Elaine chose the same storage facility.
She arrived just before sunset.
Kevin and I waited near the entrance.
When she stepped out of her car, I recognized her from an old photograph.
She looked nothing like Daniel.
She was nervous.
She carried a cardboard box against her chest.
“You're Kevin.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“And Nora.”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“I owe you both an apology.”
“For what?”
“For not coming forward sooner.”
She looked toward the building.
“Can we go inside?”
We followed her to the storage unit.
She placed the box on the floor.
“I was married to Daniel for twenty-two years.”
Kevin said nothing.
“I thought I knew him.”
She opened the box.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
Letters.
And several old phones.
I stared at the phones.
“What are those?”
“Daniel kept everything.”
“Why?”
“Because information was power to him.”
She pulled out a photograph.
It showed Patricia.
She was standing outside a bank.
The date was printed on the back.
Two years before our wedding.
“What is this?”
Elaine shook her head.
“That photograph was taken by Daniel.”
“Why?”
“He was watching your mother.”
Kevin's face tightened.
“Why?”
“Because she had discovered what he was doing.”
Elaine handed him another photograph.
This one showed Daniel entering a bank.
Then another.
A folder of transfers.
Then a photograph of a safe.
I realized something.
“Daniel wasn't trying to get Patricia's money.”
“No,” Elaine said.
“He was trying to control her.”
“Yes.”
Kevin opened another envelope.
Inside was a handwritten list.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Patricia Mercer.
Another name appeared beneath it.
Thomas Mercer.
Then Daniel Price.
Kevin looked at Elaine.
“What happened to my father?”
She hesitated.
“Daniel always said Thomas died naturally.”
Kevin went still.
“You think otherwise?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why say that?”
“Because the night before Thomas died, Daniel called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he had to solve a problem.”
My stomach tightened.
“What problem?”
“I didn't know.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me never to ask again.”
Elaine looked at the floor.
“I should have left him then.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
She took out another photograph.
This one showed Daniel standing beside Thomas.
They were outside a restaurant.
The date was the day before Thomas died.
Kevin stared at it.
“Where was this taken?”
“Daniel's phone.”
“Do you have the phone?”
Elaine pointed to one of the old devices.
“Yes.”
Kevin picked it up.
“It might not work.”
“It does.”
He turned it on.
There were hundreds of files.
Messages.
Photographs.
Voice recordings.
Kevin found the date.
A recording existed.
He pressed play.
Daniel's voice filled the storage unit.
Thomas's voice answered.
The conversation was tense.
Daniel demanded money.
Thomas refused.
Then Thomas said, “You forged my signature.”
Daniel laughed.
“You're going to expose me?”
“Yes.”
“You'll destroy your family.”
“I won't.”
Then Daniel said something that made Kevin stop the recording.
“I already know about the boy.”
Kevin stared at the phone.
“What boy?”
Elaine looked frightened.
“I don't know.”
The recording continued.
Thomas said, “Leave my son out of this.”
Daniel answered, “Then give me what I want.”
The recording ended.
Kevin sat down.
“My father was being blackmailed.”
“Yes,” Elaine said.
“But what did Daniel mean by ‘the boy’?”
Elaine shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I looked at the documents.
“Maybe it wasn't Kevin.”
Kevin looked at me.
“What do you mean?”
“Daniel said ‘the boy.’ He could have meant someone else.”
Elaine nodded.
“That is possible.”
We searched.
There were references to several people.
Employees.
Business partners.
Family members.
Then we found Patricia's name again.
A message from Daniel to Patricia.
“You know what happens if Kevin learns the truth.”
Below it was another message.
“You'll lose him.”
Kevin looked at his mother.
“That was before the wedding.”
Elaine nodded.
“Daniel was using your fear.”
Patricia had been afraid of losing Kevin.
Daniel had found the weakness and pushed against it.
I thought about the wine corks.
The veil.
The note.
The photograph.
All of it suddenly looked less random.
“Why the veil?” I asked.
Elaine looked at me.
“Because Daniel needed something visible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Something that would make Patricia look guilty.”
“So she would be blamed?”
“Yes.”
“And he would stay hidden.”
“Exactly.”
Kevin frowned.
“But if Daniel wanted Patricia afraid, why send the photograph of her with Melissa?”
Elaine looked surprised.
“I didn't send it.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
She searched the box.
Then pulled out a small memory card.
“This might tell us.”
We found a computer in the facility office.
The card contained dozens of files.
One folder was labeled WEDDING.
I felt cold.
Kevin opened it.
Photographs.
Videos.
Messages.
Everything from the wedding morning.
Someone had been watching.
There was a video of Patricia and Melissa tying the corks.
Another showed Melissa leaving.
Then Patricia standing alone.
Then the door opening.
A man entered.
Dark jacket.
Daniel.
Kevin stopped breathing.
“There.”
The video continued.
Daniel carried the red bottle.
He placed it on the table.
Then he removed a photograph from his pocket.
He put it beside the veil.
Patricia looked at it.
Her face changed.
Then Daniel said something.
The audio was faint.
But one sentence was clear.
“You want Kevin to stay yours?”
Patricia nodded.
“Then make her look guilty.”
I closed my eyes.
The next part was worse.
Daniel left.
Patricia stared at the photograph.
She picked up the bottle.
Then she hesitated.
She did not pour it.
Instead, she put the bottle down.
A few minutes later, another person entered.
The video cut.
Kevin rewound it.
“Who was that?”
Elaine leaned toward the screen.
“I don't know.”
The person wore a dark coat.
Their face wasn't visible.
They carried something.
A camera?
A bag?
Then the video ended.
Kevin looked at his mother.
“You didn't spill the wine.”
Patricia shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
She whispered, “I don't know.”
Elaine looked at the files.
“There are more.”
One contained a photograph of the mystery person.
It was blurry.
But the face was partially visible.
Kevin zoomed in.
Then he went completely still.
I looked at him.
“What?”
He pointed.
“That can't be.”
“Who is it?”
He didn't answer.
Elaine leaned closer.
Then she gasped.
“I know him.”
“Who?”
She looked at Kevin.
“Daniel's brother.”
Kevin stared.
“Daniel had a brother?”
Elaine nodded.
“Michael.”
“Where is he?”
“I thought he was dead.”
Silence.
“What do you mean?”
“He disappeared years ago.”
Kevin looked at the photograph again.
The man in the dark coat was standing in the bridal suite.
And beneath the photograph was a date.
The same date as our wedding.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Michael Price Had Disappeared Years Earlier, Yet the Wedding Footage Put Him Inside Our Bridal Suite With a Bottle in His Hand
The Veil My Mother Gave Me Was Supposed to Carry One Beautiful Memory Into My Wedding, Until Patricia Turned It Into Something Else
Part 10 of 20
