Chapter 2 - THE MESSAGE THAT CELIA NEVER SENT
Abram rode in the ambulance with one hand wrapped around Celia’s.
She drifted in and out of consciousness during the twenty-eight-minute drive.
Every few minutes, she whispered something that Abram could not understand.
The paramedic placed another bag of fluids above her.
“Blood pressure is improving.”
Abram looked toward the monitor.
“And the baby?”
“We’re getting fetal movement.”
The paramedic met his eyes.
“That’s encouraging.”
Encouraging was not the same as safe.
Abram knew it.
The paramedic knew it.
Celia knew it too.
She opened her eyes.
“Did she leave?”
Abram leaned closer.
“No.”
“Police?”
“They have her.”
Celia’s eyes filled with tears.
Abram brushed damp hair away from her forehead.
“She can’t touch you again.”
Celia stared at him.
“You don’t know her.”
Abram felt the words like an accusation.
Because they were true.
For thirty-eight years, Abram had believed he understood his mother.
Doreen had always been controlling.
She corrected waiters.
She returned gifts she did not approve of.
She rearranged other people’s kitchens while visiting them.
She treated disagreement as betrayal.
But Abram had called those things difficult.
Not dangerous.
He thought about Celia trapped behind the shed door.
Six days.
He closed his eyes.
Celia felt his fingers tighten.
“Abram.”
He looked at her.
“You couldn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“She made sure you didn’t.”
The ambulance turned sharply.
Celia winced.
Abram immediately looked toward her abdomen.
“What happened before she locked you in there?”
Celia glanced at the paramedic.
Then back at Abram.
“I found something.”
“The papers?”
Celia nodded.
“What kind of papers?”
“Your name was on them.”
“What papers?”
“I don’t know everything yet.”
She swallowed.
“But your signature was on a deed.”
Abram frowned.
“What deed?”
“The east acreage.”
His stomach tightened.
The Mercer property covered almost eighty acres.
The eastern thirty-two acres bordered a new development corridor.
Two companies had tried to buy it during the previous year.
Abram had rejected both offers.
“I never signed a deed.”
“I know.”
Celia’s eyes sharpened.
“That’s why she locked me up.”
At the hospital, Celia was rushed directly to obstetrics.
Abram remained outside the examination room.
His hands were still muddy.
Celia’s blood had dried against one cuff of his shirt.
He looked at it for nearly a minute before Felix appeared at the end of the corridor.
Dana followed him.
Felix carried a plastic evidence bag.
Abram stood.
“Where’s Mom?”
“Being questioned.”
“Arrested?”
“Not yet.”
Abram stared at him.
“What do you mean, not yet?”
“They’re saying they need Celia’s statement.”
“She was locked in a shed.”
“I know.”
“There was a padlock.”
“I know.”
“She was barely conscious.”
Felix lowered his voice.
“Abram.”
“What?”
“The deputy found something on Mom’s phone.”
Abram went still.
Felix hesitated.
“What?”
“Messages.”
Abram knew before Felix explained.
“From Celia?”
Felix nodded.
A cold feeling spread across Abram’s chest.
“What did they say?”
Dana answered.
“One message said she needed space.”
Another pause.
“One said she was staying with a friend.”
Abram stared at her.
“That’s the message Mom showed me.”
Dana nodded.
“The timestamp says it came from Celia’s number.”
“That’s impossible.”
“We know.”
Abram paced away.
He pressed both hands against the back of his neck.
“She had Celia’s phone.”
Dana followed him.
“We found Celia’s phone inside her box in the shed.”
Abram turned.
“So Mom sent the messages.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
Dana’s voice remained careful.
“The deputies have to establish it.”
Abram laughed once without humor.
“My wife was dying forty yards from the house while my mother texted me from her phone.”
Felix looked toward the floor.
Abram faced him.
“Where were you?”
Felix looked up.
“What?”
“Six days.”
“I was in Richmond.”
“You didn’t notice anything?”
“I got back yesterday.”
“You talked to Mom.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She told me the same thing she told you.”
“That Celia left.”
“Yes.”
Abram studied his brother.
Felix looked exhausted.
But something in his expression bothered Abram.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Felix did not answer.
Dana looked at her husband.
“Felix.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“Three weeks ago, Mom asked me to help move furniture into the shed.”
Abram stared at him.
“You helped build the barricade?”
“No.”
Felix raised both hands.
“No.”
“She said she was clearing the guest room.”
“You moved the dresser?”
“Yes.”
“The chairs?”
“Probably.”
Abram stepped toward him.
“You stacked furniture inside the shed.”
“Before Celia was there.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I opened the door myself.”
Felix’s voice hardened.
“She wasn’t inside.”
Abram stopped.
Dana spoke quietly.
“The cabinet was there though.”
Felix looked toward her.
Abram noticed.
“You saw it?”
Felix hesitated.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t ask why it was chained?”
“She told me Dad’s old tax records were inside.”
Abram stared at him.
“Our father’s tax records required a chain and padlock?”
“I didn’t think about it.”
“That seems to be happening a lot in this family.”
Felix’s face tightened.
Before he could answer, an obstetrician entered the hallway.
“Abram Mercer?”
Abram immediately turned.
“That’s me.”
The doctor approached.
“Your wife is stable.”
Abram exhaled.
“And our baby?”
“The baby’s heart rate is stable right now.”
“Right now?”
The doctor nodded.
“Celia is approximately thirty-one weeks pregnant.”
“She’s severely dehydrated.”
“She has bruising along one hip and shoulder.”
“There are also signs that she had very little food.”
Abram closed his eyes.
The doctor continued.
“We’re keeping her overnight at minimum.”
“Probably longer.”
“Can I see her?”
“In a few minutes.”
The doctor’s expression changed.
“There’s something else.”
Abram’s chest tightened again.
“What?”
“We found a sedative in her blood.”
Silence.
Dana stepped closer.
“What sedative?”
The doctor named it.
Dana’s face changed immediately.
Abram looked at her.
“What?”
Dana shook her head.
“That medication isn’t something Celia would accidentally take.”
The doctor nodded.
“The concentration is low now.”
“But given how long she says she was confined, it may have been significantly higher several days ago.”
Abram felt the hallway tilt.
Felix swore under his breath.
Abram looked back at the doctor.
“Could it hurt the baby?”
“We’re monitoring both of them.”
“Was she drugged?”
“I can’t tell you how it entered her system.”
“But I can tell you it was present.”
A deputy arrived twenty minutes later.
Deputy Morgan was a broad-shouldered woman in her early forties.
She carried a small notebook.
Abram met her outside Celia’s room.
“Is my mother under arrest?”
“We’re still investigating.”
“She drugged Celia.”
“We don’t have evidence establishing who administered the medication.”
“She locked her in a shed.”
“We have evidence that Mrs. Mercer possessed the key.”
Abram stared at her.
“That is not enough?”
Morgan’s expression remained steady.
“It’s enough to keep asking questions.”
“Not enough to put handcuffs on her?”
“Mr. Mercer.”
“She could have killed my wife.”
Morgan lowered her voice.
“I need you to understand something.”
“Your mother is claiming that Celia entered the shed voluntarily during an argument.”
Abram laughed in disbelief.
“She says Celia threatened to ruin your family.”
“She says Celia asked her not to tell you where she was.”
“She says the padlock was placed later because Celia was behaving erratically.”
Abram stared at her.
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“I didn’t say I believed her.”
“She also says you assaulted her tonight.”
Abram went silent.
Morgan’s eyes dropped toward his hand.
“You struck her?”
Abram did not lie.
“Yes.”
Felix spoke from behind him.
“He found his pregnant wife half-conscious after six days.”
Morgan glanced at him.
“I understand the context.”
“But the strike is visible on the backyard security recording.”
Abram looked toward Dana.
“There’s a camera?”
“Above the garage.”
Morgan nodded.
“Your mother has already requested charges.”
Abram almost smiled.
Of course she had.
Celia was nearly dead.
And Doreen had still found time to make herself the victim.
Morgan continued.
“We’re not making a decision on that tonight.”
“But I suggest you have no contact with her.”
“Gladly.”
Morgan looked at the evidence bag Felix carried.
“What did you remove from the shed?”
Felix held it out.
“The recorder from my father’s box.”
Morgan took it.
“Did anyone play it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She sealed it inside another evidence bag.
Dana frowned.
“What about the photograph?”
“Already collected.”
“What about the date?”
“We’ll verify it.”
Abram stepped closer.
“My father died seven years ago.”
“So I was told.”
Morgan looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“The photo in the shed was dated seventeen days after his supposed death.”
Morgan stopped writing.
“Supposed death?”
Abram felt ridiculous saying it.
“My mother handled the funeral.”
“Was there a viewing?”
Abram shook his head.
“Closed casket.”
“Cause of death?”
“Heart attack while traveling.”
“Where?”
“Pennsylvania.”
Morgan studied him.
“Did you identify the body?”
Abram’s throat tightened.
“No.”
“Did Felix?”
“No.”
Morgan slowly closed her notebook.
At that moment, Celia’s room door opened.
A nurse stepped into the hallway.
“Abram?”
He turned.
“She’s awake.”
Abram entered.
Celia lay propped against white pillows.
There was more color in her face now.
A fetal monitor was wrapped around her abdomen.
Abram sat beside the bed.
Celia immediately reached for his hand.
“Did they find it?”
“The cabinet?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
Her eyes closed briefly.
“There’s a recorder.”
“I know.”
“I put something on it.”
Abram leaned closer.
“What?”
Celia looked toward the hallway.
Then she whispered.
“Your mother talking to someone.”
“Who?”
“I never saw his face.”
“What did they say?”
Celia’s fingers tightened around his.
“They were arguing about your father.”
Abram stopped breathing.
Celia continued.
“The man said she was supposed to destroy everything after Elias died.”
Abram stared at her.
“And your mother?”
Celia’s eyes filled with fear.
“She told him Elias wasn’t the first person in this family she had made disappear.”
Abram did not move.
Outside the room, someone dropped a metal tray.
The crash echoed down the corridor.
Celia flinched.
Abram looked toward the closed door.
His mother had spent his entire life controlling the story of the Mercer family.
May you like
Now, for the first time, he wondered how many people had disappeared from that story because Doreen had removed them.
---
