Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Leo called Celeste immediately.
She did not answer.
He called Rosa.
No answer.
He called the security desk.
A guard answered on the fourth ring.
“Mr. Mercer.”
“Why is Grant on my property?”
A pause.
“He has a court officer with him.”
“For what?”
“They are serving documents.”
“Where is Mia?”
“With Ms. Mercer in the east sitting room.”
“Keep them there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Put Grant nowhere near that room.”
The guard hesitated.
“Sir, the court officer says Mr. Hale has authorization as trust representative.”
Leo closed his eyes.
“Then put two guards between him and my daughter and call Naomi Brooks if he takes one step past them.”
“Yes, sir.”
Leo ended the call.
Marcus was opening the Boston file cabinets.
“Come see this.”
The first drawer contained copies of medical invoices under Elena's name.
The second contained invoices under another name.
Eleanor Hart.
The dates began two weeks before the accident and continued for six months after it.
Leo stared.
“After she died?”
Marcus flipped through them.
“Someone named Eleanor Hart was receiving neurological care in Massachusetts after Elena's funeral.”
Leo felt the room contract around him.
“No.”
Marcus looked at him carefully.
“Could be unrelated.”
Leo grabbed the photograph of Dr. Sarah Kent.
The clinic name matched the invoices.
A private neurological rehabilitation center.
He called the number printed on the old receipt.
A receptionist answered.
Leo asked for Dr. Kent.
He was transferred twice.
Finally, a woman picked up.
“This is Dr. Kent.”
Leo could barely make his voice work.
“My name is Leo Mercer.”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Leo's hand tightened around the phone.
“You know who I am.”
Dr. Kent spoke slowly.
“I know the name.”
“Did you treat my wife?”
“I cannot discuss patient information.”
“My wife died three years ago.”
Another silence.
“I am sorry for your loss.”
The answer was too careful.
Leo looked at Marcus.
“Did Elena Mercer survive the car accident?”
Dr. Kent inhaled.
“Mr. Mercer, this is not a conversation I can have by telephone.”
Leo's pulse hammered.
“Then tell me where to come.”
“I didn't say I could meet you.”
“You didn't say no.”
Dr. Kent was quiet.
Finally she said, “There is a coffee shop across from St. Matthew's Park.”
“Two fifteen.”
The line disconnected.
Leo checked the time.
He had forty minutes before he needed to leave for the airport to make the hearing.
Marcus shook his head.
“You cannot do both.”
“I can.”
“You're going to walk into court late and look irresponsible.”
Leo hated that Marcus was right.
Naomi called at that exact moment.
“Where are you?”
“Boston.”
“I know that part.”
“I need you back now.”
“Grant is pushing to expand the emergency order.”
Leo looked at Elena's board.
“What does he want?”
“Permission to move Mia to a neutral residence tonight.”
“With him?”
“No.”
“With Celeste.”
Leo frowned.
“Then why is Grant pushing it?”
“Because the neutral residence named in the motion is owned by a Mercer trust subsidiary.”
“Meaning his security controls it.”
“Exactly.”
Leo cursed.
The coffee shop meeting was impossible.
He texted Dr. Kent.
COURT EMERGENCY INVOLVING MIA. I HAVE TO LEAVE. PLEASE CONTACT ME.
He expected nothing.
A response arrived thirty seconds later.
DO NOT LET THEM MOVE MIA TO 18 WILLOW CREST.
Leo stared at the address.
Naomi heard his silence.
“What?”
Leo read the message aloud.
Naomi's voice changed.
“That is the residence named in the motion.”
Leo felt cold.
Dr. Kent knew about a sealed court filing before Leo's own attorney had finished reading it.
Someone had warned her.
Or she was part of it.
They left the storage unit with copies of everything they could carry.
Before locking the door, Leo saw a small envelope taped beneath the desk.
It was addressed in Elena's handwriting.
TO LEO, WHEN HE FINALLY STOPS TRUSTING THE WRONG PEOPLE.
He tore it open on the way to the car.
Inside was one photograph.
It showed Elena, Celeste, and Dr. Kent standing together outside the Boston clinic.
The date was three days before the accident.
On the back, Elena had written:
IF CELESTE TELLS YOU I BETRAYED YOU, SHE IS PROTECTING THE PLAN.
IF GRANT TELLS YOU CELESTE BETRAYED YOU, HE IS PROTECTING HIMSELF.
TRUST WHAT MIA REMEMBERS.
Leo read the last line again.
Mia had been two when Elena died.
Children that young usually remembered fragments, sensations, sounds.
Not plans.
Not financial crimes.
Unless Elena had taught her something intentionally.
Leo thought of the pink crossed heart.
He looked at the photograph again.
Celeste had not been Elena's enemy.
At least not at first.
The helicopter lifted toward New York.
Halfway home, Leo received a message from an unknown number.
A photograph loaded slowly.
It showed Mia sitting in the east room at Mercer House with Bunny in her lap.
The image had been taken through the window from outside.
Below it was one sentence.
STOP DIGGING OR THE COURT WILL NEVER GIVE HER BACK.
Leo's hands shook with rage.
Then he noticed something in the photograph.
Mia was holding the bright pink marker.
On the window beside her, she had drawn a huge pink heart.
Across the heart was one line.
A signal.
Mia knew someone was watching.
May you like
And she wanted Leo to know it too.
Page
