Chapter 3 - Seven Entries in Black Ink

Victor Dane arrived at Mercer House the next morning in a navy suit and an expression of offended dignity.

He did not get past the gate.

Adrian watched through the security monitor as Victor argued with James.

"Tell my brother-in-law I am family."

James replied through the intercom.

"Mr. Mercer is aware of your relation."

"Then open the gate."

"No."

Victor leaned toward the camera.

"Adrian, stop behaving like a child."

Adrian pressed the speaker button from the library.

"Detective Ortiz is on her way."

Victor's face changed.

Only slightly.

It was enough.

"Why?"

"You know why."

"I know my sister has been arrested because a maid invented a kidnapping story."

Adrian felt anger pulse behind his eyes.

"DNA isn't a story."

"DNA proves biology, not kidnapping."

"The ledger has your name."

Silence.

Victor looked away from the camera.

Then back.

"That old man's ledger is nonsense."

Adrian's hand tightened on the desk.

"I didn't say whose ledger."

Victor froze.

James looked directly at the camera.

Adrian said, "Stay there."

Victor turned toward his car.

James and two guards blocked him.

"You cannot detain me."

"We can prevent you from entering private property."

"Move."

Police sirens sounded beyond the trees.

Victor's shoulders dropped.

Adrian turned off the monitor.

Mara stood near the bookshelves.

"You baited him."

"He took it."

"You've done that before."

"In business."

She gave him a tired look.

"This isn't business."

"No."

It was worse.

Theo spent the morning at the estate's smaller breakfast room with Nina Patel.

Adrian had canceled every meeting on his calendar.

Mercer Holdings could survive a day without him.

Theo had already survived six years built on a lie.

He deserved at least one day in which the adults around him did not choose work first.

At eleven, Nina asked Adrian and Mara to join them.

Theo sat with colored pencils spread across the table.

He had drawn three houses.

One enormous with pillars.

One small apartment.

One that looked like a lopsided cabin.

Adrian sat beside him.

"What are those?"

Theo pointed.

"This is here."

He touched the small apartment.

"This is Mara's."

Mara blinked.

"You've never seen my apartment."

"I know it has a fire escape because you told Mrs. Vale the pigeons sit on it."

Mara smiled despite herself.

"And the third?"

Theo shrugged.

"Nobody's."

Nina said, "I asked Theo to draw places where he could imagine feeling safe."

Adrian's chest tightened.

Theo pushed the cabin picture toward them.

"This one has no reporters."

Mara laughed softly.

Adrian said, "Excellent feature."

"It also has a dog."

"We do not currently have a dog."

"We could."

Adrian looked at Nina.

She pretended not to notice.

Theo's face became serious.

"Do I have to choose?"

Mara's smile disappeared.

"Choose what?"

"Who is my real parent."

Adrian leaned forward.

"No."

Theo looked at him.

"Kids at school have one mom and one dad."

"Some do."

"Some have two moms."

"Yes."

"Can I have a mom and a dad who are not married?"

Mara's eyes filled.

Adrian answered carefully.

"Yes."

Theo looked relieved.

"Then I choose that."

Nina said, "You don't have to decide anything today."

Theo frowned.

"I just did."

Mara pressed her lips together to stop herself from crying.

Adrian looked at her.

For the first time, something passed between them that was not suspicion or guilt.

A shared promise.

Whatever happened next, Theo would not be forced to destroy one bond to acknowledge another.

That afternoon, Ortiz returned from interviewing Victor.

"He lawyered up."

Adrian said, "Expected."

"He claims the payments were consulting fees for estate planning."

Mara crossed her arms.

"Seven newborns required estate planning?"

Ortiz almost smiled.

"Exactly."

She opened a folder.

"Six other entries. Three girls, three boys. All born within four years of Theo."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Two families have been identified. Wealthy. Private. One couple is overseas. One child is listed as deceased."

Mara sat down.

"Deceased?"

"We don't know if the record is accurate."

Adrian asked, "And Halden?"

"Still missing."

"He can't just vanish."

"He closed his public practice three years ago. His registered address is a condo in Palm Beach, but no one has seen him there in months."

Agnes spoke from the doorway.

"He liked Lake Arlen."

Ortiz turned.

"What?"

Agnes wrung her hands.

"He had a cabin there. He used to brag about it."

"You never mentioned that."

"I forgot."

Adrian's eyes hardened.

Agnes looked ashamed.

"No. That is not true. I didn't forget. I was afraid you'd think I was still protecting him."

"Are you?"

"No."

"Then stop making us pull the truth out of you one piece at a time."

Agnes nodded.

"Lake Arlen. North shore. Gray cabin with a green roof."

Ortiz made a call.

Mara stared at Agnes.

"How many times did you see him after I was told my baby died?"

Agnes closed her eyes.

"Twice."

"Why?"

"Once to ask for proof you had surrendered Theo."

"And the second?"

"To threaten him."

Mara laughed bitterly.

"You threatened him?"

"I told him if anything happened to the baby I would go to the police."

"You thought stealing him was acceptable as long as he was safe?"

Agnes recoiled.

"No."

"That's exactly what you just said."

Agnes whispered, "I was trying to become a better person after the worst thing I had ever done."

Mara stood.

"You don't get to make your redemption part of my son's childhood."

Theo appeared in the hallway.

"Mara?"

Everyone stopped.

He looked between them.

"Are you yelling at Mrs. Vale?"

Mara took a breath.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Agnes answered.

"Because she has a right to be angry with me."

Theo looked worried.

"Are you going to jail?"

The old woman went pale.

"I don't know."

Theo walked over and took her hand.

"Who will make the cinnamon toast?"

Mara covered her face.

Adrian turned away.

Agnes sank into a chair and sobbed.

Later, after Theo had gone upstairs, Mara stood alone on the back terrace.

Rain had stopped.

The gardens shone wet beneath gray light.

Adrian joined her.

"He's going to forgive her before I do," Mara said.

"Children are unfairly efficient at mercy."

"Maybe."

She looked at him.

"Do you hate Celeste?"

Adrian considered the question.

"I don't know what I feel."

"You loved her."

"Yes."

"Does that make this worse?"

"Every part makes another part worse."

Mara looked toward the upstairs windows.

"I hated her before I knew her."

"And now?"

"Now I hate that Theo misses her."

Adrian felt that truth in his bones.

"He asked about her last night."

"What did you say?"

"That she was safe."

Mara nodded.

"Good."

He studied her.

"You don't want him taught to hate her."

"No."

"After what she did?"

Mara's voice lowered.

"I want him to know what she did. I don't want poison to be the inheritance she leaves him."

Adrian looked away.

He had spent most of his adult life believing strength meant control.

Mara seemed to understand something harder.

Strength could also mean refusing to pass pain forward.

At five that evening, Ortiz called.

"We found Halden."

Adrian put the phone on speaker.

"Alive?"

"Yes."

Mara grabbed the edge of the table.

"Where?"

"Lake Arlen. Cabin matched Agnes's description."

"Did he talk?"

"Not yet. He tried to leave through the back door when officers arrived."

Adrian said, "That sounds promising."

Ortiz continued.

"We found medical equipment, cash, passports, and a locked case."

Mara's voice trembled.

"What was in the case?"

"Photographs of newborns."

Silence.

"Seven?" Adrian asked.

"Nine."

Mara sat down hard.

Ortiz added, "And one of the photographs appears to be Theo."

Adrian closed his eyes.

Mara whispered, "How can you tell?"

"Birthmark visible behind the left ear."

Mara began crying without sound.

Adrian moved toward her, stopped, then placed a hand on the back of the chair instead.

Ortiz said, "There is something else."

Adrian's stomach tightened.

"Go ahead."

"Halden wrote names on the backs."

Mara looked up.

"What name is on Theo's?"

Ortiz hesitated.

"Not Theo Mercer."

Mara's voice was almost gone.

"What?"

"The photograph says Daniel Bell Jr."

Mara covered her mouth.

Theo's biological father had been Daniel Bell.

The name she had whispered into her newborn son's hair for one night before the hospital took him away.

She had never told anyone at Mercer House.

Not Agnes.

Not Adrian.

Not Theo.

Adrian whispered, "That proves Halden knew exactly who he was."

Mara nodded.

Tears fell freely now.

"Daniel wanted a son named after him."

Adrian sat across from her.

"Tell me about him."

Mara looked startled.

"Why?"

"Because Theo deserves to know."

She stared at Adrian for a long time.

Then she told him.

Daniel had been twenty.

Funny.

Bad at saving money.

Excellent with children.

He worked on scaffolding and dreamed of owning a repair business.

He died when a platform collapsed at a hotel renovation site.

Mara had been seven months pregnant.

"Theo has his smile," she said.

Adrian felt pain he had no name for.

A dead young man had been erased from his own son's history.

"I'll make sure he knows."

Mara looked at Adrian carefully.

"You really mean that."

"Yes."

She nodded.

Before either could say more, James entered.

"Mr. Mercer."

Adrian stood.

"What?"

"Celeste has been released on bond."

Mara's face hardened.

"Can she come here?"

"No. Temporary protective order. She cannot approach Theo, Ms. Bell, or the estate."

Adrian exhaled.

James did not leave.

"What else?"

"Mrs. Mercer spoke to the press."

Adrian stared.

"Of course she did."

James handed him a tablet.

A headline filled the screen.

CELESTE MERCER CLAIMS CHILD WAS LEGALLY ADOPTED.

Below it was a quote.

Mara read aloud.

"'I will prove that the biological mother willingly surrendered the child and is now exploiting a vulnerable boy for financial gain.'"

Her face drained.

Adrian kept reading.

Celeste claimed there were signed consent documents.

Witnessed.

Notarized.

Legally binding.

Mara whispered, "I never signed anything."

Adrian looked at Ortiz's case notes.

Then toward the locked evidence room where the hospital ledger was being cataloged.

The next battle would not be over blood.

Blood had already spoken.

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It would be over a signature.

And whether a seventeen-year-old girl, drugged in a hospital bed after giving birth, had somehow been made to surrender a child she never stopped searching for.