Nobody moved.
The man outside the red-door cabin knocked a third time.
"Claire."
My mouth went dry.
Harris raised one hand, signaling everyone to stay silent. The other officer moved toward the side window, keeping low.
Noah stood beside me.
Tyler was behind us, pale but composed.
The voice came again.
"You've spent twenty-one years looking for answers. I'm here to give you one."
Harris whispered, "Do you recognize him?"
I nodded.
"I recognize the voice."
He looked toward the door.
"Not the man."
The handle moved.
Harris stepped forward.
"Police. Step away from the door."
Silence.
Then the man laughed softly.
"Detective Harris. I wondered how long it would take you."
Harris's expression hardened.
"You know my name."
"I know everyone's name."
The door remained closed.
Harris glanced at the other officer.
The officer moved toward the back entrance.
Then the man outside said something that made Noah gasp.
"Tell Noah his father is sorry."
Noah stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The voice answered immediately.
"Someone who knew your father when nobody else understood what he was trying to do."
Noah looked at me.
Harris motioned for him to stay back.
The man continued.
"Michael never abandoned you."
Noah's eyes filled.
"Then where is he?"
"Alive."
The single word seemed to change the air inside the cabin.
"Where?" Noah demanded.
"You already know."
"I don't."
"You found the photograph."
"The station?"
"Yes."
"He's there?"
"Not anymore."
Harris called through the door.
"Open it."
A pause.
Then the door opened.
The man standing there was in his late fifties, perhaps early sixties. Gray hair. Dark coat. No weapon visible.
I stared at him.
He looked nothing like my uncle.
But I knew his face.
Not from memory.
From the photographs.
He was the man standing behind Noah at Michael's funeral.
The man in the hospital reflection.
The figure beside Michael at the cabin.
Daniel Mercer.
Noah recoiled.
"You."
Mercer looked at him.
"I expected you to be older."
Harris raised his weapon.
"Hands where I can see them."
Mercer obeyed.
"You've been following us."
"Yes."
"You threatened us."
"Not me."
Harris frowned.
"Then who?"
Mercer looked at me.
"The people you haven't found yet."
He stepped inside.
Harris immediately searched him and found a phone, keys, and a folded piece of paper.
Nothing else.
"Where are Michael and Elena?"
Mercer looked at Noah.
"They were safe."
"Were?"
"They're moving again."
"Because of us?"
"Because of you."
Noah's face tightened.
"I didn't do anything."
Mercer's expression softened.
"You found what they spent twenty-one years hiding."
Harris opened the folded paper.
It contained an address.
A motel outside the city.
"The same place?"
"No."
"Then where?"
Mercer shook his head.
"If I tell you, they'll be dead before you arrive."
Harris studied him.
"Who are they?"
Mercer looked toward the window.
"Vale's people."
"Richard Vale is dead."
"Richard Vale is dead."
Mercer emphasized the last word.
"But his organization survived him."
I remembered the old documents.
The payments.
The shell companies.
The false passports.
The surveillance.
"Who runs it now?"
Mercer looked at me.
"Someone who learned from him."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Noah stepped forward.
"You knew my father."
"Yes."
"You knew my mother."
"Yes."
"You knew me."
"Yes."
"Then tell me why."
Mercer looked genuinely tired.
"Because your father asked me to."
Noah stared at him.
"Asked you to what?"
"Keep you alive."
The words stunned us.
Mercer explained that Michael had discovered the financial network years before his disappearance.
At first, he believed Mercer was part of it.
That was why Michael had feared him.
But Mercer had been investigating the same people from inside.
He had allowed Michael to believe he was an enemy because revealing the truth would have endangered everyone.
"I watched you," Mercer said to Noah. "I tracked your movements. I monitored your school. I knew where you lived."
Noah's voice shook.
"You terrified me."
"I know."
"Why?"
"Because I needed the people watching me to believe I was watching you."
The explanation was ugly.
But it fit the evidence.
The surveillance reports.
The cabin.
The hospital.
The photographs.
Mercer had been close because he was trying to stay ahead of the people who were actually hunting them.
Harris remained suspicious.
"Why didn't Michael tell his sister?"
"Because he didn't know who he could trust."
I felt those words like a slap.
"Not even me?"
Mercer looked at me.
"Especially you."
I stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because you were family."
He explained that the network had used relatives before.
They knew family members could be manipulated.
They had watched my house.
They had watched Rebecca.
They had watched Tyler.
They had used fear to control people.
Michael had believed that the less I knew, the safer I would be.
I hated him for it.
And understood him at the same time.
Then Mercer reached into his coat.
Harris raised his weapon again.
"Slowly."
Mercer removed a small envelope.
He handed it to me.
"Michael wanted you to have this if Noah ever found the cabin."
My hands shook as I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Michael and Elena stood beside a road.
Lily was between them.
The date was eleven days old.
On the back was a message.
We're going to stop running.
I looked up.
"Where are they?"
Mercer pointed toward the door.
"Where this began."
"Where?"
"The company."
Harris frowned.
"The old headquarters?"
"No."
"The current office?"
Mercer nodded.
"That's where they have been hiding."
Noah stared at him.
"Why would they hide in the place everyone knows?"
"Because everyone stopped looking there."
Harris immediately called for backup.
Mercer stepped aside.
"I'll take you."
Harris looked suspicious.
"Why?"
"Because if I don't, you won't get there in time."
A phone vibrated.
Not mine.
Mercer's face changed.
He looked at the screen.
"They know."
"Who?"
Mercer looked at Noah.
"Your father."
Click here to continue reading: PART 18: Mercer Led Us Back to the Company Where Michael Had Once Worked, and Behind Its Locked Doors We Found the Family Secret Everyone Had Buried
The Boy My Son Brought Home Was Wearing Something I Had Buried With a Family Secret Twenty-One Years Ago
Part 17 of 20
