Chapter 6 - Locker 317 Holds Two Names
Union Station was nearly empty when they arrived.
The old lockers had been removed years earlier, but Vanessa led Daniel
and Marcus to a service office where a retired bank of steel boxes
remained behind a locked gate.
“How did you know these were still here?” Daniel asked.
“Rachel researched everything.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Vanessa stopped.
“She rented the locker through a preservation agreement. Paid twenty
years in advance.”
Marcus looked impressed despite himself.
Daniel was not.
Every new fact about Rachel made him feel as though he had been married
to a stranger.
Vanessa entered a six-digit code into an old keypad.
The gate clicked.
Locker 317 was waist-high.
Daniel inserted the brass key.
Inside sat a weathered document box and a digital voice recorder sealed
in plastic.
Nothing else.
Daniel lifted the box onto a bench.
On top was an envelope.
His name was written in Rachel’s handwriting.
DANIEL — ONLY IF I’M GONE.
His knees weakened.
He had not seen that handwriting in nine years.
Vanessa stepped away.
“This is yours.”
Daniel opened it.
The letter was short.
Daniel,
If you are reading this, somebody failed to keep me alive.
Do not assume the person who frightened me is the person who killed me.
Your father is hiding something terrible, but he is not the only one.
Evelyn knows where the first records are.
Vanessa knows where the second records are.
The last proof is with the person you trust most.
Protect Lily.
And please believe this: I loved you enough to lie to you, but I should
have trusted you enough to tell the truth.
Rachel.
Daniel read the sentence twice.
The last proof is with the person you trust most.
He looked at Marcus.
Marcus had been his closest friend since college.
His best man.
Lily’s godfather.
Marcus saw the suspicion.
“Don’t.”
Daniel folded the letter.
“Do you know what she meant?”
“No.”
“Were you involved with Rachel’s investigation?”
“No.”
Vanessa watched Marcus carefully.
Daniel opened the document box.
Inside were photocopied bank transfers, Northstar patient lists,
corporate registrations, and photographs.
One photograph showed Charles entering a Northstar facility.
Another showed Evelyn being escorted from a van.
The date was six months after her supposed death.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Then he found a page containing two names circled in red.
CHARLES MERCER.
MARCUS REED.
Daniel slowly raised his eyes.
Marcus did not move.
Vanessa whispered, “Oh my God.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I can explain.”
Daniel backed away.
“Start.”
“My father worked for Northstar security.”
Daniel knew Marcus’s father had been a corrections officer.
That was the story.
“He got me a summer job there when I was twenty.”
“You told me you worked construction.”
“I lied.”
“Why is your name in Rachel’s file?”
“Because she interviewed me.”
Daniel stared.
“When?”
“Two months before she died.”
“You knew my wife was investigating my father?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“She made me promise.”
Daniel’s anger boiled over.
He slammed Marcus against the lockers.
“You let me bury her.”
“I was trying to keep you alive!”
Daniel drew back his fist.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
“Daniel!”
Marcus did not fight back.
“Hit me if you need to. But listen first.”
Daniel released him.
Marcus rubbed his shoulder.
“Northstar wasn’t just holding people for Charles.”
Charles’s name landed differently now.
“For who?”
“I never knew. Rachel thought the foundation fraud was financing
something larger.”
“What?”
“Blackmail.”
Daniel frowned.
Marcus pointed to the recorder.
“Play it.”
Daniel pressed the button.
Static filled the empty station.
Then Rachel’s voice.
“If you found this, I’m probably dead.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Vanessa turned away.
Rachel continued.
“Charles Mercer has committed crimes. I have evidence of fraud, false
imprisonment, and obstruction. But I no longer believe Charles controls
the operation.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
The recording crackled.
“There is someone inside the family system who has access to Daniel’s
schedule, the foundation, the house, and Northstar. Charles is afraid of
this person.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Rachel’s voice continued.
“I thought it was Marcus. I was wrong.”
Marcus exhaled.
“I thought it was Vanessa. I was wrong about that too.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Then Rachel said something none of them expected.
“The name I found is Eleanor Vale.”
Daniel frowned.
“I don’t know anyone named Eleanor Vale.”
Vanessa looked confused.
Marcus looked terrified.
“You do,” he said.
Daniel turned.
Marcus’s voice dropped.
“Eleanor Vale was your grandmother’s maiden name.”
Daniel stared.
“My grandmother died before I was born.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed toward the documents.
“Eleanor Vale is Charles Mercer’s sister.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“My father doesn’t have a sister.”
Marcus gave him a grim look.
“That’s what Charles wanted everyone to believe.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
The mansion security line.
He answered immediately.
A guard shouted through the speaker.
“Mr. Mercer, somebody cut the power.”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“Where’s Lily?”
“We’re trying to locate her.”
“What do you mean, locate her?”
Then a child’s scream sounded faintly through the phone.
Daniel ran for the exit.
Behind him, Rachel’s recorder continued playing.
May you like
And her final sentence followed them into the empty station.
“If Eleanor ever learns Lily exists, run.”
