Chapter 5 - THE FATHER
Thomas Mercer had spent forty years making rooms obey him.
Even retired, he carried the same polished authority.
"Why is my daughter frightened?"
Grant stepped between him and the bed.
"You need to leave."
Thomas's eyebrows lifted.
"Excuse me?"
"Now."
Elise touched Grant's arm.
"She's confused."
Grant pulled away.
"She spelled your name."
"And she said I knew she was alive, not that I hurt her."
"Darling, whatever happened, we will fix it."
Vivian squeezed her eyes shut.
Her pulse jumped.
"Judge Mercer, when did you last see Vivian before she was pronounced dead?"
"At dinner two nights earlier."
"Where?"
"Her home."
"Anyone else there?"
"Family."
Grant frowned.
"I was in Chicago."
Elise said, "Adrian and I were there."
Thomas added, "And Nathan Cole."
"Nathan?"
Vivian's chief financial officer.
Brooks wrote it down.
Rosa remembered the dinner.
She had served it.
Vivian and Nathan had argued in the library afterward.
Not loudly.
But enough for Rosa to hear one sentence.
"You moved money without my approval."
She told Brooks.
"House staff should be careful about repeating private conversations they don't understand."
Rosa met his eyes.
"I understand English."
Brooks asked for Nathan's number.
No one had heard from him since the funeral began.
Grant called.
Straight to voicemail.
Brooks sent officers to his apartment.
At sunrise, Vivian could move two fingers.
She used them to point toward Rosa.
Then toward the bedside drawer.
Rosa opened it.
Nothing.
Rosa checked beneath the drawer.
Her fingers touched tape.
A tiny brass key was hidden underneath.
"What's that open?"
Vivian slowly tapped three times against the bed rail.
Rosa remembered.
Three taps.
The second voicemail.
Grant whispered, "She was trying to tell you about the key."
Brooks took it.
Stamped into the metal were two numbers.
418.
Thomas Mercer saw the key.
May you like
For the first time, the old judge lost his composure.
He said, "That should not exist."
