Chapter 7 - SIMON'S CONFESSION
Simon sat inside Interview Room Three with his hands folded on the table.
I watched from behind one-way glass.
He looked twenty years older than he had the previous week.
His expensive jacket was gone.
His shirt was wrinkled.
There was dried blood near his temple.
Ortiz entered the room.
I remained outside.
At first.
"Where is Mara Mercer?"
Simon stared at the table.
"I don't know."
"Wrong answer."
"I'm telling you the truth."
"You were seen leaving Caleb's property with Rhea Dalton."
"I was."
"Why?"
"She called me."
"Why did you go?"
Simon finally lifted his head.
"Because she said everything was falling apart."
Ortiz placed a photograph of Mara on the table.
"Did you know she was alive?"
He looked away.
"Yes."
My hand tightened into a fist.
"How long?"
"Two years."
I opened the door before anyone could stop me.
Simon looked at me.
Something broke in his face.
"Caleb."
I crossed the room.
Ortiz stepped between us.
"You knew."
Simon stood.
"I thought she would let her go."
"For two years?"
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"What was supposed to happen?"
He sat again.
His shoulders collapsed.
"Rhea came to me three years ago."
"Why?"
"She knew I was stealing."
The room went silent.
Simon stared at his hands.
"Not from you directly."
"That makes it better?"
"No."
He swallowed.
"I had losses."
"What kind?"
"Investments."
I knew immediately that he was lying.
Ortiz did too.
"What kind of investments?"
Simon remained silent.
I remembered phone calls.
Sudden trips.
Loans he had asked our father for before Dad died.
"Gambling?"
Simon shut his eyes.
That was answer enough.
He had hidden millions in losses.
Then he had begun moving company money to cover them.
Rhea discovered it.
Instead of exposing him, she offered to help.
Together, they created shell companies.
Then Mara noticed irregularities.
"Mara confronted you."
Simon nodded.
"She gave me forty-eight hours to tell you."
"What did you do?"
"I called Rhea."
I felt sick.
Simon continued.
"Rhea said she would scare Mara."
"Scare her how?"
"She didn't tell me."
"Then Mara disappeared."
"I panicked."
"Did you help fake her death?"
Simon covered his face.
"Yes."
I nearly crossed the table.
Ortiz pushed me back.
Simon spoke faster.
"Rhea said Mara survived the crash."
My blood turned cold.
"What crash?"
"Rhea forced her car off the road."
The room seemed to shrink.
Simon stared at me with tears in his eyes.
"She told me Mara was injured but alive."
"And instead of calling the police?"
"I was afraid."
"You helped her."
"Yes."
"How?"
Simon whispered.
"I paid a medical examiner."
Ortiz leaned forward.
"Name."
"Dr. Warren Voss."
She wrote it down.
Simon continued.
"Rhea had access to unidentified remains from an old case through him."
My stomach twisted.
"The remains buried at Mara's funeral?"
Simon nodded.
I looked away.
Everything I remembered about that day became contaminated.
The flowers.
The rain.
Perrin holding my hand.
Simon carrying the coffin.
"You carried a stranger's coffin while my wife was alive."
He cried then.
I felt nothing for him.
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know."
"Rhea called you today."
"She wanted money and passports."
"Did you give them to her?"
"No."
"Then why did you leave with her?"
"She threatened Perrin."
I stepped closer.
"Don't use my son to make yourself sound decent."
Simon flinched.
"I jumped out when she stopped for gas."
He touched the cut on his head.
"She hit me with the door."
Ortiz placed Mara's letter on the table.
"Where is the blue book?"
Simon stared at it.
"I don't know."
"Rhea says you do."
"She's wrong."
I leaned toward him.
"Mara said it contained names."
"It does."
"You saw it?"
"Once."
"What names?"
Simon hesitated.
Then he said something I did not expect.
"Rhea wasn't the biggest name in it."
Ortiz stopped writing.
"Who was?"
May you like
Simon looked directly at me.
"Our father."
