Chapter 9
The search warrant for Evan’s storage unit was approved at 3:06 a.m.
By 3:31, Detective Ortiz had enough evidence to stop calling him a person of interest.
He was now a fugitive wanted for attempted murder.
Ryan received the news in the back seat of a police SUV as he and Abigail were driven back toward Mercer House.
Ortiz sat in front, phone pressed to her ear.
“What did they find?” Ryan asked when she hung up.
She turned halfway around.
“Records from the shell vendors in your father’s ledger. Banking printouts. Old company access tokens. Several prepaid phones.”
Abigail closed her eyes.
Ryan looked out at the rain-slick road.
“What else?”
Ortiz hesitated.
“An empty carton from Benton Specialty Compounding.”
His jaw tightened.
“Same type as the one planted in Grant’s room?”
“Same customer account number.”
“Dad’s?”
“Yes.”
Grant had told police that Thomas Mercer kept horses on the estate for decades. Benton had once filled specialty veterinary prescriptions under Thomas’s household account. One of those orders had included the type of vial found beneath the wedding cake.
The toxicologist was still working on the exact history of the substance, but the implication was no longer subtle.
Evan had access to an old source of a compound capable of causing a catastrophic cardiac event.
Two years ago, Thomas Mercer had died of what everyone believed was a cardiac event.
Tonight, Ryan had nearly done the same.
Abigail took his hand.
“He kept all of it.”
Ryan looked at her.
“The records?”
“The evidence. The old phones. The cartons. Why?”
Ortiz answered.
“People who commit long-running financial crimes sometimes keep records because they still need access to the system they built. And sometimes they keep things because they think they might need leverage later.”
Ryan thought about Evan photographing the blue ledger six days earlier.
“He knew Dad had figured it out.”
“Yes.”
“And when Grant started digging again…”
“He had another problem.”
Abigail looked toward Ortiz.
“Why the wedding? Why not wait?”
Ryan answered before the detective could.
“Because once the marriage was legal, I had controlling authority.”
Ortiz nodded.
“Grant says you planned a full outside audit Monday morning.”
Ryan frowned.
“I never told Evan that.”
“Grant did.”
Ryan stared.
“Why?”
“Because three weeks ago Grant confronted him about irregular vendor payments.”
Of course.
Another secret.
Another warning Evan had received.
Ortiz continued. “According to Grant, Evan acted surprised and offered to help with the audit.”
Abigail let out a bitter laugh.
“He volunteered to investigate himself.”
“Looks that way.”
Ryan leaned his head back against the seat.
Every year of friendship seemed to rearrange itself.
Evan had always wanted to help.
Always wanted access.
Always wanted to be the person Ryan called first.
Maybe loyalty had never been the reason.
The SUV turned through the gates of Mercer House.
Police vehicles crowded the circular drive.
The ballroom lights still glowed behind the windows.
Ryan expected to feel safer.
Instead, he felt watched.
Ortiz received another call before they reached the front door.
She listened for less than ten seconds.
Then she looked at Ryan.
“Stay here.”
“What?”
She was already opening the door.
“An officer found the basement service entrance open again.”
Abigail grabbed Ryan’s sleeve.
Ortiz spoke to two uniformed officers.
“Clear the house floor by floor. Nobody moves alone.”
Ryan stepped out despite her order.
“This is my house.”
“Tonight it’s my crime scene.”
“Nora is inside.”
“So are officers.”
“My sister and Oliver?”
“Upstairs with protection.”
Ryan looked toward the second-floor windows.
Then he noticed something.
One window was dark.
His father’s study.
The light had been on when they left.
He knew because the curtains had been open, glowing amber against the rain.
Now it was black.
“Ortiz.”
She followed his gaze.
Her expression changed immediately.
She signaled to the officers.
They entered through the front hall.
Ryan stayed behind them for approximately twelve seconds.
Then he heard a crash from the study.
He ran.
Ortiz shouted his name.
The study door stood half-open.
Inside, a lamp lay broken on the floor.
The blue ledger was gone from the desk.
Nora stood beside the bookshelves, pale but unharmed.
“Nora!”
She pointed toward the rear door.
“He took it.”
Ryan’s pulse exploded.
“Evan?”
She nodded.
“He came through the servants’ corridor. I thought it was an officer until he grabbed the book.”
Ortiz rushed in.
“Where did he go?”
“Conservatory.”
Police spread through the hall.
Ryan knew the conservatory had three exits: the ballroom, the garden, and the narrow passage leading to his father’s private office entrance.
Evan knew that too.
Ryan moved toward the office passage.
Ortiz caught his shoulder.
“No.”
“He’ll use the garden door.”
“Then officers will catch him outside.”
“He knows the grounds.”
“So do they.”
A loud bang sounded from the conservatory.
Glass shattered.
Abigail appeared at the end of the hallway behind another officer.
“Ryan!”
“Stay there!”
Too late.
A figure stepped from the dark passage beside the study.
Evan.
His tuxedo shirt was soaked from the rain. His hair hung over his forehead. The blue ledger was tucked beneath one arm.
In his other hand was a small pistol.
Everything stopped.
The nearest officer raised his weapon.
Evan immediately pulled Abigail toward him.
Ryan’s heart stopped.
She had been only a few feet away.
Now Evan held her in front of him, one arm across her shoulders.
The gun remained low but visible.
“Back up,” Evan said.
Ortiz’s voice became calm.
“Evan, put it down.”
“Back up.”
Nobody moved.
Ryan stared at him.
“This is over.”
Evan laughed softly.
“No. It was over two hours ago when that kid hit the table.”
Oliver.
The name made Ryan’s anger sharpen into something almost clean.
“You were going to kill me in front of him.”
“I didn’t know he was under the table.”
“That’s your defense?”
“I’m not defending anything anymore.”
Abigail remained frighteningly calm.
“Then let me go.”
Evan looked at her.
“You always were better at pretending not to be afraid.”
“I’m terrified.”
Her voice did not shake.
“But you don’t need me.”
“I need a door.”
“You need a lawyer.”
Despite everything, Ryan almost smiled.
Evan didn’t.
He backed slowly toward the conservatory.
Ortiz moved with him.
“Evan, the storage unit is secured. We have the burner phones. We have the bank records. Caleb identified you. Megan placed you in Grant’s room. Running will not change any of that.”
Evan’s mouth tightened.
“Megan should have stayed out of it.”
Ryan heard the cruelty beneath the sentence.
“You used her.”
“I cared about her.”
“You locked evidence inside your best friend’s wedding and let your girlfriend become a suspect.”
“She gave me the vial. What was I supposed to do?”
“Call the police.”
Evan laughed.
“You would have canceled the wedding. The house would have filled with cops. Everything would have come apart.”
“So you taped it under the table.”
“For twenty minutes. I was going to get rid of it after the toast.”
There it was.
Not a denial.
A confession hidden inside an explanation.
Ortiz heard it too.
Ryan said, “You already had another vial.”
Evan’s eyes flicked toward him.
“The one used in my glass.”
Silence.
Ryan continued.
“You planted the old carton in Grant’s room. You spoofed his messages to Elaine. You used his reputation, his affair, his lies.”
Evan shook his head.
“You give your uncle too much credit. He made framing him easy.”
Grant was standing farther down the hallway now, held back by an officer.
His face hardened.
Evan looked toward him.
“You hide enough things, eventually people assume you’re hiding the worst one.”
Ryan understood the message on the photograph.
YOU STILL DON’T KNOW WHO HELPED ME.
“You didn’t have an accomplice,” he said.
Evan smiled faintly.
“Sure I did.”
“Who?”
“All of you.”
Abigail stared at him.
Evan’s smile grew colder.
“Elaine got Caleb onto the staff list because she was too ashamed to admit she owed Grant money. Grant lied about meeting me the night Thomas died because he was afraid of looking guilty. Victor followed instructions because wealthy clients make him nervous. Megan gave me the vial because she trusted me. You ignored financial controls because you trusted me.”
He looked at Ryan.
“I never needed a partner. I needed people with secrets.”
Ortiz said, “You’re done talking. Put the gun down.”
Evan’s arm tightened around Abigail.
She suddenly stepped backward hard onto his foot.
Evan flinched.
Ryan moved.
So did the police.
Abigail dropped to the floor.
Ryan hit Evan’s gun hand against the doorframe.
The weapon fell and skidded beneath a chair.
Officers slammed Evan against the wall before Ryan could do anything else.
The blue ledger fell open on the carpet.
Evan struggled once.
Then stopped.
Detective Ortiz cuffed him.
Ryan stood several feet away, breathing hard.
Abigail came to his side.
He reached for her.
She was shaking now.
So was he.
Evan looked over his shoulder as officers began leading him away.
Ryan stopped them.
“One question.”
Ortiz looked at him but did not object.
Ryan faced the man who had stood beside him through half his life.
“Dad.”
Evan’s expression became blank.
Ryan’s voice broke.
“Did you kill him?”
For a moment, nobody in the hallway breathed.
May you like
Then Evan looked directly at Ryan.
“Yes.”
