Chapter 5 - THE LOCKER AT 30TH STREET
Blue and red lights washed across the snow.
Dominic did not run.
He did not hide anything.
He handed Lily to Hannah.
That surprised Hannah more than everything else that night.
“Take her to the library.”
Lily held on to him.
“No.”
Dominic crouched.
“I'll be ten minutes.”
“You always say that.”
His face softened.
“Then I'll stop saying it.”
He touched her cheek.
“I will come find you.”
Lily studied him.
Then nodded.
Hannah took her hand.
Before they could leave, Dominic said, “Hannah.”
She turned.
“Lock the library from the inside.”
Hannah nodded.
Caroline stepped forward.
“Let me go with them.”
“No.”
“Dominic—”
“No.”
Lily looked at Caroline.
“You locked Miss Hannah outside.”
Caroline went silent.
Dominic didn't need to add anything.
Hannah led Lily away.
In the library, snow pressed white against the tall windows.
Lily sat on the leather sofa.
She looked tiny beneath the bookshelves.
“Miss Hannah?”
“Yes?”
“Is Daddy going to jail?”
Hannah chose her words carefully.
“I don't know what's happening with the police.”
Lily stared at her shoes.
“But your dad is downstairs answering questions instead of running away.”
“Is that good?”
“Yes.”
Lily thought about it.
“Mommy used to say brave isn't when you're not scared.”
Hannah smiled faintly.
“What did she say it was?”
“When you do it scared.”
“Your mom was right.”
Downstairs, officers entered the estate.
The anonymous report had been precise.
Illegal narcotics.
Financial records.
Evidence connected to several violent crimes.
All supposedly hidden inside Dominic's private office.
But when police opened the locked cabinet described by the caller, they found something else.
Six empty red medicine bottles.
Each carrying Eleanor Mercer's name.
Dominic stared at them.
So did the lead detective.
The detective was a gray-haired woman named Mara Chen.
She had known Dominic long enough not to trust him.
She had also known him long enough to recognize genuine surprise.
“These yours?” she asked.
“No.”
“They're in your office.”
“Yes.”
“Locked cabinet.”
“Yes.”
“Only you have the key?”
Dominic looked toward his security chief.
“I thought so.”
Detective Chen studied him.
Caroline stood fifteen feet away, pale and silent.
Claire remained hidden upstairs.
Agnes had been moved to another room with medical assistance.
Dominic said, “Someone planted them.”
“Of course.”
“I can tell you who.”
“I'm listening.”
“My uncle.”
Chen's eyebrows lifted.
“Frank Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“The man whose company donated two million dollars to tonight's children's hospital fundraiser?”
“Yes.”
“That Frank Mercer?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Chen looked toward the medicine bottles.
“Then I suggest you find me something better than family drama.”
Dominic reached into his pocket.
The brass key.
He thought about Claire's warning.
Everything.
Then he looked at his security chief.
“Get the car.”
Detective Chen stepped forward.
“Where are you going?”
“To get you your evidence.”
“You're not leaving.”
“Then come with me.”
That caught her attention.
Twenty minutes later, Dominic sat in the rear of an SUV with Detective Chen beside him.
Two unmarked police vehicles followed.
Caroline was not allowed to come.
Neither was Claire.
Dominic insisted Hannah and Lily remain at the estate under police protection.
The drive into Philadelphia felt longer than it was.
At 30th Street Station, holiday travelers hurried beneath bright lights without knowing that one man's entire past was about to come apart twenty yards away.
Locker bank four.
Row twelve.
Box seven.
The brass key turned.
Inside was a blue wool coat.
Nothing else.
Detective Chen looked at Dominic.
“This is everything?”
Dominic reached inside.
The coat belonged to Eleanor.
He knew it immediately.
She had worn it the winter Lily turned two.
Dominic lifted it.
Something jingled in the pocket.
He pulled out a train ticket.
Boston.
Unused.
Then a small cassette recorder.
Then a child's drawing.
Lily had drawn three stick figures.
Mommy.
Daddy.
Lily.
All holding hands beneath a crooked yellow sun.
On the back, Eleanor had written:
IF WE CAN STILL BE A FAMILY, I WANT THAT. BUT FRANK CANNOT BE PART OF IT.
Dominic read the words twice.
Detective Chen's expression softened only slightly.
“There more?”
Dominic searched the second pocket.
An envelope.
Inside were copies of payments.
Not a lawyer's packet.
Not a neat confession.
Handwritten ledgers.
Dates.
Initials.
Amounts.
Hospital staff.
Security employees.
Evan Kroll.
And one initial that appeared repeatedly.
F.M.
Frank Mercer.
Detective Chen became very still.
Then Dominic found one final item.
A cassette.
Eleanor's handwriting labeled it:
FOR DOMINIC—ONLY IF FRANK WINS.
Chen looked at him.
“You have anything that plays that?”
An old cassette machine stood at the station security office.
Ten minutes later, Dominic pressed play.
Static.
Then Eleanor's voice.
Tired.
Alive.
“Dominic.”
He closed his eyes.
“I don't know if you'll ever hear this.”
His hand tightened around Lily's drawing.
“If you do, it means I failed.”
A breath.
“Frank arranged Lily's kidnapping.”
Detective Chen looked up sharply.
“He didn't want money. He wanted fear. He wanted me afraid of your life, and you afraid of losing Lily.”
Dominic stared at nothing.
“He believed fear would keep us dependent on him.”
Eleanor coughed.
“I found proof. He used your watch to make me think you had taken Lily yourself after discovering I planned to leave.”
Dominic's eyes filled.
“He wanted us to stop trusting each other.”
Another breath.
“I almost did.”
Dominic lowered his head.
“Then I came home.”
A pause.
“Because I realized leaving without telling you would make me exactly what Frank needed me to be.”
Dominic covered his mouth.
Eleanor continued.
“I was going to show you everything.”
Static cracked.
Then her voice returned.
“But Caroline gave me the red medicine before I could.”
Detective Chen glanced at Dominic.
The tape continued.
“She was afraid for her sister. I know that now.”
Dominic looked up.
Even dying, Eleanor had understood.
“Caroline made a terrible choice.”
A long pause.
“But Frank designed the choice.”
Dominic whispered, “Eleanor…”
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“If I don't survive, don't teach Lily to hate Caroline for me.”
Dominic stared at the machine.
“She needs to answer for what she did. But hatred is another thing Frank knows how to use.”
The tape clicked.
Then Eleanor's voice became urgent.
“One more thing.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Frank has someone inside your house.”
Detective Chen stiffened.
“Someone who has been beside you for years.”
The tape hissed.
“I don't know his name.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“But I know how to identify him.”
A pause.
“He wears my wedding ring on a chain.”
The cassette ended.
Dominic stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
Detective Chen rose too.
“Who has access to your house?”
Dominic didn't answer.
He was already dialing.
At the Mercer estate, Hannah sat beside Lily in the library.
Someone tried the locked door.
Hannah froze.
“Who is it?”
A familiar male voice answered.
“Security.”
Hannah recognized him.
Dominic's head of security.
“Mr. Mercer asked me to move you.”
Hannah approached the door but didn't unlock it.
“Where?”
“No time. Police found something.”
Lily suddenly stood.
She stared at the shadow beneath the door.
A thin silver chain had fallen outside his shirt.
At its end was a gold ring.
May you like
Lily whispered:
“That's Mommy's ring.”
