Chapter 4 - The Building on Mercer Street
The old office on Mercer Street was supposed to be empty.
Carter Meridian had left it nineteen years earlier when Daniel and Ben could finally afford better space. The company still owned the building because Ben, sentimental about beginnings, had persuaded Daniel not to sell.
For years, it was used for storage.
Then forgotten.
At nine the next morning, Daniel stood across from the narrow brick structure beneath a gray sky.
The windows were dusty. The brass numbers above the door were crooked. A faded Carter & Reynolds Consulting decal still clung to the glass.
Sarah stood beside him.
“You never changed the name?”
“I forgot this place existed.”
She looked at him.
“That sounds familiar.”
Daniel accepted the blow without comment.
Laura had insisted on coming. So had Ethan.
Daniel refused Ethan immediately.
His son crossed his arms.
“You followed me without permission.”
“That is not an argument for me letting you enter an abandoned building connected to possible corporate fraud.”
“It kind of is.”
“No.”
Ethan looked at Sarah.
She raised both hands.
“I’m not getting between a father and a twelve-year-old with a legal brief.”
Daniel almost laughed despite himself.
He arranged for Ethan and Ava to stay at Daniel’s home with the housekeeper and two security officers. Sarah resisted at first, but Cole Mercer’s surveillance had frightened her.
By ten, Daniel, Sarah, and Laura entered the Mercer Street building.
Dust covered everything.
Old filing cabinets lined one wall. Broken office chairs were stacked near the rear. Daniel walked slowly through the room, memories returning in flashes.
Ben asleep at a desk at two in the morning.
Emily bringing Chinese food when they could not afford delivery.
Daniel painting the conference room himself and getting blue paint on a new suit.
He stopped near the back office.
Ben’s office.
The door was locked.
Daniel used a crowbar.
Inside, the room looked almost untouched.
A whiteboard still carried faded marker lines.
A bookshelf sagged beneath old accounting manuals.
Sarah moved to the desk.
“He used to complain about this chair.”
Daniel touched the back of it.
“He refused to let me replace it. Said expensive chairs made people lazy.”
Sarah smiled before she could stop herself.
The expression vanished quickly.
Laura searched the cabinets.
“No original books.”
Daniel remembered the message.
THE ORIGINAL BOOKS ARE STILL THERE.
He stared around.
“Ben never meant filing books.”
Sarah frowned. “What else?”
Daniel looked at the whiteboard.
A photograph was pinned to one corner.
Three young men stood in front of the building.
Daniel.
Ben.
Victor.
Daniel stepped closer.
On the back, someone had written:
First profitable quarter. Don’t let D.C. spend it all. — B.R.
Daniel stared at the initials.
Then something clicked.
“Books,” he whispered.
He moved to the bookshelf and pulled out the oldest accounting manual.
Nothing.
Another.
Nothing.
The third book was lighter than it should have been.
Daniel opened it.
The pages had been cut into a hollow square.
Inside sat a small black flash drive.
Sarah covered her mouth.
Laura whispered, “Oh, Ben.”
Daniel lifted the drive.
A sound came from the front of the building.
Glass breaking.
Laura froze.
Sarah turned.
Daniel grabbed both women and pulled them behind the office wall.
Footsteps.
Someone had entered.
Daniel took out his phone and called 911 without speaking, then placed it on the floor.
The footsteps moved through the front room.
Drawers opened.
Metal clanged.
Sarah whispered, “Victor?”
Daniel shook his head.
Too dangerous to guess.
The footsteps came closer.
A shadow crossed beneath the door.
Then a man entered.
Cole Mercer.
Daniel stepped out.
Cole raised both hands.
“Easy.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Trying to stop the guy behind me.”
A second crash sounded near the front.
Cole reached inside his coat.
Daniel tensed.
“Relax. I’m licensed.”
He drew a handgun but kept it pointed at the floor.
Sarah backed away.
Daniel’s voice turned hard. “There are children at my house. If you brought danger to them—”
“I didn’t.”
Cole looked toward the hallway.
“I quit Hale’s job last night.”
“Why?”
“Because following kids was already bad enough. Breaking into houses isn’t what I signed up for.”
Daniel stared.
“Houses?”
Cole looked at Sarah.
“Your motel room was searched yesterday afternoon.”
Sarah went white.
“What?”
“A man named Rick Danner. Works off-book security jobs. Hale uses him when he wants deniability.”
Another footstep.
Cole moved toward the door.
“Stay here.”
Daniel did not.
He followed.
The man in the front room wore dark clothes and gloves. He was opening boxes.
Cole shouted, “Danner!”
The man spun.
For one second, everyone froze.
Then Danner ran.
He slammed through the side exit and disappeared into the alley.
Cole followed, but by the time he reached the street, a motorcycle was already accelerating away.
Police arrived minutes later.
They took statements.
Daniel handed the flash drive to Laura, who sealed it in an evidence bag.
“Make three copies,” he said. “Different locations. Different firms.”
Laura nodded.
Sarah sat on an old desk, shaken.
Daniel approached.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
He sat beside her.
She looked at the room.
“Ben came here the week before he died.”
Daniel turned.
“How do you know?”
“He told me he had hidden proof somewhere nobody would think to search.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sarah’s eyes flashed. “When exactly would I have told you? During the eleven years you didn’t call?”
Daniel looked down.
Again, deserved.
His phone rang.
The housekeeper.
Daniel answered immediately.
“Mr. Carter, I’m sorry, but Ethan and Ava left the house.”
He stood.
“What?”
“They said they were going into the backyard. Security checked five minutes later. They were gone.”
Daniel’s pulse exploded.
“Search the property. Call me the second you find them.”
He ended the call and called Ethan.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Sarah was already on her feet.
“Ava’s phone.”
She dialed.
It rang twice.
Then someone answered.
Not Ava.
A man’s voice said, “Mr. Carter should have stayed out of the past.”
Sarah’s face collapsed.
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Who is this?”
The call ended.
For one terrible second, no one moved.
Then Ethan called Daniel.
Daniel answered so fast he almost dropped the phone.
“Ethan!”
“Dad, don’t freak out.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
That sentence alone almost killed him.
“Where are you?”
“At the bank.”
“What bank?”
“The one from Ava’s key.”
Sarah stared.
Daniel switched to speaker.
Ethan continued quickly.
“Ava said if people were searching her stuff, the safest thing was to open the box before they found the key. So we took a rideshare.”
Daniel’s relief turned instantly to fury.
“You left the house without telling anyone?”
“We left a note.”
“You left a note?”
Sarah grabbed the phone.
“Ava, are you there?”
Ava’s voice came faintly in the background. “I’m here.”
Sarah nearly cried.
“Do not move. We are coming.”
Then Ethan said, “Dad?”
“What?”
“There’s something in the box.”
Daniel looked at the flash drive in Laura’s hand.
“What is it?”
“A letter.”
“To whom?”
May you like
There was a pause.
“To you.”
