Chapter 13 - THE CONFESSION
Richard survived the gunshot.
The bullet passed through his shoulder without striking anything vital.
He was transported to a secure hospital unit under federal guard.
The recording on Ethan’s phone was clear.
Richard had admitted that Daniel was given chances.
He had admitted Daniel should have stopped investigating.
He had placed himself directly inside the events surrounding Daniel’s death.
But prosecutors wanted more.
They wanted Mercer.
They wanted the financial network.
They wanted every victim.
Victor Hale remained silent.
Richard began asking for a deal.
Claire refused to meet him.
Ethan refused too.
But Richard sent one message through his attorney.
MERCER WILL KILL EVERYONE BEFORE HE LETS THAT LEDGER REACH COURT.
The threat proved accurate sooner than expected.
Samuel Reed’s farmhouse exploded the following morning.
Samuel was not inside.
He had stayed overnight at a federal facility.
But the explosion destroyed the house and most of his personal files.
Mercer was still free.
And he was becoming desperate.
Investigators traced financial activity.
Millions of dollars were moving out of offshore accounts.
Aircraft records showed a private jet scheduled to leave a small regional airport that evening.
The passenger list contained false names.
One passport photograph matched Judge Mercer.
Ramirez organized an interception.
The plane never arrived.
Mercer had anticipated it.
Instead, a security camera captured him entering a suburban church three miles away.
The church belonged to Father Michael’s diocese.
Claire recognized the location.
Daniel’s funeral had been held there six years earlier.
Agents surrounded the building.
Inside, they found Father Michael bound inside his office.
Mercer was gone.
On the altar sat an envelope addressed to Ethan.
Ramirez opened it after checking for hazards.
Inside was a photograph of Daniel’s grave.
Written beneath it.
YOUR FATHER BURIED MORE THAN SECRETS.
Ethan stared at the message.
“What does that mean?”
Claire immediately thought about Daniel’s habits.
He hid evidence in symbolic places.
A train.
A trusted friend.
A ledger.
Could he have hidden something inside his own burial plot?
Federal investigators obtained permission to examine Daniel’s grave.
They used ground imaging first.
The coffin appeared undisturbed.
But beside the burial vault, six feet beneath the grass, imaging detected a small metal object.
Workers carefully excavated the area.
They found a waterproof steel container.
Inside was a video camera.
A memory card.
And a letter.
The footage had been recorded by Daniel two days before his death.
He sat behind his office desk.
“If you are watching this, the people I investigated probably succeeded.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“Calvin Mercer is the judicial protection.”
“Victor Hale handles legal manipulation.”
“Richard Pierce, who may currently be using another surname, handles money and operations.”
Then Daniel leaned toward the camera.
“But they are not the top.”
Everyone in the room froze.
“There is another person.”
Daniel held up a photograph.
A woman.
Claire recognized her instantly.
Evelyn Parker.
Richard’s mother.
Daniel continued.
“Evelyn Parker created Bellweather twenty-eight years ago.”
“She trained Richard.”
“She recruited Mercer.”
“She financed Hale.”
“She is the architect.”
Ethan stared at the image of the elderly woman he had called Grandma Evelyn for four years.
The woman who baked him cookies.
The woman who attended his baseball games.
The woman who cried at Claire’s funeral.
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Richard was not the beginning of the conspiracy.
He was the next generation.
