Chapter 12 - The Woman Behind the Curtain
I wanted to tell Lily she was wrong.
Then I remembered Mom recognizing Mercer.
I remembered the USB drive in her handbag.
I remembered her knowing about the champagne.
I remembered how easily she had blamed Dad once investigators started asking questions.
Maybe Dad was dangerous.
Maybe he was guilty.
But maybe Mom was not his frightened accomplice.
Maybe she was his partner.
Mercer immediately ordered officers to locate her.
The ambulance transporting Mom to the hospital had never arrived.
It had stopped seven blocks away after she complained of nausea.
While paramedics checked equipment, she opened the rear door and disappeared.
Mercer stared at the report.
“She planned it.”
Lily sat wrapped in a blanket on my sofa.
“She told Dad she could still fix everything.”
“When?”
“In the SUV.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Lily closed her eyes.
“She said, ‘Claire still trusts fear more than she trusts herself.’”
My stomach twisted.
That sounded like Mom.
Not frightened Mom.
The real one.
The woman who had spent thirty years teaching me that every boundary I set was cruelty.
Mercer’s team accessed Andrew’s messages again.
Contact M suddenly made more sense.
Not Meridian.
Margaret.
Mom had lied.
Andrew’s messages showed dozens of instructions from M.
Pressure Claire.
Obtain access.
Secure deed.
Prepare medical narrative.
Move before trust audit.
Mercer looked at me.
“Your mother appears to have been coordinating him.”
“And Dad?”
“Still involved.”
“But not in charge.”
“Possibly.”
Lily whispered.
“He looked scared of her in the car.”
I remembered Dad telling Mom to be quiet.
Maybe that had not been control.
Maybe it had been panic.
Then my home phone rang.
Everyone froze.
I had not used that landline in years.
Mercer motioned for silence.
He activated recording equipment.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Mom’s voice came through.
Calm.
No tears.
No shaking.
“I wondered how long it would take you.”
My skin went cold.
“Where are you?”
“You always ask the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
She laughed softly.
“Why did your grandmother choose you?”
I gripped the receiver.
“You tried to steal everything she left me.”
“She left you what should have belonged to all of us.”
“So you tried to destroy my life?”
“I tried to correct her mistake.”
“By drugging me?”
“You were supposed to sleep.”
“By sabotaging my car?”
Silence.
That silence told me more than words.
“Was that you?”
Mom sighed.
“You survived.”
My stomach turned.
Mercer’s face hardened.
“Where is Dad?”
“He finally became inconvenient.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll understand soon.”
The line clicked.
Before it disconnected, I heard something in the background.
Three distant chimes.
Then a train horn.
Mercer turned toward an investigator.
“Trace it.”
The investigator was already typing.
Lily looked at me.
“What did she mean about Dad?”
I did not know.
Twenty minutes later, Mercer received an alert.
A vehicle registered to Dad had been located near the Hudson River.
Driver’s door open.
Blood on the steering wheel.
May you like
And Dad was missing.
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