Chapter 7 - The Person Behind the InitialMike's middle name was Michael.

His initials were M.H.

But the watch wasn't his.

We checked.

He had never owned it.

I called him anyway.

He answered on the first ring.

"Why are you calling me?"

"Where are you?"

"At Tyler's school."

"Don't move."

"What?"

"I need to ask you something."

He became defensive immediately.

"I told you I don't know anything."

"Do you know anyone named Mercer?"

Silence.

"Mike?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because your debts were routed through a company controlled by someone named Mercer."

"I don't know."

"Then why did you react?"

"I didn't."

"You did."

He hung up.

Daniel looked at me.

"He's hiding something."

Victor examined the watch.

"Not from us."

"Who?"

"From whoever controls him."

We tracked the watch's serial number through an old luxury database.

It had been purchased twelve years earlier.

The buyer name was obscured.

But the store still had a delivery record.

Recipient:

M. Hale.

"Mike," I said.

Daniel shook his head.

"No."

He zoomed in.

"The middle initial isn't H."

It was M.

M. Hale.

My father's legal name was Richard Michael Hale.

He had been called Richard.

His private accounts used R.M.H.

But the purchase was made by M. Hale.

Victor stared at me.

"Your father had another name?"

"No."

"Then who in the family uses M.H.?"

I thought.

Mom's maiden name was Mercer.

Her full name was Evelyn Margaret Mercer.

Evelyn Mercer Hale.

M. Hale.

I stared at the screen.

"Mom."

We found her in the Hawthorne House garden.

She was standing beside the old greenhouse.

The place where Dad used to grow roses.

"You found it," she said.

I stopped.

"You know."

She looked at me.

"The watch."

"Yes."

"Your father gave it to me."

"Why?"

"To remind me that he knew."

"Knew what?"

"That I had been paying Mercer."

My stomach sank.

"Mom, who is Mercer?"

She looked toward the house.

"The man who ruined your father's life."

"His name."

She whispered,

"Caleb Mercer."

Victor's face hardened.

"That's impossible."

I turned.

"Who is Caleb Mercer?"

Victor looked at the ground.

"He died fifteen years ago."

Mom shook her head.

"No."

"What?"

"He didn't die."

I stared at her.

"Then where is he?"

She looked directly into my eyes.

"In this family."

My blood ran cold.

"You're saying Caleb Mercer is related to us?"

Mom nodded.

"Your father discovered the truth too late."

Mike appeared at the garden gate.

He had been listening.

His face was pale.

Mom turned toward him.

"Michael."

He looked terrified.

"I didn't know he was alive."

I looked at my brother.

"You knew his name."

Mike shook his head.

"He contacted me."

"When?"

"Two years ago."

My heart pounded.

"Why?"

"He said he could erase my debts."

"At a price?"

Mike nodded.

"He wanted access to the trust."

"And you agreed."

"I thought he was bluffing."

"You signed the refinancing."

"I thought it was just money."

"Using my signature."

"I didn't know."

I stepped toward him.

"You knew enough."

Mike broke.

"I was scared."

"Of Caleb?"

"Yes."

"What did he threaten?"

Mike looked at Mom.

"Tyler."

I closed my eyes.

Same threat.

Same chain.

Different generation.

"Where is Caleb now?"

Mike whispered,

"I don't know."

Then his phone rang.

He looked at the screen.

All the color drained from his face.

"What?"

He answered.

A man's voice came through so loudly I could hear it.

"Bring Stephanie to the house tonight."

Mike froze.

The voice continued.

"She has something that belongs to me."

Then the call ended.

"What does he mean?" I asked.

Mike stared at me.

"I don't know."

Mom whispered,

"The trust."

Daniel looked toward the Hawthorne House.

"No."

"What?"

"He doesn't want the trust."

Daniel opened the trust file.

"He wants what's hidden inside it."

Victor looked at the pages.

"What?"

Daniel turned to the final sealed section.

"A beneficiary ledger."

My pulse accelerated.

"What's in it?"

Daniel looked at me.

"The names of every person Richard believed had been compromised."

He opened the ledger.

Page after page.

Doctors.

Bankers.

Lawyers.

Accountants.

Executives.

Then the final page.

Only one name.

EVELYN MERCER HALE.

Mom stopped breathing.

Underneath her name was a note.

She knows where the original evidence is.

Mom looked at me.

And whispered,

"Your father never found it."

I said,

"Found what?"

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She answered,

"The recording of the night Lily was poisoned."