Chapter 16 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Bleeding.
Elena stopped at the edge of the porch.
Vanessa stopped beside her.
Inside the lake house, Caleb Mercer looked nothing like a man who had nearly bled to death in an abandoned mill.
His shirt was clean.
His face was bruised, but he stood steadily.
The pistol in his hands did not shake.
Detective Ruiz's voice whispered through Elena's earpiece.
"Do not enter yet."
Daniel smiled through the window as though he could hear him.
Then he lifted one finger and pointed toward Elena's ear.
Her stomach tightened.
He knew about the transmitter too.
Daniel opened the front door.
He was taller than Nathan, thinner, and almost unnervingly calm.
Seven missing years had sharpened rather than aged him.
"Take it out," he said.
Elena did not pretend not to understand.
"No."
Daniel's smile faded.
Caleb raised the pistol slightly.
Dr. Pierce shifted against the ropes.
"Elena, leave."
Daniel struck the back of Pierce's chair with one hand.
"Nobody asked you."
Elena slowly removed the earpiece but left the hidden transmitter beneath her collar.
She let the earpiece fall onto the porch.
Ruiz could still hear everything.
Daniel stepped aside.
"Come in."
Vanessa moved first.
Daniel looked at her with contempt.
"You disappointed me."
Vanessa's voice was steady.
"You tried to frame me for Caleb's murder."
Caleb laughed.
"That would have been difficult."
Elena looked at him.
"The blood in the car."
Caleb nodded.
"Mine."
"But not from the mill."
"Dr. Pierce cut me when we fought three days ago."
Pierce glared at him.
"You broke into my office."
Caleb ignored him.
"Daniel saved the blood because Daniel saves everything."
Elena understood.
The supposed attack at the mill had been staged.
Caleb's injuries had been real enough to mislead police, but the timing had been manufactured.
"Why?" she asked.
Daniel answered.
"To separate Ruiz's team."
"Some officers chased Caleb."
"Others searched the mill."
"You stayed at the hospital."
"And the mansion became easier to empty."
Elena stared at him.
"You didn't steal the deed during the blackout."
"Pierce did."
Daniel smiled.
Dr. Pierce's expression hardened.
Elena turned toward him.
"You took the deed and the DNA report."
Pierce looked suddenly exhausted.
"I was trying to stop him."
Daniel laughed softly.
"He has spent thirty-five years telling himself that."
Vanessa looked at Caleb.
"You told me Daniel was going to kill you."
"I told you what you needed to hear."
Her face tightened.
"You used me too."
Caleb's smile disappeared.
"You pushed a pregnant woman down a staircase because you wanted someone else's husband."
"Don't confuse being manipulated with being innocent."
The words hit Vanessa hard because they were true.
Elena watched Daniel.
"Where is the deed?"
Daniel reached inside his jacket.
Caleb's pistol moved instinctively toward him.
For the first time, tension appeared between the two men.
Daniel noticed it.
"Relax."
He pulled out a folded document sealed inside plastic.
Elena recognized the original foreclosure deed.
"And the DNA report?"
Daniel's expression changed.
He looked at Pierce.
"That's what we're waiting for."
Pierce shook his head.
"You will never see it."
Daniel crouched beside him.
"Then perhaps Elena will."
He turned toward her.
"Ask the doctor who my father is."
Elena said nothing.
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Ask him."
Pierce lifted his head.
His eyes were wet.
"Robert Howard was your father."
Daniel went completely still.
Caleb lowered the pistol a fraction.
Vanessa stared at Pierce.
Pierce continued.
"The test proved it."
Daniel's face became unreadable.
Then Pierce added one final sentence.
"But Nathan is my son."
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THE REVERSED PLAN
