Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
I held the phone against my ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay that again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura breathed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Mason is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Vega stepped closer, signaling for me to keep her talking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know for certain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is different from what you just said.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you last see him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer hit harder than I expected.<\/p>\n
Mason had been missing seventeen months.<\/p>\n
Laura had seen him six months into that disappearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lied to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me you didn\u2019t know what happened to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what happened after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou let his family believe he vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked me to.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward Vega.<\/p>\n
Her expression had gone flat with anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he thought disappearing was the only way Stephen would stop looking at him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he staged it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPartly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does partly mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left the apartment deliberately. Passport, wallet, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cat.\u201d<\/p>\n
His cat had been left behind.<\/p>\n
Laura\u2019s voice cracked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the hardest part.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt an unexpected flash of anger on behalf of an animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe abandoned Walter to make it convincing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew I would get Walter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seem to know a lot for someone who claimed not to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to keep you alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy lying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least she did not pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n
Vega motioned.<\/p>\n
Ask location.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Stephen has people watching everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen is under investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make him harmless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice can protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI trusted police once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
I asked, \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMason reported part of Juniper before he disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know which detective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega wrote something.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen knew about it within a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
That explained Laura\u2019s distrust.<\/p>\n
Maybe.<\/p>\n
Or gave her a convenient excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Mason do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe realized somebody was leaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom police?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr prosecutors. Or the bank. Or somewhere. He stopped trusting systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen staged his disappearance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did he go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you saw him eleven months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCity?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a missing person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis sister thinks he may be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you understand what you did to her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura started crying quietly.<\/p>\n
I did not soften.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega shook her head.<\/p>\n
She wrote:<\/p>\n
KEEP HER TALKING.<\/p>\n
I asked, \u201cWhy contact me now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I heard Ethan surfaced.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan\u2019s wife?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeparated wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you talking to her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we have been trying to keep Ethan alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another hidden alliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince when?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes Ethan know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Everyone knew fragments.<\/p>\n
Everyone hid fragments.<\/p>\n
No wonder Stephen had been able to move between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Rebecca send the photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who has Mason\u2019s tablet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Mason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he took it when he left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just said Ethan gave it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo someone sent a photograph stored on Mason\u2019s tablet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMeaning either Mason sent it\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr someone has Mason.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room chilled.<\/p>\n
There was the other possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Mason threaten me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message said stop opening his files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe might tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo keep you from reaching Phase IV.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Jessica.<\/p>\n
That made no sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t know about Phase IV, I might sign Stephen\u2019s documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mason had a safeguard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe book?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat safeguard?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nearly snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone keeps calling me a safeguard, Stabilizer, endpoint, trustee. I am a person, Laura.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen speak to me like one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then Laura said, \u201cMason arranged for you to be warned if his archive was opened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had someone monitoring access.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConvenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas the threat automated?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen somebody is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMason called them the Watchman.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Vega.<\/p>\n
She wrote the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cReal name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did this person do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKept copies of evidence. Watched Stephen. Watched Richard. Watched us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd apparently watched my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the photograph was taken because of Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sentence doesn\u2019t make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy was it taken?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo document a surveillance vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the photograph.<\/p>\n
Sam at my sister\u2019s table.<\/p>\n
I had focused entirely on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat surveillance vehicle?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel was already pulling up the archived image.<\/p>\n
He enlarged it.<\/p>\n
There.<\/p>\n
In the window behind Sam, barely visible, a dark reflection from the street.<\/p>\n
A black SUV.<\/p>\n
Not the gray Mercer sedan we had been tracking.<\/p>\n
Daniel enhanced the relevant area without altering the underlying file.<\/p>\n
Partial plate.<\/p>\n
Vega stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe missed that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all did,\u201d Jessica said.<\/p>\n
Because the photograph had done exactly what it was designed to do.<\/p>\n
It made us look at Sam.<\/p>\n
Not behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen was it taken?\u201d I asked Laura.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout fourteen months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy was Sam at my sister\u2019s house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and David went to Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
A two-day trip.<\/p>\n
David had received an industry award.<\/p>\n
We had still been married.<\/p>\n
Still pretending the distance between us was temporary.<\/p>\n
Sam stayed with Megan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was watching him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vehicle followed you to Megan\u2019s house before you left for the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen had me followed fourteen months ago?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLonger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mason had started asking questions about your signatures.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Stephen wanted to know whether Mason contacted me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hadn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Stephen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was in the SUV?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega motioned for the plate.<\/p>\n
Laura gave what she remembered.<\/p>\n
Daniel compared it with the enhanced image.<\/p>\n
Close.<\/p>\n
Vega sent it for tracing.<\/p>\n
I asked the question that mattered most.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mason is alive, why hasn\u2019t he contacted me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you last hear his voice?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny messages since?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t look for me. Keep Claire out.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you did the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gave me his files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Stephen started Phase IV.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why not go to police?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know who was safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the transfer needs you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because you thought I could stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why hide that from me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if you knew how important you were, you might do exactly what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat am I doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking toward Stephen.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the post-divorce documents on the table.<\/p>\n
She was right.<\/p>\n
Partly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not walking toward him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause that is what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
That irritated me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to see the person who hurt you understand that you see them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The observation was too accurate.<\/p>\n
I said nothing.<\/p>\n
Laura continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why you took David\u2019s settlement instead of fighting. You wanted him to understand too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
David heard every word.<\/p>\n
His face remained unreadable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched you for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not the defense you think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega gestured again.<\/p>\n
Location.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura, come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mason is alive, police need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to stay missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may no longer have that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause someone has his tablet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
That finally reached her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it isn\u2019t him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I lowered my voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelp us find him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t or won\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen give me something.\u201d<\/p>\n
She breathed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Emily about Santa Fe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMason\u2019s sister?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Santa Fe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019ll know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Vega immediately initiated a trace.<\/p>\n
It failed.<\/p>\n
Burner phone.<\/p>\n
No surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you subpoena Rebecca Pike\u2019s records?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can investigate appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which meant yes, but she was not discussing procedure with me.<\/p>\n
Daniel searched the plate from the black SUV.<\/p>\n
The registration came back quickly.<\/p>\n
Orchard North Foundation.<\/p>\n
We all stared.<\/p>\n
The supposedly independent foundation had owned the vehicle following me fourteen months earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen controlled Orchard North then,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr someone using its vehicle,\u201d Vega corrected.<\/p>\n
Always distinctions.<\/p>\n
Always proof.<\/p>\n
David stood by the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Orchard North surveil Claire before Phase IV?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jessica answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make sure she wasn\u2019t talking to Mason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr to establish her routine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He regretted saying it.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
I wanted us all uncomfortable enough to see every possibility.<\/p>\n
Vega called Emily Hale.<\/p>\n
This time she put the call on speaker.<\/p>\n
Emily sounded exhausted by our sudden excavation of her brother\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Santa Fe?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega asked.<\/p>\n
Emily went quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho told you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother used to take me there when we were kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur grandfather had a cabin north of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAddress?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family sold it years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho bought it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mason ever return?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA few times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore he disappeared, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he was writing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he have access after the sale?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe buyer let him use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho bought it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait.\u201d<\/p>\n
We waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat company?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething with North.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrchard North?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthlight?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked up.<\/p>\n
Northlight Media Group.<\/p>\n
The company owned by Mason\u2019s brother Andrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew bought the family cabin?\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily sounded confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel checked property records.<\/p>\n
Not directly.<\/p>\n
Northlight purchased it four years earlier.<\/p>\n
Andrew controlled Northlight.<\/p>\n
Emily apparently had not known.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would your brother buy the cabin through his company and not tell you?\u201d Vega asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Hale secret.<\/p>\n
The address came from property records.<\/p>\n
Federal agents closer to New Mexico were contacted.<\/p>\n
No one wanted us anywhere near it.<\/p>\n
That suited me.<\/p>\n
For once.<\/p>\n
While we waited, David asked me quietly, \u201cDo you really think Laura is right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat you need people to know you see them.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes it matter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt explains the settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re still trying to explain how I beat you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He glanced at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to understand why I never understood you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence landed softly.<\/p>\n
I did not have room for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWrong week, David.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two hours later, Vega received the first report from New Mexico.<\/p>\n
The cabin appeared empty.<\/p>\n
Dust.<\/p>\n
Locked doors.<\/p>\n
No vehicle.<\/p>\n
No recent food.<\/p>\n
But someone had been there within the last few months.<\/p>\n
A bedroom contained clothing matching Mason\u2019s approximate size.<\/p>\n
A desk held notebooks.<\/p>\n
No computer.<\/p>\n
No phone.<\/p>\n
No Mason.<\/p>\n
Then the agents found something beneath a loose floorboard.<\/p>\n
A sealed envelope.<\/p>\n
Written on the front:<\/p>\n
FOR CLAIRE MERCER ONLY.<\/p>\n
My name had been waiting in a cabin I had never visited.<\/p>\n
Vega arranged for the contents to be photographed and transmitted.<\/p>\n
Inside was one handwritten page.<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
The date was ten months after his disappearance.<\/p>\n
Proof Laura had told at least part of the truth.<\/p>\n
He had been alive.<\/p>\n
The letter began:<\/p>\n
Claire\u2014<\/p>\n
If you are reading this, Laura broke her promise or Stephen reached Phase IV. Either way, you need to know why I stayed gone.<\/p>\n
I read faster.<\/p>\n
Mason said his disappearance had begun voluntarily.<\/p>\n
Then something changed.<\/p>\n
Someone discovered the cabin.<\/p>\n
Someone who should not have known about it.<\/p>\n
He fled again.<\/p>\n
Before leaving, he learned the identity of the person who had leaked his first report to Stephen.<\/p>\n
Not police.<\/p>\n
Not prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Not Richard.<\/p>\n
He wrote:<\/p>\n
The leak was inside Mercer.<\/p>\n
I looked at David.<\/p>\n
He looked stunned.<\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s next sentence was worse.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t Ethan.<\/p>\n
Daniel read the final lines aloud.<\/p>\n
If you need to know who Stephen has been using inside David\u2019s company, look at the person who could authorize legal access without appearing in finance records.<\/p>\n
Jessica whispered, \u201cGeneral counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n
David\u2019s face went pale.<\/p>\n
Martin Ellis.<\/p>\n
The man who had called Carrow & Vale to Mercer headquarters that morning.<\/p>\n
The man who had allowed Benjamin Cross near the archive.<\/p>\n
The man who had worked beside David for eleven years.<\/p>\n
Vega was already reaching for her phone.<\/p>\n
David stopped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin didn\u2019t work for Mercer eleven years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just said he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came through an acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich acquisition?\u201d<\/p>\n
David looked at the succession diagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cCedar Bridge placed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
Before Vega could call anyone, her phone rang.<\/p>\n
She answered.<\/p>\n
Listened.<\/p>\n
Her expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She ended the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin Ellis left Mercer headquarters twenty minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel checked the building-access feed investigators had obtained.<\/p>\n
Martin had exited carrying nothing.<\/p>\n
But six minutes before leaving, he had accessed the legal records server.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he open?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel traced the logs.<\/p>\n
One file.<\/p>\n
The unsigned domestic separation acknowledgment bearing my name.<\/p>\n
Then Martin sent a copy outside Mercer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Daniel followed the destination.<\/p>\n
Carrow & Vale.<\/p>\n
Stephen\u2019s firm.<\/p>\n
Stephen now knew we had not signed.<\/p>\n
And Martin Ellis, the hidden man inside David\u2019s company, had disappeared.<\/p>\n
Nobody moved. I held the phone against my ear. \u201cSay that again.\u201d Laura breathed softly. \u201cI think Mason is alive.\u201d Detective Vega stepped closer, signaling for me to keep her … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-every-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13809,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13774\/revisions\/13809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}