Chapter 5 - The Night the House Went Dark
Daniel was upstairs when the power failed.
He heard Claire shout his name.
He ran.
“Claire!”
No response.
His phone flashlight cut through the darkness.
The backup generator should have activated immediately.
It didn’t.
That meant someone had disabled it.
Daniel reached the kitchen.
“Claire?”
“Here!”
He found Claire crouched behind the island beside Eleanor.
Eleanor gripped her cane.
“What happened?” Daniel asked.
“We heard someone.”
Daniel called police.
Then glass shattered somewhere near the back of the house.
Claire flinched.
Daniel positioned himself between the women and the doorway.
“Stay here.”
“No,” Claire snapped. “You are not wandering around a dark house while whoever this is waits for you.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Even terrified, Claire could still order him around.
Another noise.
Footsteps.
Daniel grabbed the heavy flashlight from a drawer.
A shadow crossed the hallway.
“Police are coming!” he shouted.
The figure ran.
Daniel chased only far enough to see the back door swing open.
A dark SUV tore down the driveway.
Police arrived six minutes later.
Nothing had been stolen.
But Eleanor’s study had been searched.
Desk drawers were open.
Cabinets emptied.
“They were looking for estate papers,” Eleanor said.
Detective Soto stared at her.
“You expected this?”
“I suspected it.”
Claire folded her arms.
“You might have mentioned that before we spent ten minutes thinking we were going to die.”
Eleanor looked genuinely guilty.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel crouched beside the generator with an officer.
The fuel line had been cut.
Someone had also removed the security system’s backup battery.
Professional.
Victor Hale became the obvious suspect.
But police discovered he had been in custody during the break-in.
That meant Vanessa had another accomplice.
The following afternoon, Claire received a phone call from an unknown number.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“Yes?”
A man’s voice.
“If you want to know what happened to Thomas, come alone.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“Who is this?”
“Someone who doesn’t want a pregnant woman getting killed over rich people’s money.”
“Then talk to the police.”
The man laughed.
“The police can’t protect you from someone inside your own house.”
The call ended.
Claire immediately told Daniel.
“You’re not going anywhere alone.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Detective Soto traced the number to a prepaid phone.
The caller rang again an hour later.
This time police recorded it.
The man instructed Claire to go to a diner in Norwalk.
Soto arranged surveillance.
The man who appeared was not Victor Hale.
He was Michael Brennan, a former Mercer estate security employee.
Daniel recognized him immediately.
“You worked for us.”
Michael looked ashamed.
“Eight years.”
“Why did you quit?”
“I didn’t. Vanessa paid me to leave.”
Detective Soto leaned forward.
“Start talking.”
Michael rubbed his hands together.
“Thomas asked me to follow Vanessa.”
Daniel stared.
“When?”
“Two months before he died.”
Michael had photographed Vanessa meeting Victor Hale.
He had also seen her meeting someone else.
Thomas’s mechanic.
The man responsible for servicing Thomas’s car.
Claire’s stomach tightened.
Michael continued.
“I told Thomas.”
“What did he do?” Daniel asked.
“He confronted the mechanic.”
“And?”
“The mechanic claimed Vanessa asked him whether brake failures could look accidental.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Daniel looked ready to explode.
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“Because two days later, Thomas told me to stop investigating.”
“Why?”
Michael looked toward Claire.
“Vanessa told Thomas she was pregnant.”
Everyone went silent.
Daniel frowned.
“She never had a baby.”
“No.”
Michael lowered his voice.
“Because she wasn’t pregnant.”
Claire understood first.
“She lied to stop him from leaving.”
Michael nodded.
“Thomas told me he would stay long enough to confirm the pregnancy. Then he died.”
Detective Soto asked, “Why come forward now?”
Michael looked miserable.
“Because last night someone shot at my house.”
Claire stared.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Michael pulled an envelope from his jacket.
“Thomas gave me this the week before he died. Told me if anything happened, I was supposed to give it to Daniel.”
Daniel took it.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was scared.”
Daniel opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Vanessa standing beside Thomas’s mechanic.
On the back, Thomas had written:
If she says I crashed because I was tired, don’t believe her.
That was enough for police to obtain a warrant for the mechanic, Roy Keegan.
Roy broke quickly.
Vanessa had paid him ten thousand dollars to alter Thomas’s brake line.
But Roy insisted he had not cut it completely.
“She said she wanted to scare him.”
Detective Soto stared at him.
“You tampered with a vehicle.”
“I know.”
“Thomas died.”
“I know!”
“Did Vanessa know what you did?”
“Yes.”
“Did she pay you afterward?”
Roy looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
Vanessa was arrested that evening for conspiracy, fraud, evidence tampering, and assault related to Daniel’s drugging.
Claire expected to feel relieved.
She didn’t.
Because Vanessa smiled as police led her away.
She looked directly at Claire.
“This isn’t over.”
Daniel stepped forward.
Vanessa laughed.
“You still haven’t figured out why Thomas really changed the trust.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
Vanessa saw it.
“Oh.”
She smiled wider.
“You didn’t tell them.”
Daniel turned to his mother.
“Tell us what?”
Eleanor said nothing.
“Mom?”
May you like
Vanessa called over her shoulder as officers put her into the police car.
“Ask your mother who Daniel’s father really was.”
