Chapter 14 - The Brother
Stephen Mercer arrived at the police station with an attorney.
By then, the laboratory had tested Caroline’s tablet.
Warfarin.
A high-dose tablet.
The pharmacy receipt from Adrian’s nightstand showed Stephen had filled that exact dosage days before Thomas’s death.
Stephen’s attorney advised him to answer only limited questions.
Stephen ignored him.
“I gave Adrian six tablets.”
Evelyn sat behind the one-way glass with Ortiz.
Her entire body went cold.
The detective questioning Stephen remained calm.
“Why?”
“He said a contractor had a blood clot and couldn’t get a refill over the weekend.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you verify?”
“No.”
“Did you prescribe them to Adrian?”
“No.”
“Then you illegally transferred prescription medication.”
Stephen looked down.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Friday evening.”
Thomas died Saturday.
“Did Adrian say anything about Thomas Hart?”
“No.”
“Did you know they were in conflict?”
“Everyone knew.”
“What happened after Thomas died?”
Stephen looked sick.
“Adrian came to my house.”
“When?”
“Sunday.”
“What did he say?”
“That Thomas had been taking anticoagulants.”
The detective paused.
“Was he?”
“Not that I knew.”
“And what did Adrian ask you to do?”
“Nothing.”
Stephen swallowed.
“At first.”
“Later?”
“Three years later, he asked for the letter about Evelyn.”
“Why did you write it?”
“He told me she was having memory problems.”
“You never examined her.”
“No.”
“You claimed clinical observation.”
“I had seen her socially.”
The detective stared.
Stephen looked down.
“I know.”
“Why did Adrian need the letter?”
“He said Evelyn was becoming paranoid about finances and Thomas’s estate.”
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
The timeline mattered.
Adrian began preparing to discredit Evelyn months before she found the video.
The questioning moved back to Thomas.
“Did Adrian ever admit putting the medication in Thomas Hart’s home?”
“No.”
“Did he ever suggest he caused Thomas’s death?”
“No.”
Then Stephen said something unexpected.
“But he asked me a question.”
“When?”
“The morning Thomas died.”
“What question?”
“He asked how long warfarin takes to affect clotting.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
The detective continued.
“What did you say?”
“That it depends on dose, existing medications and other factors. Usually not instantly.”
“And then?”
“He asked whether someone could tell if a person had taken it.”
“What did you think?”
“I thought he was asking about the contractor.”
“You still believed there was a contractor?”
Stephen’s face crumpled.
“I wanted to.”
That sentence echoed through everything.
Mara wanted to believe Adrian’s explanations.
Martin wanted to believe his payments were harmless consulting.
Stephen wanted to believe the medication was for someone else.
Evelyn herself had wanted to believe her marriage was safe.
Adrian survived not because everyone around him was stupid.
He survived because every person accepted the version of events that cost them least emotionally.
Including her.
Later, Ortiz sat with Evelyn.
“We still don’t know that Thomas ingested warfarin.”
“The hospital can tell us?”
“Maybe. His blood tests from the emergency room could show elevated coagulation values.”
The archived records arrived that evening.
Thomas’s INR had been normal.
He had not been anticoagulated.
Evelyn stared.
“So Adrian gave him warfarin?”
“We don’t know that.”
“But even if he planted the tablets, Dad didn’t take them.”
“Correct.”
“Then the pills didn’t kill him.”
“Correct.”
Relief and confusion arrived together.
Adrian might have tried to frighten Thomas.
He might have planned something worse.
But the evidence did not show the anticoagulant caused the hemorrhage.
“What did?”
Ortiz pointed at the hospital record.
“Probably the same thing doctors believed originally. Severe hypertension.”
“Natural?”
“Possibly.”
Evelyn laughed weakly.
After all the suspicion, her father’s death might truly have been natural.
Then Ortiz pointed to one line.
“Except there’s still something odd.”
Thomas’s blood pressure upon ambulance arrival was 248 over 136.
Extremely high.
“What could cause that?”
“Many things.”
Ortiz had requested a toxicology review of stored blood specimens.
Most had been destroyed under retention policies.
One serum sample remained.
Testing would take time.
Evelyn returned home that night and opened the encrypted drive found inside the helmet.
Nathan had provided the password phrase Thomas used.
EleanorRidesAgain.
Folders appeared.
Audio.
Contracts.
Emails.
Photographs.
One folder was labeled:
MERCER — PERSONAL
Inside was an audio recording dated the night before Thomas died.
Adrian speaking to someone.
Evelyn pressed play.
Adrian said:
“He won’t stop unless he’s scared enough to believe I’m capable of anything.”
Then another man answered.
Martin.
“You’re losing control.”
Adrian said:
“No. I’m finally taking it.”
A pause.
Then Martin asked:
“And Evelyn?”
May you like
Adrian’s answer was almost too quiet to hear.
“By the time she understands, she won’t have anyone left who can convince her I’m lying.”
