Chapter 4 - The First Nanny.
Daniel stared at the photograph until the edges of the screen blurred.
Richard Mercer had been his father’s younger brother, his mentor, and for most of Daniel’s adult life, the closest thing he had to a second father.
After Daniel’s father died, Richard taught him how to read balance sheets, how to sit through hostile board meetings, and how to recognize when a smiling man was preparing to betray him.
Daniel had never imagined that lesson might have been autobiographical.
Claire leaned over Marcus’s shoulder.
“Are we absolutely certain that is Uncle Richard?”
Marcus enlarged the photograph.
The gray coat became grainy.
The face did not.
A thin scar ran beside Richard’s left eyebrow, a souvenir from a sailing accident when Daniel was twelve.
Claire whispered.
“That is him.”
Lily stood near the door with both arms wrapped around herself.
“I did not know who he was.”
Daniel looked at her.
“When was this taken?”
She checked the metadata.
“Seven weeks ago.”
Daniel counted backward.
That was five days before the first gap in the security archive.
He turned to Marcus.
“Do not contact Richard.”
Marcus nodded.
“Agreed.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
“You think he is involved?”
“I think he was in my private study with Serena while I was downtown.”
“That is involved enough for me.”
Daniel closed the laptop.
He did not want Lily to see how badly his hands were shaking.
“Richard is trustee of Ethan’s inheritance.”
Lily frowned.
“What inheritance?”
Daniel hesitated.
Amelia had come from the Stanton family, whose manufacturing company had been sold shortly before her death.
Most of her personal estate had passed to Ethan.
The money was not the part Daniel cared about.
The structure around it was.
“Amelia left a trust.”
“How much?”
Claire asked the question softly, but Daniel heard the concern beneath it.
“Enough that people should never know the number.”
Lily looked sick.
Daniel continued.
“Richard is co-trustee until Ethan turns twenty-five.”
“Co-trustee with who?”
“With me.”
Marcus frowned.
“So neither of you can make major changes alone.”
“Correct.”
Claire sat on the edge of the bed.
“What happens if you are unable to serve?”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
He knew the trust documents well enough to remember the clause.
“If I die or am declared legally incapacitated, Richard becomes sole trustee until the court appoints another.”
The room went quiet.
Lily whispered.
“And Serena?”
“Serena has no direct control over the trust.”
Claire looked toward the hallway.
“Unless she controls Ethan.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
They needed facts, not theories.
He repeated that to himself even as the theory grew darker.
Marcus copied the files from Lily’s memory card to three secure drives.
One went into the estate safe.
One went to Detective Ortiz.
One went with Marcus.
Nothing would disappear again without leaving copies behind.
Daniel then asked Lily to tell him everything she remembered about the person who had cared for Ethan before her.
Lily shifted uneasily.
“Her name was Grace.”
“Grace what?”
“Holloway.”
Daniel knew the name.
Grace had worked at the mansion for less than two months after Amelia died.
Daniel remembered her as quiet and nervous.
He had been barely functioning at the time.
One morning, Serena told him Grace had quit without notice.
He had accepted the explanation because he was trying to survive on three hours of sleep.
“Why are you asking about her?”
Lily looked at Daniel.
“Because Serena said something about her once.”
“What?”
Lily glanced at Claire, then back to him.
“She said, ‘The last girl learned when to keep her mouth shut.’”
Daniel felt cold again.
Claire stood.
“I will find her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Marcus will.”
“I said I will.”
Claire’s voice had the hard Mercer edge people usually associated with Daniel.
“Grace liked me.”
“She talked to me more than she talked to anyone else after Amelia died.”
Daniel remembered that too.
Claire had spent weeks at the mansion after the funeral.
“Fine.”
“But Marcus goes with you.”
Claire did not argue.
They found Grace Holloway by noon.
She worked at a private preschool in Evanston under her maiden name.
When Claire called, Grace hung up.
When Claire called again, the number went straight to voicemail.
So Claire and Marcus drove there.
Daniel remained at the mansion with Lily and Ethan while Detective Ortiz returned to collect formal statements.
Serena stayed in the east wing with her lawyer.
Richard had not answered Daniel’s morning text asking whether he could meet later in the week.
That bothered Daniel more than if Richard had refused.
Richard always answered him.
At 1:38 p.m., Claire sent Daniel a message.
FOUND HER.
A second message followed three minutes later.
SHE IS TERRIFIED.
Daniel called immediately.
Claire answered in a whisper.
“We are in the parking lot.”
“Will she talk?”
“She says not on the phone.”
“Bring her here.”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
Claire lowered her voice further.
“She will not come near the house.”
Daniel looked through the library windows toward the gate.
“Then where?”
Grace chose a small church community room three miles from the preschool.
Daniel arrived with Marcus and Detective Ortiz.
Lily stayed behind with Ethan and one uniformed officer.
Grace was twenty-eight now, with sandy hair and tired blue eyes.
She kept checking the hallway every few seconds.
Claire sat beside her.
Daniel remained across the table to avoid crowding her.
“Grace, I am sorry I did not know what was happening when you worked for me.”
Grace laughed once without humor.
“You did not know a lot of things.”
Daniel accepted the blow.
“No.”
“I did not.”
Ortiz opened her notebook.
“Tell us why you left.”
Grace stared at the table.
“I did not leave.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“Serena fired me.”
“Why?”
Grace looked at him.
“Because I saw her shake Ethan.”
Daniel’s vision narrowed.
Grace continued quickly.
“He would not stop crying.”
“She grabbed him and told him to be quiet.”
“I took him away from her.”
“She told me to pack my things.”
Daniel gripped the edge of the table.
“Why did she tell me you quit?”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“Because she knew you would believe her.”
The sentence hurt because it was true.
Ortiz asked another question.
“Did you report what you saw?”
Grace nodded.
“To who?”
“Mr. Danner.”
Paul.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Grace went on.
“I told him I wanted to speak to Mr. Mercer.”
“He said he would arrange it.”
“An hour later, Serena came to my room.”
“What happened?”
Grace swallowed.
“She had a folder.”
“What was in it?”
“Copies of private messages between me and my ex-boyfriend.”
“She said if I accused her, those messages would be sent to my employer, my parents, and everyone I knew.”
Claire looked horrified.
“How did she get them?”
“I do not know.”
Grace rubbed her palms together.
“She also said she would accuse me of stealing.”
Daniel thought of Margaret’s bracelet.
Grace looked at him.
“She said rich families always win when the other person is a nanny.”
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Daniel finally asked.
“Did you keep anything?”
Grace looked at the door again.
Then she reached inside her purse.
“I kept this.”
She placed an old phone on the table.
The screen was cracked.
“I recorded part of what she said.”
Ortiz put on gloves.
“Can we hear it?”
Grace nodded.
The audio quality was poor.
Serena’s voice was unmistakable.
“You will leave tonight.”
Grace’s younger voice answered.
“I am not leaving him with you.”
Then Serena laughed.
“You think Daniel will choose a babysitter over the woman sleeping in his bed?”
A rustling sound followed.
Then another male voice spoke from farther away.
“Serena, that is enough.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Ortiz replayed the line.
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Claire covered her mouth.
Grace whispered.
“That was the man who came to the room with her.”
Daniel already knew.
Richard.
His uncle had been there when Grace was threatened.
The recording continued.
Richard’s voice was quieter.
“Give her the agreement and let her go.”
Grace’s voice shook.
“I am not signing anything.”
Serena answered.
“Then you will explain why a diamond ring is about to be found in your suitcase.”
The audio ended.
Ortiz sat back.
The room was silent except for the hum of the ventilation system.
Daniel felt something inside him collapse.
This was no longer suspicion.
It was a pattern.
Grace looked at him.
“There is more.”
Daniel lifted his head.
“What?”
“Two weeks before I was fired, I heard Richard arguing with Serena.”
“About what?”
Grace hesitated.
“About your wife.”
Daniel went still.
“My wife?”
“Amelia.”
Claire stared at Grace.
“Amelia was already dead.”
“I know.”
Grace’s hands began to tremble.
“Richard said Serena had gone too far before Amelia died.”
Daniel’s chair scraped the floor as he stood.
“What exactly did he say?”
Grace looked frightened by his reaction.
“I do not remember every word.”
“Try.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“He said, ‘I agreed to help you after Amelia was gone, not before.’”
The air left Daniel’s lungs.
Claire stood beside him.
“Daniel.”
He could not hear her properly.
All he could hear was the phrase.
After Amelia was gone.
Not before.
Daniel forced himself to sit.
Detective Ortiz’s expression had changed from cautious skepticism to complete attention.
“Grace, did you ever hear them discuss how Amelia died?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything about medication, doctors, or the hospital?”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the church window.
For fourteen months, he had accepted Amelia’s death as a medical catastrophe nobody could have predicted.
He had read the reports.
He had spoken to doctors.
He had buried his wife while holding their newborn son.
He refused to turn one ambiguous sentence into a murder accusation.
But he could no longer ignore the people saying Serena had been hiding things long before Ethan could walk.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
The caller was Lily.
He answered immediately.
“What is wrong?”
Lily was whispering.
“Someone is at the nursery door.”
Daniel stood.
“Who?”
“I do not know.”
“The officer is downstairs.”
Daniel heard a soft metallic click through the phone.
Lily gasped.
May you like
“They have a key.”
Then the call went dead.
