Chapter 4 - THE SIGNATURE HE COULDN’T DENY
Evan stared at his father’s signature until the letters blurred.
“No.”
Robert didn’t defend himself.
“No?”
Evan shoved the phone across the table.
“That’s your name.”
“I know.”
“You signed this.”
Robert’s lips trembled.
“Yes.”
“You told me Grace was dead.”
“Yes.”
The word exploded through the room.
Evan grabbed the back of a chair.
Claire had never seen him look like that.
Not angry.
Destroyed.
“What happened to her?”
Robert didn’t answer.
Evan stepped forward.
“What happened to my sister?”
Detective Torres moved slightly between them.
“Evan.”
“No.”
He pointed at Robert.
“He gets to answer.”
Robert finally looked at his son.
“Grace confronted your mother about money missing from the trust.”
“You knew?”
“Not at first.”
“What happened?”
“She threatened to go to the police.”
Robert’s voice shook.
“Judith told me Grace was having some kind of breakdown. She said our daughter had become paranoid.”
“And you believed her.”
“Yes.”
Again.
The same poison.
Different generation.
Claire lowered herself carefully onto the sofa.
Robert continued.
“Judith arranged for a doctor to evaluate Grace.”
“At St. Agnes?”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“I signed temporary commitment papers.”
Evan stared at him.
“You locked her away.”
“I thought it was seventy-two hours.”
“How long was she there?”
Robert’s eyes dropped.
“Eleven years.”
Claire whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Evan looked like he had been struck.
“Eleven years?”
“I didn’t know.”
Torres immediately challenged him.
“How could you not know?”
“Judith told me Grace escaped after the first week.”
“And you never searched?”
“I did.”
“For how long?”
Robert’s silence answered.
Evan turned away.
He walked to the fireplace and pressed both hands against the mantel.
Everything about his childhood was changing minute by minute.
Claire watched him from across the room.
Then she reached into her purse.
“There’s something else.”
Evan turned.
She removed a folded photocopy.
“What is that?”
“The reason Judith became more dangerous after I got pregnant.”
Detective Torres already knew.
Robert did not.
Claire placed the paper beside Grace’s letter.
It was a section of Eleanor Mercer’s family trust.
The clause had been underlined.
Upon the birth of the first grandchild of Robert Mercer’s direct line, all trust accounts shall undergo mandatory independent audit prior to transfer into the next generation.
Evan read it twice.
Then looked at Claire.
“Our baby triggers an audit?”
“Yes.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Claire continued.
“I found it four months ago.”
Evan’s voice was rough.
“How much is missing?”
Torres answered.
“We don’t know yet.”
Robert whispered:
“Millions.”
Claire looked at him sharply.
“You know?”
Robert leaned back.
“I suspected.”
Evan laughed again.
This time the sound frightened Claire.
“You suspected Mom stole millions, locked Grace in a hospital, lied about her death, threatened my wife…”
He looked at his father.
“And somehow everybody thought silence was protecting me?”
Robert had no answer.
Claire did.
“I wasn’t protecting you from facts.”
Evan looked toward her.
“I was protecting myself until I could prove them.”
That distinction hurt.
Because she no longer trusted him enough to bring him uncertainty.
Only evidence.
Detective Torres’s phone vibrated again.
She checked the message.
“St. Agnes found Grace’s discharge records.”
Evan moved instantly.
“When was she released?”
“Five years ago.”
“Where did she go?”
“We don’t know.”
Robert stared.
“Five years?”
Torres nodded.
“She left under another name.”
“What name?”
Torres hesitated.
“Anna Reed.”
Claire froze.
Evan noticed.
“You know that name?”
Claire didn’t answer.
He walked closer.
“Claire.”
Her eyes slowly lifted toward him.
“I’ve been receiving letters from someone named Anna Reed.”
Robert stood.
“What?”
“For almost three months.”
Evan looked stunned.
“You never told me?”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“The first letter said if I told you too soon, Judith would know Grace was alive.”
Silence.
Evan’s anger vanished.
“Grace contacted you?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire opened her purse again.
This time she removed a sealed envelope.
“I received this yesterday.”
Across the front, four words had been written in black ink.
DO NOT TRUST ROBERT.
Robert stopped breathing.
Evan looked at his father.
Then at Claire.
Then at the envelope.
Detective Torres put on gloves.
“Don’t touch anything.”
But Robert was already backing away from the table.
“I can explain.”
Evan stared at him.
“You haven’t even read it.”
Robert stopped.
May you like
And everyone in the room realized the same thing.
He already knew what was inside.
