Chapter 6 - THE MAN I MARRIED FOR THE WRONG REASONS
Troy Mercer had once been a young lawyer working with my mother.
The revelation made Amelia feel physically sick.
She remembered meeting him eight years earlier.
He'd arrived at the community shelter where she volunteered.
Clean suit.
Kind smile.
Flowers in his hand.
He'd told her he admired her mother's work.
He'd said he understood grief.
He'd listened when she talked about growing up without money.
Then he'd made her feel special.
Safe.
Chosen.
Now she wondered whether any of it had been real.
“Did he know your mother before you met?” Gabriel asked.
Amelia nodded slowly.
“He told me they'd worked together briefly.”
Detective Bennett studied her.
“Did Eleanor introduce you?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“Troy said he saw me at a charity event.”
The detective made a note.
Amelia felt cold.
“What if he approached me because of the bracelet?”
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “That's possible. But we shouldn't assume until we have evidence.”
She nodded.
For years, Troy had controlled her life through suspicion and accusation.
She didn't want to become like him.
Then Nolan appeared in the doorway.
He'd been listening.
“Mom?”
Amelia turned.
“Sweetheart, you should be asleep.”
Nolan stepped closer.
“Dad always asked about Grandma's bracelet.”
Her heart stopped.
“What?”
“He said it was ugly.”
Amelia stared.
Nolan continued.
“One time, when you were in the hospital having Lily, he tried to cut it off your wrist.”
A memory flashed.
Troy standing beside her hospital bed.
Complaining that the bracelet was too tight.
Insisting she remove it.
She'd refused.
Now she understood why he'd been so angry.
Gabriel crouched beside Nolan.
“Thank you for telling us.”
Nolan nodded.
Then he looked at Amelia.
“Mom, did I do something wrong?”
She immediately pulled him into her arms.
“No, baby.”
He began crying.
“Dad said I wasn't supposed to tell.”
Amelia held him tighter.
“You did the right thing.”
That afternoon, Detective Bennett received another report.
Troy had been using several false business identities.
One company was still receiving payments from properties connected to Richard Mercer.
And one account contained a recent transfer to a private medical facility in Wisconsin.
Amelia frowned.
“Why Wisconsin?”
Gabriel studied the paperwork.
His expression changed.
“Sofia's last confirmed phone call came from Wisconsin.”
The room went silent.
Then the detective opened the facility records.
A patient had been admitted seventeen years earlier.
Female.
Approximately twenty-three.
Identity unknown.
The record included a photograph.
Gabriel leaned closer.
His face went white.
“That's Sofia.”
Amelia covered her mouth.
The detective continued.
“The patient was later transferred under another name.”
Gabriel gripped the table.
“What name?”
Detective Bennett looked at him.
May you like
Then answered:
“Eleanor Carter.”
