Chapter 4 - THE EMPTY HOUSE
By midnight, Elena’s mother had officially become a missing person.
Margaret Mercer was sixty-one years old.
Healthy.
Careful.
Predictable.
She did not disappear without telling anyone.
She especially did not leave her car behind.
Detective Ruiz stood in Margaret’s bedroom while crime scene technicians photographed the room.
Nothing looked violently disturbed.
The bed was made.
Her reading glasses rested beside an open novel.
A cup of chamomile tea had gone cold.
One slipper sat beside the bed.
The other was near the hallway.
Ruiz noticed that immediately.
People did not normally walk out of their homes wearing only one slipper.
Officer Dana Brooks entered.
“Detective.”
Ruiz turned.
“What?”
“We found this near the back door.”
She held out an evidence bag.
Inside was a broken pearl earring.
Ruiz recognized it from photographs of Margaret Mercer.
“You sure it’s hers?”
“Family photos show her wearing the same pair.”
Ruiz looked toward the kitchen.
“Any blood?”
“Nothing visible.”
“Security system?”
Brooks frowned.
“That’s the strange part.”
Ruiz almost smiled.
Everything about the Mercer family had become the strange part.
“What?”
“Cameras were disabled at nine forty-three.”
“By whom?”
“System says authorized user.”
“Which user?”
Brooks looked at him.
“Adrian Mercer.”
At St. Vincent’s, Elena sat awake in bed.
Her contractions had slowed.
The baby remained stable.
But sleep was impossible.
Robert sat in the chair near the window.
He had been allowed inside after Ruiz confirmed that Elena wanted him there.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally Elena asked.
“Why did you leave?”
Robert looked out the window.
“Your father and I disagreed.”
“That’s the answer everybody gave me.”
“It’s true.”
“It’s incomplete.”
Robert sighed.
“Yes.”
Elena waited.
He turned toward her.
“Your father discovered money disappearing from a research division.”
“Which division?”
“Helix Biomedical.”
Elena frowned.
Mercer Industries owned dozens of companies.
Helix had been one of the smallest.
“What kind of research?”
“Maternal health technology.”
Elena went still.
Robert noticed.
“Yes.”
“That’s connected to me?”
“I don’t know.”
“You clearly think it is.”
Robert leaned forward.
“Helix developed a proprietary system for tracking high-risk pregnancies.”
Elena stared at him.
“They had access to medical data?”
“They weren’t supposed to have access without consent.”
“But someone did.”
Robert nodded.
“Your father discovered that patient information had been copied into private servers.”
“Who ran Helix?”
“Charles Whitmore handled the legal structure.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Of course.
“And Adrian?”
“Adrian invested money six months later.”
“My father’s money.”
“Possibly.”
Elena looked at him.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I told your father.”
“You should have told me.”
“Your father begged me not to.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Another man protecting me.”
Robert accepted the criticism.
“He believed you were already being watched.”
Elena stopped.
“Watched?”
“He found copies of your medical appointments in a Helix file.”
Her hand moved instinctively to her stomach.
“This pregnancy?”
“No.”
Robert’s voice became quieter.
“Before you were pregnant.”
Elena looked confused.
Robert explained.
“There were fertility records.”
“My fertility records?”
“Yes.”
Elena stared at him.
She and Adrian had tried for a baby for almost two years.
Only a few people knew how difficult that period had been.
Medical appointments.
Tests.
Treatments.
Private grief.
Those records had somehow ended up in a company file connected to Charles.
“Why?”
Robert shook his head.
“We never learned.”
Elena thought of Adrian’s insistence that she use a particular fertility clinic.
A clinic recommended by one of his business contacts.
Her breath caught.
“Northgate Fertility.”
Robert nodded slowly.
“What about it?”
“Adrian chose it.”
Robert’s eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
“He said it had the best doctors.”
Robert stood.
“Elena, Helix Biomedical owned part of Northgate through a subsidiary.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Elena looked toward the fetal monitor.
“No.”
Robert moved closer.
“You’re certain Adrian pushed you toward that clinic?”
“Yes.”
“Did they ever ask you to sign unusual forms?”
“I signed dozens.”
“Did anyone ever explain all of them?”
“No.”
Robert looked toward the door.
“We need Ruiz.”
Before Elena could answer, her phone rang.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Robert immediately said.
“Don’t answer.”
Elena looked at him.
Then answered anyway.
“Hello?”
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then a soft sound.
A woman crying.
Elena sat upright.
“Mom?”
The crying stopped.
“Elena.”
It was Margaret.
Her mother.
“Mom, where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
Robert moved closer.
Elena put the call on speaker.
Margaret’s voice shook.
“They brought me somewhere.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“What happened?”
“Someone came to the house.”
“Who?”
Margaret hesitated.
Then whispered.
“Adrian.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Robert grabbed his phone.
“He said you’d been hurt.”
Margaret continued.
“He said he was taking me to you.”
“Mom, listen to me.”
“I got into his car.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“No.”
A sound came from the background.
A door opening.
Margaret suddenly became quiet.
Then another voice spoke.
Male.
Distorted.
“You should have stayed out of the staircase.”
Elena went cold.
“Who are you?”
The voice ignored her.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
Elena looked at the brass key lying on the table.
Robert saw her reaction.
The caller knew.
“How do you know what I have?”
The man laughed softly.
“Because your father was never as clever as he believed.”
Margaret cried out.
Elena gripped the phone.
“Don’t hurt her.”
“Bring the key.”
“Where?”
“You’ll receive instructions.”
Robert shook his head violently.
Elena ignored him.
“I want to hear my mother.”
Margaret returned.
“Elena, don’t come.”
A sharp noise followed.
Then silence.
The male voice returned.
“One hour.”
The call ended.
Robert immediately spoke.
“You are not going anywhere.”
Elena stared at the phone.
“He has my mother.”
“And you are pregnant.”
“He has my mother.”
“Which is exactly why he wants you emotional.”
Elena looked at the brass key.
Then at Robert.
“Why does he want this?”
Robert’s answer was immediate.
“Because whatever your father hid can destroy them.”
The door opened.
Detective Ruiz entered.
He had clearly been moving fast.
“What happened?”
Elena held out the phone.
“They called.”
Ruiz listened as Robert explained.
Then he looked at Elena.
“You’re staying here.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“It isn’t negotiable.”
Elena looked at him calmly.
“They specifically asked for me.”
“They asked for the key.”
“They said bring the key.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Which is why we’re giving them one.”
Robert looked confused.
Ruiz reached into his pocket.
He placed an identical brass key on the table.
Elena stared.
“How?”
“Your father’s desk company still makes the lock.”
Ruiz picked up Elena’s real key.
“They want you to believe they control the next move.”
He replaced it with the duplicate.
“They don’t.”
Elena slowly understood.
“You’re going to track whoever takes it.”
Ruiz smiled for the first time that night.
“I’m going to do more than track them.”
May you like
He lifted the real key.
“I’m going to open whatever your father died trying to protect.”
