Chương 4
I did not understand the account codes, but I understood the numbers.
Hundreds of thousands moved in blocks between companies with names that meant nothing to me.
Several transfers ended at an account labeled HARKER ADVISORY GROUP.
I had never heard of it.
On the second page, someone had written three names in blue ink.
Erin Vale.
Marcus Bell.
Daniel Mercer.
My husband’s name looked strange among them.
Beneath the names was a date from six months earlier and a handwritten note.
Three signatures required.
Never two.
The third sheet was an email printout.
Most of the addresses were unfamiliar.
One line near the middle had been highlighted.
If Mercer refuses again, use the family exposure.
I read it twice.
The room seemed to become narrower.
The fourth sheet was worse.
It was a photograph printed on ordinary office paper.
Noah stood outside his school beside a bike rack.
The image had been taken from across the street.
A timestamp in the corner showed it had been taken eleven days earlier.
My hands went numb.
Someone knocked.
I shoved the papers beneath the blanket.
A detective entered.
He was in his forties, maybe older, with a wrinkled blue shirt and a tie that had been loosened at the collar.
He showed me his badge.
“Detective Aaron Pike.”
I said nothing.
“Your son is stable.”
“I know.”
“He’s awake.”
“I know.”
He pulled a chair closer but did not sit until I nodded.
“Your husband is in custody.”
“For drugging us?”
“For several things.”
The answer was careful.
“What things?”
“We’re sorting that out.”
I looked at him.
“Are you investigating a missing woman named Erin Vale?”
His face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Daniel.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That she worked with him.”
“Anything else?”
I hesitated.
The papers under the blanket seemed to heat against my legs.
“He said she found financial transactions.”
Pike leaned forward.
“What kind?”
“He didn’t explain.”
“Did he give you anything?”
I felt the lie waiting in my mouth again.
“No.”
Pike watched me quietly.
It was worse than being accused.
“He was searched when we detained him,” he said.
“Okay.”
“He had no wallet, no keys, and no personal documents.”
I tried not to react.
“One officer saw him put something in your hand.”
My pulse jumped.
Pike did not raise his voice.
“What did he give you?”
I looked toward the door.
“You said my son is stable?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see him?”
“In a minute.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
He rubbed one thumb along the edge of his notebook.
“I’m not keeping you from him.”
“You’re sitting between me and the door.”
He looked down as if he had not noticed.
Then he moved the chair aside.
I hated that I had become suspicious of every small gesture.
Pike said, “Mrs. Mercer, if Daniel gave you evidence connected to Erin Vale, hiding it could create problems for you.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
“It sounded like one.”
“It’s information.”
I swallowed.
“Do you think Daniel hurt her?”
Pike’s face closed.
“We don’t know.”
“That means yes.”
“It means we don’t know.”
“Did you find her?”
“No.”
The word landed heavily.
“Is she alive?”
“We don’t know that either.”
I looked at the hidden papers.
“Daniel said he met her Tuesday.”
Pike stopped moving.
“Where?”
“He didn’t say.”
“What time?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Did he say why?”
“No.”
Pike stood.
“Stay here.”
He reached the door.
“Detective.”
He turned.
“What is Harker Advisory Group?”
His entire body became still.
I wished immediately that I had kept my mouth shut.
“Why?”
“I heard the name before.”
“From Daniel?”
I hesitated.
Pike stepped back into the room.
“Where did you hear it?”
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s a very specific name not to remember.”
“I’ve had an unusual evening.”
For the first time, irritation appeared in his face.
Then it vanished.
“Harker is connected to the financial investigation.”
“How?”
“I can’t discuss that.”
“Then why should I hand you anything?”
His eyes narrowed.
“I didn’t say you had anything.”
The silence between us lasted too long.
A nurse opened the door and said Noah was asking for me.
I got off the bed.
Pike stepped aside.
As I passed him, he said quietly, “Your husband may not be the only person who knows where you live.”
I stopped.
He did not know about the photograph.
Or he was pretending not to.
I turned.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because this case stopped being about missing money three days ago.”
Noah was sitting upright when I entered his room, wearing a hospital gown and arguing with a nurse about whether he could have water.
He looked at my face.
“What?”
I shut the door behind me.
“Nothing.”
“That’s your terrible lying voice.”
The nurse handed him a cup with a straw.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
After she left, I sat beside him.
Noah drank slowly.
“Did Dad tell them everything?”
“No.”
“Shocking.”
He looked down at the cup.
His sarcasm disappeared.
“Is he going to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he try to kill us?”
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Noah stared at the water.
“I keep thinking maybe he knew exactly how much to give us.”
“He said it wasn’t supposed to kill us.”
“That’s not better.”
“No.”
He rubbed his thumb against the plastic lid.
“Then what was he going to do?”
I thought about the utility cart in the kitchen.
“I don’t know.”
Noah looked up.
“You do that thing when you know something.”
“What thing?”
“Your left eyebrow.”
I almost told him he was imagining it.
Then I stopped.
Daniel had lied to me by deciding what I could handle.
I did not want to begin doing the same thing to Noah ten minutes later.
I pulled the folded photograph from the papers hidden beneath my blanket and handed it to him.
May you like
He stared at the image.
The color left his face.
