Chapter 2 - THE DEAD LAWYER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
“YOUR FATHER WAS GOING TO EXPOSE THEM, CLAIRE. THREE DAYS LATER, HE WAS DEAD.”
Daniel Mercer spoke those words so quietly that I almost believed I had imagined them.
Almost.
I stood beside the restaurant table, holding my father's letter in one hand and Nathan's envelope in the other.
“What did you say?”
Mercer glanced toward Garrett, who was still speaking with the police.
“Your father discovered something shortly before his death. Something involving the Whitmore family.”
I shook my head.
“My father died of a heart attack.”
“That's what the hospital records say.”
“Then what are you suggesting?”
“I'm suggesting you deserve to see everything before deciding what to believe.”
His careful answer frightened me more than an outright accusation would have.
Mercer reached into his coat and produced a business card.
“I'm staying at the Lexington Hotel. Call me when you're somewhere safe.”
I looked at the card.
Daniel Mercer, Attorney at Law.
The name seemed impossible.
Garrett had told me Mercer died in a highway accident shortly after my father's funeral. He had even shown me what appeared to be an obituary.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Mercer's expression darkened.
“I know.”
Before I could ask another question, an officer approached.
“Ma'am, we need to finish taking your statement.”
Mercer stepped aside.
“We'll speak soon.”
As he turned away, Garrett noticed him.
The change in my husband's face was immediate.
His mouth fell open.
Then he shouted.
“You!”
Mercer stopped.
Garrett tried to move toward him, but the officer blocked his path.
“You have no right to be here!” Garrett snapped.
Mercer didn't raise his voice.
“Actually, Garrett, I have every right.”
Vivian emerged from the hallway.
When she saw Mercer, her handbag slipped from her fingers.
For the first time since I had known her, Vivian Whitmore looked genuinely terrified.
I understood then that whatever Mercer knew was far more dangerous to them than the restaurant incident.
The police continued their investigation.
The manager confirmed that security footage showed Garrett throwing the wine and grabbing my wrist. Two waiters and three diners agreed to provide witness statements.
Garrett insisted it was a private marital argument.
The officers disagreed that being married excused his behavior.
He was taken into custody following the officers' assessment of the incident and the available evidence.
As they escorted him toward the entrance, he turned back.
“Claire, you're making a terrible mistake.”
I looked at him.
“No, Garrett. I made my mistake five years ago.”
Vivian rushed after him, demanding to speak with his attorney.
Nathan remained beside me.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Why did you wait until tonight?”
Nathan rubbed his hands together.
“Because I was a coward.”
I didn't respond.
He continued.
“Garrett brought me into his company four years ago. I handled vendor relationships, some bookkeeping, and internal transfers. At first, I thought the money came from legitimate investments.”
“And later?”
“I started seeing documents that didn't make sense.”
“Such as?”
“Payments from your father's trust to consulting companies that didn't have employees. Management fees that kept increasing. Loans that were never repaid.”
I stared at him.
“And you said nothing?”
He nodded miserably.
“Garrett told me everything was legal. Mom said your father had wanted the family to manage the money.”
“My father barely trusted Garrett.”
“I know that now.”
“No, Nathan. You knew something was wrong.”
His silence answered me.
I felt tears gathering, but I refused to let them fall.
“I treated you like a brother.”
“I know.”
“I helped you when you lost your job. I paid for your certification classes. I invited you into my home.”
“I know, Claire.”
“And you watched them steal from me.”
Nathan lowered his head.
“Yes.”
There was no excuse in his voice.
Somehow, that made it worse.
I walked away before he could say anything else.
Outside, Manhattan was glittering beneath a cold autumn sky.
Yellow taxis moved through the streets.
Couples laughed beneath restaurant awnings.
The city continued living as though my entire world hadn't just collapsed.
I called my attorney, Rebecca Hayes.
She answered on the second ring.
“Claire? Is everything okay?”
“No.”
I told her what had happened.
By the time I finished, her voice had become sharply professional.
“First, don't return to the apartment tonight.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good. I'll help arrange a safe place to stay. Preserve everything Nathan gave you, and don't hand original documents to anyone without making copies and keeping a record.”
“What about Daniel Mercer?”
Rebecca paused.
“Mercer? Thomas Bennett's former attorney?”
“You know him?”
“I know of him. He disappeared from legal practice several years ago. I didn't know he was dead.”
“Garrett told me he died.”
“Then we need to establish why Garrett wanted you to believe that.”
I looked toward the restaurant windows.
Nathan was standing near the entrance.
He seemed to be watching someone across the street.
“Rebecca, Mercer said my father's death might not have happened the way I was told.”
“Claire, don't jump to conclusions. We need records, not rumors.”
“I know.”
“I'm serious. Financial fraud is one issue. A suspicious death is another. We can't assume they're connected.”
I appreciated her caution.
But I couldn't forget Mercer's face.
He hadn't looked like a man spreading gossip.
He had looked like a man carrying a secret that had nearly destroyed him.
Rebecca promised to meet me the next morning.
After hanging up, I called my closest friend, Emma Sullivan.
Emma and I had known each other since college.
She was an emergency-room nurse, a single mother, and the only person who had consistently questioned Garrett's behavior.
When I told her what happened, she didn't hesitate.
“I'm coming to get you.”
“Emma, it's late.”
“I don't care.”
Twenty minutes later, she arrived in her old blue Honda.
She climbed out, took one look at my stained blouse, and wrapped her arms around me.
For the first time that night, I cried.
Not because Garrett had humiliated me.
Not because Vivian had laughed.
But because my father had tried to protect me, and I had spent six years believing he had left me with nothing.
Emma held me until I could breathe again.
Then she pulled back.
“You're coming home with me.”
I nodded.
As we drove toward Brooklyn, I watched the city lights blur beyond the passenger window.
My phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A text message appeared.
Claire, don't trust Daniel Mercer. He was involved in what happened to your father.
I stared at the screen.
A second message arrived.
Ask him why he signed the transfer authorization three days after Thomas Bennett died.
Then came a photograph.
It showed Mercer standing beside Garrett outside a bank.
The date printed beneath it was six years old.
And in Mercer's hand was a folder bearing my father's name.
I enlarged the image.
On the folder was a handwritten note.
May you like
FINAL DISTRIBUTION — BENEFICIARY NOT TO BE NOTIFIED.
End of Chapter 2.
