”
“Apparently your father had a sense of humor.”
A sound came from the kitchen.
They turned.
A woman stood there.
Brown hair.
Scarred wrist.
Laura.
She held no gun.
Only Toby's blue backpack.
Kaye stepped toward her.
“Where is my son?”
Laura smiled.
“Safe.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“I need the access phrase.”
“No.”
Laura placed the backpack on the counter.
“You'll reconsider.”
“Why?”
Laura unzipped it.
Inside was a phone.
Live video filled the screen.
Toby stood behind a red door.
Water was rising around his ankles.
Kaye grabbed the phone.
“Toby!”
Laura whispered beside her:
“You have nine minutes.”
Then the screen changed.
A countdown appeared.
08:59.
08:58.
May you like
08:57.
And beneath it was an address Kaye recognized immediately...
