Chương 7
“Mr. Mercer.”
Thomas ignored him.
“She was calling because she was afraid of Daniel.”
Mina felt Daniel’s silence through the phone before she heard his breathing.
Thomas kept looking at her.
The officer shifted his weight and said, “Start from the beginning.”
Thomas rubbed the swollen side of his face.
“She called me a little after ten.”
Daniel’s voice came faintly through the phone.
“That’s not true.”
Mina raised the phone.
Thomas heard him.
His eyes narrowed.
“You were upstairs.”
“I was in my office.”
“You were shouting before that.”
Daniel said nothing.
The officer pointed toward a quieter corner near the arrangement tables.
“Both of you are going to stop talking over each other.”
Thomas gave him a humorless smile.
“I’m not the one at the hospital.”
“No, but you’re the one standing in front of me.”
Mina moved toward the corner with them.
She did not hang up.
The officer noticed but allowed it.
Thomas said, “Evelyn called because Daniel had been drinking.”
Daniel immediately said, “I had two glasses of wine.”
Thomas looked at the phone.
“You had whiskey.”
“After she collapsed.”
“Before.”
“No.”
Mina closed her eyes briefly.
Neither brother sounded certain enough to trust.
The officer asked, “What did Mrs. Mercer say on the call?”
Thomas looked at the floor.
“She said they were fighting.”
“About?”
“She wanted to leave.”
Daniel said, “You already knew that.”
Thomas’s mouth twitched.
“Yes.”
“Because she told you?”
“Yes.”
“Or because you were helping her?”
Thomas looked up.
Mina heard something shift in Daniel’s voice.
Not anger.
Suspicion.
Thomas said, “She asked me to help her.”
“With what?”
“Finding somewhere to stay.”
“You told her to call Claire.”
“She didn’t want to involve Claire.”
Daniel gave a short laugh.
“That’s convenient.”
Thomas ignored him.
“She said you wouldn’t let her go.”
The officer asked, “What does that mean?”
Thomas hesitated.
“That he was blocking the stairs.”
Daniel said, “I stood in the hallway.”
“Between her and the stairs.”
“For maybe thirty seconds.”
“You grabbed the suitcase.”
“I moved it.”
“You took it from her.”
“I moved it because she was throwing clothes everywhere.”
Mina looked at the phone.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
The officer asked, “Did you physically restrain your wife?”
“No.”
Thomas said, “She said you did.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“She said you were coming over?”
Thomas did not answer.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“So you knew she wanted out.”
“Yes.”
“And you came anyway.”
“She asked me to.”
Daniel went silent again.
Mina watched Thomas’s face.
There was resentment there now, old and familiar.
Not the fear she had seen earlier.
Something between the brothers had existed long before Evelyn collapsed.
The officer asked, “How long after the call did you arrive?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Where were you when she called?”
“My house.”
Mina frowned.
Thomas lived at least twenty minutes from Daniel and Evelyn without traffic.
She had driven the route often enough while delivering things Evelyn forgot.
The officer seemed to notice the same problem.
“You got there in ten minutes?”
Thomas blinked.
“Maybe fifteen.”
“You said ten.”
“I wasn’t timing myself.”
Daniel said, “It takes twenty-five from your place.”
Thomas’s expression tightened.
“I was already out.”
The officer waited.
Thomas sighed.
“Fine.”
He looked irritated now.
“I was nearby.”
“Where?”
“A gas station.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t remember the name.”
Daniel laughed again.
“Of course.”
Thomas snapped, “You want to do this now?”
“Yes.”
The word came out immediately.
“Yes, Thomas, I do.”
Mina heard hospital noise return behind Daniel.
A voice called his name from somewhere nearby.
He said, “Hold on.”
Then the call muffled.
The officer said, “Why were you near your brother’s house before Mrs. Mercer called?”
Thomas’s jaw moved.
“I had been meeting someone.”
“Who?”
“A client.”
“Name?”
“I’d rather not drag my business into this.”
The officer’s expression remained flat.
“You can give me the name now or later.”
Thomas looked toward the doors again.
Mina watched the muscles in his neck tense.
“Patrick Hale.”
The officer wrote it down.
“What kind of client?”
“Investment consulting.”
“Where did you meet?”
Thomas named a restaurant Mina knew was twelve minutes from the Mercer house.
The officer asked, “What time did the meeting end?”
“Around nine-thirty.”
“So you remained in the area for roughly forty minutes.”
“I made some calls.”
“From the gas station?”
“I drove around.”
Daniel came back on the line.
“What did he say?”
Mina told him.
There was a pause.
Then Daniel said, “Patrick Hale died last year.”
Thomas’s face emptied.
The officer stopped writing.
Mina looked at Thomas.
“What?”
Daniel’s voice became clearer.
“Patrick Hale was Dad’s client.”
Thomas said, “There are two.”
Daniel answered, “No.”
“Daniel.”
“No, there aren’t.”
Thomas’s composure finally cracked.
“Stay out of this.”
The absurdity of the command hung there.
Daniel gave a low, astonished sound.
“My wife is unconscious in intensive care because somebody thought she was dead, and you’re telling me to stay out of it?”
“I’m telling you that you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then explain it.”
Thomas glanced at the officer.
“I’m done answering questions without a lawyer.”
The officer nodded.
“That’s your right.”
Thomas folded his arms.
The officer added, “But don’t leave the building yet.”
“Am I detained?”
“Not at this moment.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
“You’re free to do that.”
Thomas took two steps.
The officer said, “And if we need you, we’ll contact you.”
Thomas stopped anyway.
Sometimes permission sounded more threatening than refusal.
Mina looked down at the phone.
Daniel said, “Mina.”
“Yes.”
“Come to the hospital.”
She looked at the officer.
He nodded once.
“I have your information.”
Thomas turned.
“No.”
Mina stared at him.
He seemed to realize too late how it sounded.
“I mean she shouldn’t be involved.”
Daniel said, “You don’t get to decide that.”
Thomas ignored the phone.
“Mina, listen to me.”
“I am.”
“Evelyn trusted you.”
The statement struck harder than accusation would have.
Mina said nothing.
May you like
Thomas stepped closer.
“If she wakes up, she’s going to be confused.”
