Chapter 4 - The Driver Who Knew Too Much|
Samuel Price had driven Nathan Mercer for twelve years, and in all that time, he had never seen his employer look genuinely helpless.
He saw it now.
Nathan stood beneath the hospital lights with his tie loosened, his hair disordered, and a dried flower clutched in one hand.
“Tell me what you know about my mother.”
Samuel did not answer immediately.
“Mr. Mercer, this is not the place.”
“Then tell me somewhere else.”
“Your wife is in surgery.”
“I know where my wife is.”
The sharpness in Nathan's voice made Samuel flinch.
Nathan noticed and looked away.
“I'm sorry.”
Those two words surprised them both.
Samuel had driven Rose Mercer to the hospital on the night she died. He had been a young employee then, working for Daniel Mercer as a chauffeur and occasional assistant.
Nathan was fifteen.
Samuel remembered the boy sitting outside the operating room, holding a bouquet of gardenias that had begun to wilt. He remembered Daniel's car pulling away from the hospital driveway at 10:30 p.m.
He remembered the woman in the passenger seat.
And he remembered the envelope Daniel had ordered him to deliver to the hospital administrator the following morning.
For twenty-three years, Samuel had carried the memory like a stone in his chest.
“Your father told me your mother was dying,” he said at last. “He said he had business to attend to.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“I know that.”
“No. You know what he told you.”
Samuel looked toward the operating-room doors.
“Your mother wasn't supposed to be treated at that hospital. She was scheduled for a transfer to a specialist. Your father canceled it.”
Nathan went completely still.
“What?”
“The specialist had requested additional tests. Your father said they were unnecessary and too expensive.”
“My father was a millionaire.”
“I know.”
“Then why would he cancel her treatment?”
Samuel swallowed.
“Because someone was paying him to.”
Nathan felt the floor shift beneath him.
“Who?”
“Charles Whitmore.”
The name struck with the force of a blow.
Vanessa's father.
Samuel explained that Daniel had been involved in a business partnership with Whitmore Capital long before Nathan inherited Mercer Logistics. Their partnership involved property acquisitions, shell companies, and investments that would later become the foundation of several Mercer businesses.
Rose had discovered irregular payments in the accounts. She confronted Daniel and threatened to inform the authorities.
Within days, she was admitted to the hospital.
“Are you saying my father deliberately left my mother without treatment?”
“I'm saying he canceled the transfer that might have saved her. I cannot tell you whether he intended her to die.”
Nathan stared at him.
“And you said nothing?”
Samuel's face crumpled.
“I was twenty-two. Your father controlled my job, my home, and my future. He told me that if I spoke, he would make sure nobody believed me.”
“So you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was worse than an excuse.
Nathan turned away.
He wanted to shout. He wanted to accuse Samuel of cowardice. But he remembered the fifteen-year-old boy in the hospital waiting room and realized that he, too, had remained silent for years.
He had blamed his father for abandoning his mother, then spent two years abandoning his own wife emotionally.
“What did Claire find?”
Samuel looked at him.
“She found the original payment records. She also found something your mother left behind.”
“What?”
“A letter.”
“Where is it?”
“Your wife asked me to keep it safe.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“You've had evidence about my mother for years?”
“No. I received the letter three weeks ago, after Claire discovered the old records.”
“Why didn't you bring it to me?”
“Because Claire asked me not to.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“She's my wife.”
“And she was afraid you would destroy the evidence before you understood what it meant.”
Nathan recoiled as if Samuel had slapped him.
Before he could respond, a surgeon emerged.
The blood had drained from the man's face.
“Mr. Mercer, we have a serious complication.”
Nathan seized the edge of a nearby counter.
“Is she alive?”
“She is alive, but the tear is larger than we anticipated. We need to repair the damaged section of her aorta.”
“Then repair it.”
“We are doing everything possible.”
The surgeon hesitated.
“There's another concern. Your wife has been taking medication that may affect the procedure. We need to know what she has been prescribed.”
Nathan shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
The surgeon looked between them.
“Someone must know.”
Nathan felt shame settle over him with unbearable weight.
He had lived in the same house as Claire for two years and did not know what medications she took.
Samuel stepped forward.
“I have her medical file.”
Nathan stared at him.
“You have her medical file?”
“Dr. Hale gave me a copy because Mrs. Mercer asked me to help coordinate her appointments.”
Nathan's voice broke.
“She trusted you with everything.”
Samuel answered softly.
“She trusted someone to show up.”
Then he reached into his coat and produced a sealed blue envelope.
“There is something else, Mr. Mercer. Claire told me to give you this only if she went into surgery.”
Nathan took it with shaking fingers.
On the front, Claire had written:
For Nathan, if the truth finally matters more than his pride.
Inside was a photograph of Rose Mercer standing beside Charles Whitmore.
May you like
On the back, in Rose's handwriting, were four words.
He knows how I died.
