Chapter 13 - THE RECORDING DOREEN DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED
Doreen’s interview lasted twenty-two minutes.
She lied for twenty-one of them.
The final minute was worse.
She claimed Celia had arrived at her house in a panic.
She claimed Celia believed someone was following her.
She claimed Celia begged to be hidden.
She claimed the shed had been Celia’s idea.
The interviewer asked the obvious question.
“Why six days?”
Doreen lowered her eyes.
“I made a terrible mistake.”
Abram stared at the television.
Doreen continued.
“I thought I was respecting her wishes.”
“She was afraid of Abram’s temper.”
Abram’s face hardened.
Celia reached for the remote.
“Leave it.”
Doreen displayed a photograph of her bruised cheek.
“My son hit me when I tried to explain.”
The interviewer looked sympathetic.
Abram finally understood why Doreen had walked into a studio.
She did not need everyone to believe her.
She needed enough doubt.
Enough people online saying,
Maybe there’s another side.
Maybe Celia is unstable.
Maybe Abram is violent.
Maybe the family is fighting over money.
Doubt had been Doreen’s weapon for decades.
Margaret had been destroyed by it.
Elias had died inside it.
Celia almost disappeared because of it.
Then Doreen made one mistake.
She smiled.
Only slightly.
But Celia saw it.
“She thinks she won.”
Dana looked toward her.
Celia’s eyes narrowed.
“She always smiles like that when she thinks the other person has no proof.”
Abram looked at the evidence folder.
“We have proof.”
“Not of the first day.”
Celia’s voice became thoughtful.
Abram frowned.
“What?”
“Doreen says I asked her to lock me in.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t.”
“We know.”
“But she thinks there is no recording of what happened before the shed.”
Celia sat upright.
Dana understood first.
“Your car.”
Celia looked at her.
“Dash camera.”
Abram’s heart jumped.
Celia’s car had a front and rear dash camera with parking mode.
“Would it record audio?”
“Inside the cabin.”
“Where is the car?”
Abram looked at Morgan.
Morgan checked.
“Still at Doreen’s property.”
Twenty minutes later, deputies retrieved the memory card.
The first video showed Celia parking.
The second showed her entering the house.
Then nothing for forty-three minutes.
The crucial recording began when Doreen marched Celia toward the backyard.
The rear camera captured both women.
Audio came through clearly.
Doreen said,
“Your phone is in the shed.”
Celia answered,
“Bring it to me.”
Doreen laughed.
“Afraid of a garden shed?”
The camera showed Celia enter.
Then Doreen followed.
Seconds later, Celia screamed.
A thump.
Then silence.
Doreen emerged alone.
She closed the door.
She attached the padlock.
She checked it twice.
Then she picked up Celia’s handbag from the grass and walked toward the house.
The room went silent.
Morgan looked at Celia.
“This changes everything.”
Abram stared at the screen.
His mother had walked onto television and lied about an event captured from thirty feet away.
Dana smiled coldly.
“She wanted an audience.”
Morgan picked up her phone.
“Now she has one.”
The station received the footage before Doreen left the building.
Police waited outside.
The interview ended.
Doreen stepped into the lobby.
She saw the deputies through the glass.
Her expression changed.
Martin’s new attorney had apparently warned her that arrest was coming.
Doreen turned.
She walked rapidly toward a side hallway.
A producer followed.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
Doreen pushed through a fire door.
Two deputies entered from the opposite end.
Doreen stopped.
For several seconds, she stared at them.
Then she placed her purse on the floor.
Morgan later told Abram that Doreen did not resist.
She simply said,
“My son will regret this.”
The arrest dominated local news.
The dashcam video erased much of Doreen’s public narrative.
But it did something else too.
It revealed a detail nobody had noticed.
At the far edge of the rear-camera frame, a black sedan was parked outside Doreen’s garage.
The license plate belonged to Martin Vale.
He had been inside the property before Celia entered the shed.
Martin had insisted he arrived later.
The footage proved another lie.
Faced with it, Martin changed his story.
He requested a deal.
Morgan met Abram at the hospital.
“He’ll cooperate.”
Abram stared at her.
“Against my mother.”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
“Reduced charges.”
“After helping imprison Celia?”
“He claims he didn’t know Doreen planned to sedate her.”
Celia laughed from the bed.
“He knew afterward.”
“Yes.”
“And left me there.”
“Yes.”
Abram’s jaw tightened.
“What else does he know?”
Morgan looked toward the door.
“A lot.”
Martin’s statement lasted six hours.
He admitted forging the east-acreage deed.
He admitted drafting the false guardianship documents.
He admitted paying Kessler.
He admitted arranging the false Pennsylvania death certificate.
He admitted helping Doreen conceal the real date and place of Elias’s death.
Then investigators asked the question Abram cared about most.
“How did Elias die?”
Martin requested another lawyer.
Then he answered.
Doreen and Elias had argued at Lake Briar.
Elias threatened to expose everything.
Doreen tried to inject his medication.
Elias grabbed her wrist.
The syringe fell.
Elias told Martin he was going to police.
Doreen struck Elias with a fireplace poker.
Once.
Elias fell.
His head hit the stone hearth.
Abram stopped reading Morgan’s summary.
He looked up.
“She killed him.”
Morgan spoke carefully.
“Martin says the initial strike may not have been intended to kill.”
Abram’s voice shook.
“She hit him with a fireplace poker.”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
Morgan’s expression became grim.
“Elias was still breathing.”
Abram went completely still.
Felix looked at Morgan.
“What did she do?”
“Martin says he wanted to call an ambulance.”
“Doreen refused.”
Abram felt sick.
“Why?”
“She said an ambulance would expose the medication.”
The room became silent.
Morgan continued.
“Elias remained alive for approximately forty minutes.”
Celia covered her mouth.
Felix turned away.
“And then?”
Abram whispered.
“Martin says Doreen administered a large dose of sedative through the IV.”
Abram stared at nothing.
Forty minutes.
His father had been alive.
Injured.
Possibly conscious.
Possibly waiting for help.
Doreen chose the family secret over her husband’s life.
Morgan placed the folder down.
“There is more.”
Abram almost laughed.
“There is always more.”
“Martin says Elias spoke before the injection.”
Abram looked at her.
“What did he say?”
Morgan swallowed.
“He said, ‘Tell my sons I was finally going to choose them.’”
Abram closed his eyes.
Celia began crying silently.
Felix walked out of the room.
Abram remained still.
His father had spent years choosing peace.
Choosing secrecy.
Choosing Doreen.
In the final hour of his life, Elias tried to choose his sons.
And Doreen killed him before he could.
Morgan waited.
Then she spoke again.
“Martin says Doreen kept one thing from that night.”
Abram opened his eyes.
“What?”
“The lake box.”
“Why?”
“Leverage.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
Morgan’s expression sharpened.
“And Martin says the box contains a video.”
Abram felt his heartbeat increase.
“What video?”
“Elias’s final argument with Doreen.”
“Who recorded it?”
“Elias.”
Abram stood.
“Where is the box?”
Morgan shook her head.
“Doreen took it from Lake Briar.”
“Then ask her.”
“We did.”
“And?”
Morgan looked directly at him.
“She says she’ll tell you.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“She refuses to speak to investigators.”
“What does she want?”
Morgan handed Abram a note written in Doreen’s handwriting.
ONE CONVERSATION WITH MY SON.
NO FELIX.
NO CELIA.
NO POLICE IN THE ROOM.
THEN I TELL YOU WHERE ELIAS’S VIDEO IS.
Abram stared at the note.
Celia read it over his shoulder.
“No.”
Abram looked at her.
“She wants to control the room.”
“I know.”
“She wants one last chance to get inside your head.”
“I know.”
Celia held his gaze.
“Then don’t go.”
Abram looked at the note again.
His father’s final argument might be the strongest evidence in the case.
It might also contain answers Elias had never been able to give them.
Abram folded the note.
May you like
“I’m going.”
---
