Chapter 10 - The Marriage Nobody Knew About
Jason had been married before Rebecca.
That made Rebecca second.
I was third.
Claire Morgan had been Jason’s first wife.
They married when he was twenty-two.
No ceremony.
No house.
No wealthy parents.
Just two young people who believed they were in love.
“What happened to her?” I asked.
Jason stared at the photograph.
“She died.”
The room went quiet.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Naomi immediately began searching public records.
There it was.
Claire Miller.
Age twenty-three.
Killed in a single-vehicle crash outside Flagstaff.
Jason survived.
Passenger.
Minor injuries.
Claire was driving.
Or so the report said.
I looked at him.
“Where does Mercer fit?”
Jason sank into a chair.
“Claire’s father owed him money.”
Not ordinary debt.
Claire’s father owned a failing construction company.
Mercer arranged loans.
Predatory ones.
When the company collapsed, Mercer demanded repayment through insurance fraud.
He convinced Claire’s father to stage equipment theft.
Jason found out.
Instead of reporting it, he helped.
He was twenty-two, broke, terrified, and desperate to keep Claire's family from losing everything.
Mercer now had leverage.
Then Claire discovered what they were doing.
“She wanted to go to the police.”
Jason's voice cracked.
“What happened?”
“We fought.”
“The night she died?”
“Yes.”
He and Claire argued in the car.
She drove away angry.
Lost control on a wet road.
There was no evidence anyone caused the crash.
No conspiracy.
Just tragedy.
But Mercer used Jason’s guilt.
“You helped commit fraud,” Naomi said.
Jason nodded.
“He told me if I talked, Claire’s father would go to prison and everyone would know what we’d done.”
“So you stayed quiet.”
“At first.”
Then Mercer offered him work.
Find information.
Approach people.
Build trust.
Jason said no.
Mercer reminded him what prison could do to Claire’s grieving father.
Eventually Jason agreed to one job.
Then another.
By the time Claire’s father died, Mercer had evidence of Jason’s own crimes.
Jason was no longer protecting anyone.
He was protecting himself.
That was how people became trapped.
One compromise at a time.
It explained him.
It did not excuse him.
“What does this have to do with the recordings?” I asked.
Jason looked toward the flash drives.
“Mercer talks about Claire.”
We played the first file.
His voice was unmistakable.
Calm.
Amused.
“You always were easier to control after the accident.”
Jason’s recorded voice answered:
“Don't talk about her.”
Mercer laughed.
“If Claire had lived, you would have turned yourself in. Tragic little miracle that she didn't.”
Jason went pale.
The recording continued.
Then Mercer said something strange.
“I told you to let her drive.”
Naomi stopped the audio.
“What does that mean?”
Jason looked confused.
“I don't know.”
We played more.
Mercer seemed to know details about the crash he shouldn't have known.
Where Claire stopped for gas.
Which road she took.
What time emergency services arrived.
Jason's breathing became shallow.
“He wasn't there.”
“How does he know?”
“I don't know.”
The next recording answered part of it.
A third voice joined the meeting.
Female.
Linda Miller.
Jason's mother.
She said:
“You promised me Claire would only be frightened.”
Jason stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
“What?”
His face looked destroyed.
We replayed it.
Linda again.
You promised me Claire would only be frightened.
Mercer replied:
And you promised your son would never find out.
Jason whispered:
“No.”
For the first time since I caught him with Amber, I saw something in him that wasn't self-pity.
Terror.
May you like
His mother had known something about Claire’s crash.
And according to the recording, she had helped Mercer hide it.
