[CHAPTER 7]
By the time we reached Robert’s house, smoke was pouring from a broken study window.
Firefighters covered the front lawn.
Police tape blocked the driveway.
Detective Mills arrived minutes after us.
Robert stood outside in a borrowed blanket.
He looked furious rather than frightened.
“Was anyone hurt?” I asked.
“No.”
“Where’s Henry?”
“With Patricia.”
Daniel looked toward the blackened window.
“How bad?”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
“Only the study.”
That wasn’t an accident.
We all knew it.
Someone had targeted the room containing Robert’s business records.
Mills asked him what was inside.
“Files. Computer. Old tax records.”
“The safe?”
“Already empty.”
She looked at me.
The timing was obvious.
Victor was missing.
Evelyn had been arrested.
And the house had been searched the night before.
Whoever started the fire was trying to destroy something investigators hadn’t found yet.
A firefighter approached.
“Detective?”
He handed Mills a small object in an evidence bag.
A melted plastic bottle.
“Accelerant.”
Daniel cursed.
Robert looked toward the road.
“Victor.”
“Maybe,” Mills said.
“Who else?”
Nobody answered.
That question stayed with me.
Who else?
The family gathering had included fifteen people.
Everyone heard the recording.
Everyone knew police were investigating.
What if Victor had help?
Mills must have been thinking the same thing.
She began asking where everyone had been that morning.
Melissa had been with me.
Daniel had been at Robert’s until he came downtown.
Robert had gone to the bank.
Henry was with Aunt Patricia.
Other relatives were scattered across town.
Then Mills asked a question that made Daniel stiffen.
“Where is your cousin Nathan?”
Nathan was Robert’s nephew.
His mother, Patricia, was Robert’s sister.
Nathan handled operations for the family company.
“I don’t know,” Daniel said.
Robert frowned.
“He was supposed to meet me at the bank.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Mills called another officer.
Within an hour, they learned Nathan’s phone was turned off.
His apartment was empty.
And one of Robert’s company vehicles was missing.
I felt the floor tilt beneath me.
Nathan had been in the living room when Evelyn hit me.
He had watched.
He had looked disgusted.
I assumed the disgust was directed at me.
Maybe it had been fear.
Robert shook his head.
“No. Nathan wouldn’t.”
Henry’s words came back to me.
This family avoids ugly truths.
Maybe that habit wasn’t finished hurting us.
Mills ordered the property searched again after firefighters cleared it.
This time, I stayed outside.
Daniel kept his distance.
He honored what I had asked.
That mattered more than I wanted it to.
Two hours later, an officer emerged carrying a metal lockbox.
“Found behind a false panel in the downstairs closet.”
Robert stared.
“I didn’t know that was there.”
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Several burner phones.
And a folder marked LAURA.
My heart started pounding.
Mills opened it carefully.
Photographs.
Old police reports.
Copies of Laura’s bank statements.
A letter.
Robert recognized Evelyn’s handwriting.
He read the first line and sat down.
“What does it say?” Daniel asked.
Robert couldn’t continue.
Mills read aloud.
“Victor, she still hasn’t stopped asking questions. If Michael had listened, none of this would be happening.”
Everyone went silent.
Daniel whispered, “Michael?”
Mills kept reading.
“We need Laura gone before she finds the Mercer ledger.”
Robert’s face emptied.
“What is the Mercer ledger?”
Henry, who had just arrived with Patricia, stopped walking.
His cane trembled.
“I know.”
All eyes turned toward him.
Henry came closer.
“The Mercer ledger was a private set of books I kept when Michael and Robert were learning the business.”
Robert frowned.
“You never told me.”
“It tracked cash investments that didn’t go through regular accounts.”
“Where is it?”
Henry looked at the burned study.
“I gave it to Michael.”
I felt sick.
Mills asked, “Before he died?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Michael believed money was disappearing.”
Robert sat completely still.
Henry continued.
“He asked me to let him compare my ledger with the company records.”
“And then?”
“Three days later, he died.”
Patricia began crying.
“He was my baby brother.”
Henry’s face hardened with pain.
“I asked Evelyn if Michael had mentioned the ledger.”
Robert stared at him.
“You asked her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That Laura had taken it.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Every path led back to Laura.
The convenient villain.
The woman nobody defended.
Mills turned to me.
“That anonymous message said the family buried one woman before you.”
“Yes.”
“If Laura knows about the Mercer ledger, we need to speak with her immediately.”
She called.
This time, the conversation happened on speaker.
Laura answered after one ring.
Her voice was older than the voicemail but steady.
“Detective.”
“We found a folder with your name.”
Silence.
“And a reference to the Mercer ledger.”
Laura inhaled sharply.
“You found the ledger?”
“No. Do you know where it is?”
A long pause.
Then Laura said something that changed everything.
“Yes.”
Robert stood.
“Laura?”
Her voice broke.
“Robert?”
He closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Silence again.
Then she whispered, “You should be.”
No one moved.
Mills brought the conversation back.
“Laura, where is the Mercer ledger?”
Laura’s answer came slowly.
“Michael gave it to me the night before he died.”
Henry gripped his cane.
“Do you still have it?”
“Yes.”
I felt hope rise.
May you like
Then Laura added:
“But somebody tried to kill me for it once.”
