Chapter 4 - The Son Nobody Knew Existed
“Dad?”
Eli’s voice cracked.
Thomas Mercer looked at his son.
For one second, his face softened.
Then Charles pressed the gun harder against Thomas’s back.
“Move away from the case.”
Dominic did not move.
Charles raised the weapon.
“I said move.”
Nora pulled Eli behind her.
Charles laughed.
“You really do that every time, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Put yourself between trouble and somebody smaller.”
Nora stared at him.
“Maybe you should try it.”
The smile disappeared.
Dominic slowly set the envelope on the steel table.
“What do you want?”
Charles looked at the brass key.
“That.”
Dominic glanced down.
“Why?”
“Because your father was sentimental.”
“He hated sentiment.”
“He hated consequences more.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“Charles.”
He looked at her.
“You remember me now.”
“I remember a young accountant who worked for my husband.”
“I was more than an accountant.”
“You stole from him.”
Charles laughed.
“That is what Vincent told you?”
“What happened to Gabriel?”
Thomas Mercer closed his eyes.
Charles’s smile vanished.
“Gabriel happened to Gabriel.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Explain.”
“No.”
The gun moved toward Nora.
“Give me the key.”
Dominic picked it up.
Nora said, “Don’t.”
Charles looked amused.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You think he should risk you?”
“No. I think whatever that opens frightens you.”
Charles stared at her.
Nora knew she had touched something.
“You tried to get me to apologize,” she continued. “You wanted Eli downstairs. You wanted everyone focused on Margaret being offended instead of asking why that bottle broke.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know you were scared before anyone else knew there was something wrong.”
“Stop.”
“And I know you recognized the paper in Eli’s pocket.”
“Stop talking.”
Dominic’s attention shifted subtly.
Charles was losing control.
Nora saw it.
So did Dominic.
She continued.
“You’ve been waiting for the Callahans to come here.”
Charles pointed the gun directly at her.
“Nora.”
“You just needed Dominic to bring the ring.”
“Enough!”
Eli jumped.
Nora stopped.
Charles took one breath.
Then another.
“Key.”
Dominic held it up.
“Let Thomas and Eli leave.”
“No.”
“Then you get nothing.”
Charles laughed.
“You think you’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have leverage.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You’ve had seventeen years to open whatever that key opens.”
Charles’s expression changed.
“You still can’t.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“So I’m the leverage.”
Silence.
Charles lowered the gun slightly.
“Smart.”
“I learned from my father.”
“No.”
Thomas spoke for the first time.
“You learned despite your father.”
Everyone looked at him.
Charles struck him across the shoulder with the gun.
Eli shouted, “Dad!”
Thomas stumbled.
Nora grabbed Eli before he could rush forward.
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Do that again and you’ll never leave this building.”
Charles laughed.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“Vincent’s son.”
Dominic took one step forward.
Charles aimed at him.
“Don’t.”
Margaret whispered, “Thomas, who was your father?”
Thomas looked at her.
“You already know.”
Her eyes filled.
“Gabriel?”
He nodded.
Eli stared at his father.
“What?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“When I knew you were safe.”
“You told me Grandpa died before you were born.”
“He disappeared before I was born.”
“Because of them?”
Thomas looked at Dominic.
“Because of his brother.”
Dominic said, “My father.”
“Yes.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Thomas’s mouth tightened.
“My mother spent thirty years asking that.”
“Isabel.”
Thomas nodded.
“She never stopped believing Gabriel was alive.”
“Was he?”
Thomas looked toward Charles.
Charles said, “Do not.”
Thomas smiled bitterly.
“So there it is.”
Dominic looked between them.
“He knows.”
Charles raised the gun again.
“Key.”
Dominic tossed it onto the floor.
It landed halfway between them.
Charles looked down.
That was the moment Dominic had been waiting for.
He lunged.
The gun fired.
Margaret screamed.
Nora pulled Eli down.
Dominic slammed into Charles.
The weapon skidded across the concrete.
Thomas kicked it away.
Security rushed in.
Within seconds Charles was pinned to the floor.
Dominic stood.
Blood darkened his left sleeve.
Nora looked at him.
“You’re shot.”
“Graze.”
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“Men say that right before they fall over.”
Margaret almost laughed despite herself.
Dominic stared at Nora.
Then sat.
Security cuffed Charles.
“You have no idea what you just destroyed,” he said.
Dominic pressed a cloth against his arm.
“Try me.”
“You think those records are evidence against criminals?”
“What are they?”
Charles smiled.
“They’re insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
Margaret’s face changed.
Charles saw it.
“You understand.”
She whispered, “Vincent kept copies.”
“Of course he did.”
“Where?”
Charles laughed.
“Ask Gabriel.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“My father is dead.”
Charles looked at him.
“Are you sure?”
Thomas froze.
Eli whispered, “Dad?”
Charles leaned against the wall.
“For a family that claims to know everything, Callahans are remarkably easy to deceive.”
Dominic crouched in front of him.
“Where is Gabriel?”
“No.”
Dominic grabbed his collar.
“Where?”
Charles smiled directly into his face.
“Closer than you think.”
Security pulled Dominic back.
Nora noticed something on the floor.
A card had fallen from Charles’s jacket.
She picked it up.
Hotel key card.
Room 719.
Riverside Grand.
The numbers from Eli’s note.
“What’s this?”
Charles’s face changed.
Nora turned the card over.
Written in pen:
719 — 4TH FLOOR SERVICE ACCESS.
Dominic took it.
“Riverside Grand.”
Margaret whispered, “Gabriel loved that hotel.”
Thomas looked shocked.
“My mother worked there.”
“When?”
“Before I was born.”
Dominic stood.
“Security.”
His chief nodded.
“I’ll send a team.”
“No.”
Dominic slipped the card into his pocket.
“I’m going.”
Nora stared.
“You just got shot.”
“Scratched.”
“That blood disagrees.”
“I’ll survive.”
She looked at Eli.
Then Thomas.
Then Charles.
Her daughter was safe for the moment.
But someone had used her name.
Someone knew Nora’s life.
That meant this extended beyond Callahan history.
“I’m coming.”
Dominic frowned.
“No.”
“They threatened Maya.”
“That’s exactly why you should stay.”
“That’s exactly why I’m not.”
He stared at her for several seconds.
Then nodded.
Margaret said, “I’m coming too.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Absolutely not.”
“I was there when all of this started.”
“And I’m trying to make sure you’re there when it ends.”
Margaret looked at him.
Then, unexpectedly, she nodded.
Police finally arrived.
Real police this time.
Charles was taken upstairs.
Thomas and Eli were moved to a guarded room.
Dominic’s wound was bandaged.
Forty minutes later, Dominic and Nora entered the Riverside Grand through a private garage.
Room 719 was empty.
The bed had not been slept in.
No luggage.
No clothing.
Only a tape recorder sat on the desk.
Dominic pressed play.
Static.
Then an elderly man’s voice.
“If you are hearing this, Vincent’s son finally found the room.”
Dominic’s face drained.
The recording continued.
“Dominic, my name is Gabriel Callahan.”
Nora looked at him.
The voice said, “Your father did not kill me.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“But someone wanted you to believe he did.”
A pause.
Then:
“And that person is standing closer to your mother than you realize.”
The recording clicked off.
Nora looked toward the bathroom.
May you like
The door was slowly opening.
Someone was inside.
