Chapter 6 - What Really Happened to DadWe drove to Daniel's apartment.
Lucy refused to leave the car until every curtain was closed.
Then she finally spoke.
“Dad didn't die naturally.”
I felt the room tilt.
“What?”
“Mom told everyone it was his heart.”
Lucy wiped her face.
“It wasn't.”
Daniel stood.
“You knew?”
“I found out two years ago.”
“And you never told us?”
“I was scared.”
“What did you find?”
Lucy looked at me.
“An old hospital report.”
Dad had been admitted after a poisoning incident.
The official record had been altered.
Someone had changed the cause of death.
The hospital had written down cardiac failure.
But the toxicology report showed a sedative.
A dangerous one.
Daniel's voice cracked.
“Who had access?”
Lucy shook her head.
“Mom.”
Silence.
Then she said something else.
“Steve.”
I turned toward her.
“Why Steve?”
“Because he worked with the company that handled the medical records.”
My stomach twisted.
Lucy explained that Steve had helped move money between Northbridge Holdings and several shell companies.
He had been doing it before they married.
I thought about the text.
GET HER OUT OF THE HOUSE.
This was bigger than greed.
Someone was afraid.
I opened Dad's notebook again.
There was a coded entry.
M-17.
Another:
BLUE ROOM.
Another:
MERCER KNOWS.
Uncle Harold.
I searched online again.
This time I found something.
A property lawyer named Harold Mercer had recently returned to the country.
The article was dated six months earlier.
My heart slammed.
“Harold is alive.”
Lucy started crying.
“I know.”
“You've seen him?”
She nodded.
“Once.”
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“Under the old train station.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You've been meeting Uncle Harold?”
“I've been trying to find out what Mom did.”
I stood.
“We're going.”
Lucy grabbed my arm.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he told me not to.”
That stopped me.
“Why?”
Lucy looked toward the window.
“Because there are people watching the house.”
I laughed once.
“Let them watch.”
I packed the documents.
Daniel took the notebook.
Lucy took the USB.
We left.
At the old train station, nobody was there.
Then a man stepped out from behind a pillar.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray hair.
But unmistakable.
Harold.
My uncle.
He looked at me for a long time.
Then whispered:
“You look just like your father.”
I stepped forward.
“Did my father know Mom was stealing from the family?”
Harold didn't answer.
“Did she kill him?”
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
I exhaled.
Then he added:
“But she knows who did.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
Harold looked over my shoulder.
“Too late.”
I turned.
A black sedan was idling across the street.
Harold grabbed my arm.
May you like
“Run.”
And then a gunshot shattered the station windows.
