Chapter 3 - THE FRIEND AT THE FUNERAL
I remembered David Mercer perfectly.
He had stood beside Thomas’s grave beneath a black umbrella while rain rolled from its edges.
He hugged me after the service.
He gave Lauren a small wooden music box.
And before leaving, he squeezed my shoulder and said:
“If you ever need anything, Margaret, Thomas would want me to help.”
I never called him.
Something about the man had always made me uncomfortable.
Now, twenty years later, Samuel Cole was telling me David had frightened my husband.
“Why?” I asked.
Samuel glanced toward Evelyn.
She looked furious.
Not surprised.
Furious.
“There was a company called Halcyon Development,” Samuel said. “Richard and I were early investors.”
Ethan’s father nodded slowly.
“I remember.”
“You remember the company. You don’t remember what happened behind it.”
Samuel faced the congregation.
“Halcyon was buying distressed properties across three counties. Old homes. Farms. Small businesses. Some owners sold willingly.”
His expression darkened.
“Others were pressured.”
Lauren frowned.
“What does that have to do with my dad?”
“Thomas worked for the county records office.”
I stared at Samuel.
Thomas had worked there for eleven years.
“He found documents that didn’t match,” Samuel continued. “Transfers signed by owners who later claimed they had never agreed to sell. Deeds recorded on impossible dates. Signatures witnessed by people who didn’t exist.”
Richard looked stunned.
“Fraud?”
Samuel nodded.
“Thomas believed someone inside Halcyon was forging property transfers.”
“And David?” Ethan asked.
“David Mercer ran acquisitions.”
A hush swept through the room.
Pieces began moving together inside my mind.
Thomas coming home late.
Thomas locking papers in our basement cabinet.
Thomas telling me not to worry when I found him sitting awake at three in the morning.
I had thought work was exhausting him.
Maybe he had been afraid.
“What did Thomas do?” Lauren whispered.
Samuel looked at her.
“He contacted me.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“That’s enough.”
Richard turned sharply.
“Why do you keep trying to stop him?”
She stared at her husband.
For the first time, fear entered her expression.
Samuel answered for her.
“Because Evelyn knew.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Knew what?”
Samuel reached inside his suit.
He removed a folded envelope.
Yellowed with age.
“My brother gave this to me six months before he died.”
My knees weakened.
Richard caught my arm.
Samuel held the envelope toward me.
My name was written across the front.
Margaret.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
Thomas.
My husband had written me a letter.
A letter I had never received.
I opened it with trembling fingers.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
The first line nearly stopped my heart.
Margaret, if you are reading this, then David found out what I discovered.
But it was the final sentence that made Lauren whisper:
“Oh my God.”
May you like
Because Thomas had written:
Never let Lauren trust anyone connected to the Cole family until you know which one of them helped him.
