Chapter 15 - The Night Her Mother Died
Chloe’s mother was named Laura Mercer.
She died on November 18, eight years earlier, when her car left a rain-slicked highway and struck a concrete barrier.
Chloe had been nine.
Grant told her Laura was alone.
The anonymous email suggested otherwise.
Noah did not want to investigate.
Chloe did.
“My father lied about everything else.”
“That doesn’t mean he lied about this.”
“It means I need to know.”
“Then ask investigators.”
“They won’t tell me anything.”
“Ask your aunt.”
Chloe hesitated.
Her aunt, Sarah Whitmore, was Laura’s older sister and the person Chloe had been staying with since Grant cut her off.
That evening, Sarah gave them the first answer.
“Yes,” she said.
“Charles Bell knew your mother.”
Chloe went still.
“How?”
They sat in Sarah’s kitchen.
Rachel had come because she refused to let Noah become involved otherwise.
Sarah looked from Chloe to Noah.
“Laura handled community grants for the Mercer Foundation.”
“Dad told me she stayed home after I was born.”
“She did for several years.”
Sarah’s mouth tightened.
“Then she went back to work.”
Chloe looked shaken.
Her father had apparently edited even harmless pieces of her mother’s life.
“What did Charles do?”
“He audited foundation accounts.”
Noah felt the pieces align.
Sarah continued.
“A month before Laura died, she told me she’d found irregularities.”
“What kind?” Rachel asked.
“I never knew.”
“Did she mention Grant?”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Chloe whispered, “What did she say?”
“That your father was moving charitable money between companies.”
The room fell silent.
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“I wanted to.”
Sarah looked at Chloe.
“But Laura begged me not to.”
“Why?”
“You.”
Chloe’s face crumpled slightly.
“She was afraid what a public scandal would do to you.”
Noah felt the tragedy immediately.
Protecting Chloe had helped Grant remain protected too.
Sarah continued.
“The night Laura died, she called me.”
Chloe leaned forward.
“What did she say?”
“She said she had proof.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Charles with her?”
“She didn’t say.”
“What happened after?”
“The police came to my house at two in the morning.”
Sarah looked directly at Chloe.
“Your father told me Laura had been alone.”
“And you believed him?”
“No.”
Chloe’s eyes filled.
“What?”
“I never believed him.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were nine.”
“I’m seventeen now.”
“I know.”
“You had eight years.”
Sarah looked ashamed.
“Grant controlled everything after Laura died. Your school. Your trust. Access to you.”
“You could have tried.”
“I did.”
Chloe stood.
“You visited twice a year.”
“Because every time I challenged him, he threatened to stop the visits completely.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“So everyone was protecting me.”
No one answered.
She pushed away from the table.
“And somehow I’m the person who knew nothing.”
She walked outside.
Noah followed after a minute.
Chloe stood on the porch.
“Don’t tell me you understand.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
He leaned against the railing.
She wiped her eyes angrily.
“My entire life, people have been making decisions for me and calling it protection.”
Noah said, “You did that too.”
She looked at him.
“With the team.”
“Yes.”
Chloe stared into the dark yard.
“I thought if I kept everyone in line, nothing would fall apart.”
“That worked.”
She almost laughed.
Almost.
The next morning, investigators confirmed one fact through Sarah’s attorney.
Charles Bell had indeed been present at Laura Mercer’s crash scene.
He was not listed as a passenger.
He had arrived shortly after emergency responders.
Why?
Unknown.
But Charles had given police a statement at the time.
That statement was missing from the copy of the accident report Grant gave Chloe.
Someone had removed pages.
Federal investigators now believed Charles’s disappearance related partly to documents Laura had collected before her death.
No evidence suggested Grant caused the crash.
That distinction mattered.
Noah repeated it when students began spreading rumors that Grant had murdered his wife.
“We don’t know that.”
Maya stared at him.
“You’re defending Grant Mercer?”
“No. I’m defending reality.”
Rumors moved faster anyway.
By afternoon, Grant’s lawyer announced he would sue several online accounts for defamation.
Then Grant himself appeared on television.
He looked tired but composed.
“My daughter is being manipulated by people exploiting her grief.”
Chloe watched from Mr. Kim’s classroom.
Her face became stone.
Grant continued.
“My late wife died in a tragic accident. Attempts to connect her death to current financial allegations are grotesque.”
Then a reporter asked whether he had altered Chloe’s grades.
Grant replied, “Absolutely not.”
Whether Mercer Performance billed families for services never performed.
“No.”
Whether he directed Coach Reynolds to discredit Noah Walker.
“No.”
Whether he knew Charles Bell’s current location.
Grant paused.
Only for a second.
But Noah noticed.
“No.”
The interview ended.
Mr. Kim rewound.
“What?”
Noah pointed.
“Before the last answer.”
Maya watched.
Grant’s eyes moved left.
Not enough to mean anything alone.
But Noah remembered Monday’s recording.
If Walker copied the payment records, we don’t have a school problem anymore.
We have a legal one.
Chloe whispered, “He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“Where Charles is.”
Noah shook his head.
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“But I know my father.”
That evening, Charles Bell finally contacted Marianne.
Not by phone.
By mail.
A package arrived containing an old silver key and a handwritten note.
Marianne sent investigators a photograph.
Noah saw it only because Charles had written his name.
WALKER SAW THE FIRST COPY.
THE ORIGINAL RECORDS ARE WHERE LAURA LEFT THEM.
ASK CHLOE ABOUT THE SUMMER HOUSE.
Chloe stared at the message.
Her face changed.
“What summer house?”
She swallowed.
“My mother had one place my father hated.”
“Where?”
Chloe whispered, “Lake Briar.”
May you like
And for the first time, the past had given them an address.
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