Chương 5
“That’s outside school.”
“I know.”
“Who took this?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
I pointed to the timestamp.
He read it.
“That was the day I stayed late for robotics.”
I remembered Daniel asking me that evening why Noah had been late.
At the time I had thought it was ordinary parenting.
Now every ordinary thing seemed poisoned.
Noah looked at me.
“Dad had this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think someone sent it to him.”
“To threaten him?”
“Maybe.”
He handed it back quickly, as if the paper itself were dangerous.
“So Dad drugged us because someone threatened us?”
“I don’t know.”
“That keeps being the answer.”
“I know.”
His jaw tightened.
“I hate that answer.”
“So do I.”
The door opened.
Detective Pike stood there with another man behind him.
The second man wore a dark suit and carried himself differently from the local officers.
Federal, I guessed before he spoke.
“Mrs. Mercer,” he said, showing identification.
“My name is Special Agent Owen Shaw.”
Noah looked at me.
I looked at Pike.
Pike’s expression told me nothing.
Shaw said, “We need to talk about Daniel, Erin Vale, and the files your husband removed from Harker Advisory Group.”
I felt the folded papers against my palm.
Then Shaw looked directly at the photograph.
His eyes sharpened.
“Where did you get that?”
I tightened my grip on the photograph.
Shaw took one step into the room, and Detective Pike moved with him, not quite blocking the door but making the space feel smaller.
“Mrs. Mercer,” Shaw said, “that image matters.”
“So does my son.”
Noah looked between us.
“I’m right here.”
Shaw glanced at him.
“I know.”
“No, I mean you can stop doing the adult thing where you talk around me.”
The agent’s mouth tightened, not quite a smile.
“Fair enough.”
I held up the photograph.
“This was with papers Daniel gave me.”
Pike exhaled through his nose.
“You said he gave you nothing.”
“I lied.”
“I noticed.”
Shaw looked at Pike.
“Can we not do this here?”
Pike’s jaw flexed.
“She concealed evidence from an active investigation.”
“She was drugged by her husband less than two hours ago.”
“I’m aware.”
“I’m also in the room,” I said.
Both men stopped.
Noah muttered, “That makes two of us.”
I handed the photograph to Shaw but kept the remaining papers folded against my stomach.
He studied the image without touching the printed surface more than necessary.
“Did Daniel say who sent this?”
“No.”
“Did he say when he got it?”
“No.”
“Did he say whether there were others?”
“No.”
Shaw looked at Noah.
“Have you noticed anyone following you near school?”
Noah frowned.
“What does following look like if you don’t know you’re being followed?”
“Someone appearing repeatedly.”
“There are like nine hundred people at my school.”
“Cars you recognize?”
“I barely recognize Mom’s car when she gets it washed.”
I said, “Noah.”
“What?”
He swallowed and looked at Shaw again.
“There was a gray SUV.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“A couple times.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because gray SUVs are not unusual, Mom.”
Shaw crouched slightly so he was nearer Noah’s eye level without making a show of it.
“Where did you see it?”
“Across from school once.”
“And the other time?”
“Near the community center.”
“What were you doing there?”
“Robotics.”
“Same vehicle?”
“I think so.”
“Driver?”
“No.”
“License plate?”
Noah gave him a look.
“I’m sixteen, not Batman.”
Shaw nodded.
“That’s okay.”
I unfolded the bank records.
Pike reached for them, but I moved them toward Shaw instead.
The detective noticed.
That was deliberate on my part, and I hated myself a little for enjoying it.
Shaw read the first page, then the second.
When he saw the names, he stopped.
“Where was the memory card?”
“Taped to this.”
I handed it to him.
He did not take it with bare fingers.
He pulled a small evidence envelope from his jacket pocket and held it open.
“Drop it in.”
I did.
Noah watched the card disappear.
“What’s on it?”
Shaw sealed the envelope.
“We don’t know yet.”
Pike said, “Maybe Mercer copied the same material Vale did.”
Shaw looked at him.
“Maybe.”
The word carried enough weight that I understood they had already disagreed about something before entering the room.
“Who is Harker?” I asked.
Shaw looked at me.
“Not who.”
“What, then?”
“A private advisory firm.”
“That tells me nothing.”
“It means they provide financial and strategic services to clients.”
“What kind of clients?”
“Companies.”
“What kind?”
“Companies that prefer privacy.”
Noah said, “That sounded extremely legal and extremely shady at the same time.”
Pike rubbed his forehead.
Shaw ignored him.
“Harker handles restructuring, acquisitions, asset transfers, overseas consulting, and crisis work.”
“Crisis work?”
“That label covers a lot.”
“Does it cover four million dollars disappearing?”
“It might cover why four million dollars was moved.”
I stared at him.
“You think Daniel stole it?”
“We think Daniel authorized transfers.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Shaw paused.
“No.”
The answer surprised Pike too.
I saw it in the way he turned.
“You told us this afternoon—”
Shaw cut him off.
“I said we lacked evidence that he personally retained the funds.”
Pike laughed without humor.
“That is a very federal sentence.”
“What do you think happened?” I asked.
Shaw folded his hands.
“We think Daniel, Erin Vale, and Marcus Bell were part of an internal authorization chain.”
“The names on the paper.”
“Yes.”
“Who is Marcus?”
“Harker’s deputy controller.”
“Where is he?”
Another pause.
Noah said, “Please don’t say missing.”
Shaw looked at him.
“We don’t know.”
Noah sank back against the pillow.
“You people really need a better phrase.”
I sat down because my knees had begun shaking again.
“Erin is missing.”
“Yes.”
“Marcus is missing.”
“We have not located him.”
“That means missing.”
“For practical purposes, yes.”
“And Daniel is the third name.”
“Yes.”
“So someone is removing them.”
Pike said, “We don’t know that.”
I looked at him.
May you like
“Do you believe that?”
He did not answer.
