Chapter 6 - THE AIRPORT
Logan Mercer did not go home.
He did not go to the office.
He did not answer police calls.
By 2:30 p.m., his attorney told detectives he had no idea where Logan was.
Nobody believed him.
Diane gave police permission to search the Mercer residence.
The hidden safe was exactly where she had described.
It was empty.
Almost.
Detectives found one torn envelope.
The envelope bore the logo of a private bank in the Cayman Islands.
When Detective Ruiz showed Ethan a photograph, Natalie immediately recognized the bank name.
“I saw that institution in one of the vendor chains.”
Ruiz looked at her.
“Which vendor?”
“Redwood Strategic Consulting.”
“How much?”
“About nine hundred thousand.”
“Over what period?”
“Four years.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“My family company has paid almost a million dollars to a fake consulting firm connected to a Cayman bank.”
“We don’t yet know that it is fake.”
Natalie looked at him.
“It’s fake.”
Ruiz raised an eyebrow.
“You sound certain.”
“I searched its listed address.”
“And?”
“It’s a mailbox in Nevada.”
By 3:10 p.m., investigators had issued a request to locate Logan.
At 3:24 p.m., Owen called Ethan.
“Uncle Ethan.”
“What?”
“I think I know where Logan is.”
Ethan stood immediately.
“Where?”
“Grandpa’s old hangar.”
Ethan frowned.
Harold co-owned a small private aircraft with two business partners.
It was kept at a regional airport forty minutes away.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because Logan told me last month he keeps a travel bag there.”
Ethan looked at Detective Bennett.
She was already reaching for her phone.
Owen continued.
“He said if things ever got bad, he could be out of the country before anyone knew.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Did he say where he would go?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
“He joked that Grandpa always kept fuel paid in advance.”
Detective Bennett left the room.
Within minutes, officers were contacting airport security.
Ethan stayed beside Natalie.
Every part of him wanted to go.
Every part of Natalie knew that.
“Go.”
He looked at her.
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I have three nurses, a doctor, and two detectives outside.”
“No.”
“If Logan gets on a plane—”
“The police can stop him.”
Natalie studied his face.
“You want to see him caught.”
Ethan did not answer.
“You want to look at him when he realizes he can’t run.”
“Yes.”
The honesty came quickly.
Natalie reached for his hand.
“Then don’t.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
“Because that is about him.”
She squeezed his fingers.
“This is about us.”
His eyes dropped to her stomach.
The baby moved beneath her hospital gown.
Ethan placed his palm gently there.
Another movement.
For the first time all day, his face softened completely.
“He’s kicking.”
“She.”
“What?”
Natalie almost smiled.
“She’s kicking.”
Ethan stared at her.
“We agreed not to find out.”
“You agreed.”
“You found out?”
“The technician accidentally said ‘she’ at the last ultrasound.”
Ethan looked offended.
“You knew for two weeks?”
“I was trying to preserve the surprise.”
“This family is terrible at secrets.”
Natalie laughed once.
Then winced.
Ethan immediately changed.
“Pain?”
“A little.”
The fetal monitor remained steady.
He kissed her forehead.
“I’m staying.”
Forty minutes later, Detective Bennett returned.
“We found Logan.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Where?”
“At the airport.”
“Was he on the plane?”
“He was attempting to board.”
“Passport?”
“Yes.”
“Money?”
“Thirty-two thousand dollars cash.”
Natalie stared.
“Cash?”
“And two prepaid phones.”
Ethan looked at the detective.
“He was running.”
“It appears that way.”
“Did he say where?”
“No.”
“Was my father there?”
“No.”
“But Dad gave him the passport.”
“We’re investigating.”
Ethan stood.
“I want to talk to him.”
“That is not going to happen.”
“He pushed my wife.”
“Which is precisely why you will not be placed in a room with him.”
Ethan clenched his jaw.
Detective Bennett’s tone softened slightly.
“He is in custody.”
“For the assault?”
“For violating conditions placed on him while the investigation was being evaluated and for issues related to evidence tampering that I cannot discuss yet.”
Natalie looked up.
“Evidence tampering?”
Bennett hesitated.
“Someone attempted to remotely erase the phone.”
Ethan felt a chill.
“Logan?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did it work?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“The device had already been isolated.”
Natalie glanced at Ethan.
“Somebody is panicking.”
The detective nodded.
“That would be my interpretation.”
At 5:15 p.m., Logan requested an attorney.
At 5:22 p.m., Harold arrived at the station with one.
At 5:40 p.m., something unexpected happened.
Logan refused to see his father.
Detective Bennett told Ethan that evening.
“He asked us to keep Harold away from him.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Natalie looked thoughtful.
“He’s afraid of him.”
Ethan almost dismissed the idea.
Then remembered Logan’s face when Owen mentioned the recording.
Maybe the panic had not been only about the police.
Maybe Logan had understood something Ethan did not.
At 7:00 p.m., Diane arrived at the hospital.
She looked ten years older than she had the previous day.
She stopped outside Natalie’s room.
“I don’t know if I should come in.”
Natalie looked at Ethan.
He left the decision to her.
“Come in.”
Diane entered slowly.
She looked at Natalie’s bruised arm.
Then at the monitor.
Then at her stomach.
Her eyes filled.
“I am so sorry.”
Natalie’s expression remained guarded.
“You should have warned me.”
“I know.”
“You knew Harold wanted Logan to scare me.”
“Yes.”
“And you still let us come to dinner.”
Diane looked down.
“I thought Harold meant an argument.”
Natalie said nothing.
“I thought Logan would insult you.”
“That is what this family has taught you to call normal?”
Diane flinched.
Ethan watched silently.
His mother had spent decades smoothing over Harold’s behavior.
He had spent nearly as many years pretending it was harmless.
Diane took a folded piece of paper from her purse.
“I found this in Harold’s office.”
She handed it to Ethan.
It was a photocopy of an insurance policy.
His name appeared under INSURED PARTY.
Ethan frowned.
“What is this?”
Natalie read over his shoulder.
Then her face tightened.
“This isn’t life insurance.”
“What is it?”
“Key-person coverage.”
Ethan looked at her.
Mercer Development carried policies on senior executives.
If one died or became permanently unable to work, the company received compensation.
“That’s normal.”
Natalie pointed to a clause.
“Not this.”
Ethan read.
The policy had been amended nine months earlier.
A disability-trigger provision had been added.
If Ethan became legally incapacitated due to criminal conviction, mental incompetence, or certain fiduciary violations, his voting rights could be transferred temporarily to a designated company trustee.
Ethan looked down.
“Who is the trustee?”
Diane whispered.
“Harold.”
Natalie stared at her husband.
The missing money.
The account in Ethan’s name.
The board vote.
The effort to make Natalie look unstable.
Pieces began locking together.
“They weren’t only stealing.”
Natalie spoke slowly.
“They were building a case against you.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“To remove me from the company.”
“Yes.”
Diane began crying again.
“I didn’t know.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad.”
“Yes.”
“Logan.”
“Probably.”
“Marcus?”
Diane hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Natalie looked at the policy again.
“When was this amendment approved?”
Ethan searched the page.
There were three signatures.
Harold Mercer.
Marcus Vale.
And Ethan Mercer.
Ethan stared at his own signature.
“I never signed this.”
Natalie leaned closer.
It looked almost perfect.
Almost.
Then she saw the date.
She looked up.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“You couldn’t have signed it.”
“Why?”
She pointed.
“March eighteenth.”
He stared.
Then remembered.
March eighteenth.
He had been in Germany negotiating a hotel acquisition.
The entire week.
Diane looked confused.
“How does that help?”
Ethan slowly raised his eyes.
“Because on March eighteenth, my passport shows I was six thousand miles away.”
For the first time, they had proof that did not depend on opinion.
May you like
Someone had forged Ethan’s signature.
And whoever had done it had made a mistake.
