Chapter 11 - The Dead Woman's Warning.
Sebastian played Anna's recording twice.
The second time was worse because we knew which words were coming.
Her voice was calm, but the calm sounded deliberate.
It was the kind of calm people use when they are trying not to scare themselves.
"The Hale Foundation is paying three consulting companies that do not appear to have employees," Anna said.
Paper rustled near the microphone.
"All three companies receive money within forty-eight hours of major charitable grants."
Sebastian sat motionless behind his desk.
Lily was asleep against my shoulder.
Marcus had closed the office door and disconnected every network cable from the laptop.
Anna continued.
"I asked Andrew Mercer why a medical charity was paying a property-management company in Delaware."
"He told me I was confused."
There was a pause.
"I am not confused."
Sebastian's jaw tightened.
Anna named the companies.
Marcus wrote them down.
One belonged to a registered agent in Wilmington.
Another traced to a mailbox in Nevada.
The third shared an address with a consulting firm controlled by Diane Hale's former husband.
Anna said she had shown her findings to Harrison.
Harrison told her not to confront Celeste alone.
She ignored him.
I looked at Sebastian.
"She confronted her?"
He nodded once.
"That sounds like Anna."
The recording continued.
"Celeste says the transfers are temporary liquidity arrangements."
"She says Harrison approved them."
"Harrison says he did not."
Then Anna's voice dropped.
"If anything happens to me, look at Mercer."
Sebastian closed his eyes.
The next sound was a door opening.
Anna said, "I have to go."
The recording ended.
For several seconds, the only sound in the office was Lily breathing.
I hated the unfairness of that peaceful sound beside Sebastian's face.
"When did she make this?" I asked.
Marcus checked the original metadata embedded inside the file.
"Six years and eleven days ago."
Sebastian stared at the date.
"Three days before the crash."
His voice barely sounded like his own.
I had known him for less than twenty-four hours.
I still recognized the moment a man stopped being a billionaire and became a widower again.
Rachel arrived from court twenty minutes later.
She listened to the recording without interrupting.
When it ended, she looked at Sebastian.
"You need a criminal attorney."
He almost laughed.
"For me?"
"For the evidence."
"This is now tied to an old death, potential financial crimes, the altered trust, and current allegations involving medication."
She pointed at the recorder.
"Do not investigate Anna's death yourself."
Sebastian's expression hardened.
"I have spent six years not investigating it."
"Because you thought it was an accident."
"Exactly."
Rachel did not move.
"That does not make you objective now."
He looked ready to argue.
I spoke before he could.
"She's right."
Sebastian turned toward me.
"I know what it feels like to want to run at the person who touched your family."
I looked at Lily.
"It does not make you smarter."
His eyes stayed on me for a long moment.
Then he picked up the phone and called the detective supervising the Hale investigation.
He surrendered a forensic copy of the recording.
It was the first choice I saw him make that cost him control.
It was also the right one.
Veronica returned to Calder House under police escort at 6:20 that evening.
She had asked to speak with Sebastian and me together.
She looked exhausted enough to fall asleep standing.
Marcus searched her bag before allowing her into the office.
Veronica did not complain.
She sat across from us and looked at the recorder.
"You found Anna's file."
Sebastian's voice was cold.
"You put it there."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Insurance."
"Against who?"
"Celeste."
Sebastian leaned forward.
"Where did you get it?"
Veronica rubbed her hands together.
"The night Ethan and I came for the side letter, I found a flash drive taped beneath the bottom drawer."
"That drawer had been empty for years."
"Not empty."
"Hidden."
She looked at him.
"Your wife hid the drive there."
Sebastian's face tightened.
"How would Anna have access to my office?"
"This wasn't your current office then."
Marcus answered quietly.
"The building was the Calder accounting office six years ago."
Sebastian remembered.
Before the restaurant renovation, the basement had held corporate files.
Anna had worked there during a financial review.
Veronica said she recognized Anna's name on the drive.
She listened to the recording after stealing the side letter.
"Why not give it to Sebastian immediately?" I asked.
Veronica looked ashamed.
"Because I was already in too deep."
"That is becoming everyone's favorite sentence."
"I know."
"Did Celeste know about the recording?"
"Not then."
"When did she find out?"
"Yesterday morning."
Sebastian's eyes narrowed.
"How?"
Veronica swallowed.
"I told her."
He stood.
Marcus shifted closer.
Veronica raised her hands.
"I told her because she threatened Michael."
"Your son."
"Yes."
"She said if I did not return the drive and the side letter, she would stop paying for his cardiac treatment and tell the insurer the previous payments were fraudulent gifts."
Rachel frowned.
"Could she do that?"
"I don't know."
"I believed she could."
Sebastian stared at her.
"So you gave her the drive."
"No."
That surprised everyone.
"I copied it."
Veronica looked toward the recorder.
"I hid one copy there and another in my son's safe."
"What did you give Celeste?"
"An empty drive."
For the first time, I understood why Veronica had run.
She had not suddenly become good.
She had finally become afraid of the same woman she had been helping.
"What did Celeste say after you told her about Anna?" Sebastian asked.
Veronica's eyes moved toward the floor.
"She said Anna should have stayed out of family business."
The office became silent.
"Exact words?" Rachel asked.
"Almost."
"What were the exact words?"
Veronica closed her eyes.
"She said, 'Anna would still be alive if she had understood what belonged to her.'"
Sebastian looked as though someone had struck him.
Rachel immediately asked whether anyone else heard it.
"Diane."
"Would Diane testify?"
Veronica laughed without humor.
"Against Celeste?"
"Not unless the building was already on fire."
Marcus's phone rang.
The detective had news.
Dr. Mercer had failed to report for an interview.
His house was empty.
His clinic office had been cleared of two computers.
His car had been found at Midway Airport.
There was no record of him boarding a flight.
Rachel looked at the clock.
"He's running."
Sebastian shook his head.
"Or someone wants us to think he is."
The detective had obtained a warrant for Mercer's clinic records tied to Harrison, Ethan, and the questionable affidavits.
Staff discovered that Mercer's electronic files had been remotely accessed at 5:42 that afternoon.
Someone downloaded seventy-three patient records.
Then attempted to delete the audit trail.
"From where?" Sebastian asked.
Marcus listened.
"Public Wi-Fi."
"Location?"
Marcus's expression changed.
"Northwestern Memorial."
My skin went cold.
"Mrs. Ortiz."
I was already calling the secured hospital floor.
The nurse answered quickly.
Mrs. Ortiz was awake.
She was safe.
Then the nurse added something strange.
A doctor had called twenty minutes earlier asking for her toxicology results.
He claimed to be consulting on the case.
The hospital refused because he was not listed on her care team.
"Name?" I asked.
The nurse checked the log.
"Dr. Andrew Mercer."
Marcus called police.
Sebastian called hospital security.
I packed Lily's diaper bag with hands that no longer shook.
Sebastian saw me.
"You're not going there."
"Correct."
He looked surprised.
"I'm going home."
"Maya—"
"I have been awake for more than a day."
"Lily needs a bath."
"I need clothes that are mine."
"And whoever is doing this keeps using the fact that I am always reacting."
I looked at Marcus.
"Can you put someone outside my apartment?"
"Already planned."
"Good."
Sebastian studied me.
"You trust us now?"
"I trust locks more when Marcus checks them."
That was the closest thing to a compliment I could manage.
At 8:05, I entered my apartment with two security officers waiting in the hallway.
Nothing looked disturbed.
The little kitchen was exactly as I had left it.
A clean bottle sat upside down on a towel.
Three unopened envelopes waited beside the refrigerator.
Lily's cloth rabbit lay beneath the sofa.
Normal things nearly made me cry.
I put Lily on the rug and sat beside her.
She crawled into my lap as if the last twenty-seven hours had happened to someone else.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I nearly ignored it.
Then a text appeared.
MAYA, THIS IS DR. MERCER.
I NEED TO TALK BEFORE CELESTE FINDS ME.
I showed the screen to the security officer.
Marcus was notified immediately.
Another message arrived.
I DID WHAT SHE ASKED.
I FALSIFIED THE AFFIDAVITS.
I ALTERED MEDICATION RECORDS.
BUT I DID NOT HURT ANNA.
May you like
A third message appeared.
I KNOW WHO DID.
