Chapter 6 - What Richard Mercer Bought

Eli chose an abandoned ferry terminal on the Hudson.

Daniel almost admired the cliché.

At 6:15 p.m., rain began needling the river. Daniel walked beneath the rusted canopy wearing no coat and no visible microphone.

Eli stood near the edge of the terminal with both hands in sight.

“You brought people,” Eli said.

Daniel stopped fifteen feet away.

“You taught me never to walk into an unsecured meeting.”

“I also taught you how to hide backup better.”

“Then pretend you can’t see them.”

Eli smiled faintly.

“Ross in the maintenance building. Sophia in the black SUV. Victoria probably ignored your instructions and came anyway.”

From the distant vehicle, Victoria muttered into her earpiece, “I hate him.”

Sophia whispered back, “Get in line.”

Daniel kept his eyes on Eli.

“Did you steal the ledger?”

“No.”

“Did you know about River House?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Since before your father died.”

Daniel’s face went still.

“Explain.”

Eli looked toward the water.

“I worked for Richard first.”

“I know.”

“No. You know I was assigned to executive protection. You don’t know what he hired me to do.”

“What?”

“Investigate Northstar.”

Daniel said nothing.

Eli continued.

“Richard knew Gideon was using company money for private operations. He didn’t know how deep it went. He wanted someone outside finance, outside the board, outside Gideon’s social circle.”

“And he chose you.”

“I was twenty-nine, ex-military intelligence, broke, angry, and stupid enough to think rich men only lied about taxes.”

Daniel’s voice hardened.

“The payments.”

Eli nodded.

“You found them.”

“Northstar paid you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

“Yes.”

“And one million after my father died.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Gideon thought he bought me.”

Daniel laughed without humor.

“You expect me to believe you took his money as part of an investigation?”

“I expect you to look at where it went.”

“Where?”

“First four years, numbered accounts Richard controlled. The million after his death went to a trust for Paul Renner’s family.”

Daniel blinked.

“Renner had a family?”

“A wife and a daughter. They disappeared from public records after the crash.”

“Why?”

“Because Renner was supposed to disappear with them.”

Victoria’s voice came through Daniel’s concealed earpiece.

“Ask him why Renner stayed.”

Daniel did.

Eli looked toward the black river.

“Guilt.”

“For what?”

“For helping build Northstar.”

Daniel thought of Lucas’s words.

“My father built it too.”

“Yes.”

“How much did he know?”

“Enough to be ashamed.”

Daniel’s jaw tightened.

“Do not soften this for me.”

“I’m not.”

“Then say it.”

Eli faced him.

“Your father paid bribes. He buried scandals. He funded surveillance on competitors. He approved illegal political contributions through intermediaries. He told himself it was temporary, necessary, protective.”

Daniel’s expression became almost blank.

Eli continued.

“Then Gideon began using the fund for personal leverage. Judges. Regulators. Mistresses. Medical records. Addiction histories. Anything that could be turned into obedience.”

“And my father objected only then?”

“At first.”

Daniel gave him a look.

Eli did not flinch.

“Richard’s awakening wasn’t noble. It was late.”

The words hurt because they sounded true.

Daniel asked, “What changed?”

“Eleanor Vale.”

Victoria’s breathing sharpened in his ear.

Eli went on.

“She discovered Gideon used Northstar to monitor her. Private investigators. Phone taps. People following Victoria to school. Owen’s teachers being paid for information.”

In the SUV, Victoria closed her eyes.

Sophia reached for her hand.

Daniel said, “Richard helped Eleanor collect evidence.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Eleanor told him Gideon had moved beyond blackmail.”

“Into what?”

Eli paused.

“Accidents.”

Daniel did not move.

“Names.”

“I only confirmed two. A union organizer in Baltimore. A procurement officer in Newark. Both deaths looked natural or accidental.”

“And my father?”

Eli looked directly at him.

“Richard knew he was next.”

Rain hit the metal roof harder.

Daniel’s voice was barely audible.

“Was the bridge an accident?”

“No.”

In the SUV, Sophia covered her mouth.

Victoria stared through the windshield.

Daniel asked the question he had spent eleven years refusing to imagine.

“Who killed him?”

“I don’t know.”

Daniel stepped forward.

“You were investigating.”

“I was too late.”

“You knew he was in danger.”

“Yes.”

“You let him drive alone.”

Eli’s face tightened for the first time.

“He ordered me away.”

“And you listened?”

“He said he was meeting someone who would only talk if security stayed out.”

“Who?”

“Paul Renner.”

Daniel stared.

“Renner was supposed to meet him that night?”

“Yes.”

“Did he?”

“I don’t know. Richard’s car left the road before he reached the meeting point.”

Daniel’s anger rose.

“So Renner spent eleven years carrying guilt.”

“Yes.”

“And you spent eleven years doing what?”

“Protecting you.”

“From Gideon?”

“From Northstar.”

“By never telling me it existed?”

“Richard’s last instruction to me was to keep you out until there was enough evidence to end it permanently.”

Daniel laughed bitterly.

“My father dies, and everyone decides his adult children are too fragile for facts.”

“That wasn’t the reason.”

“What was?”

Eli hesitated.

Daniel’s eyes narrowed.

“What?”

Eli reached inside his jacket slowly.

Ross’s voice snapped in Daniel’s ear. “Hands.”

Daniel lifted one finger, signaling her to wait.

Eli removed a folded photograph.

He held it out.

Daniel took it.

The image showed Richard Mercer standing outside a bank. Beside him was Gideon Vale.

Between them stood a third person.

Sophia.

She looked nineteen.

Daniel stared at the photograph.

“What is this?”

“Taken six days before the crash.”

“My sister told me she barely knew Gideon then.”

“She lied.”

In the SUV, Sophia whispered, “No.”

Victoria looked at her.

“You’re in the picture.”

“I know, but I don’t remember this.”

Daniel said, “Why was Sophia there?”

Eli’s face was grim.

“That’s what your father didn’t want you to know.”

Daniel looked up.

“Say it.”

“Richard used Sophia to move money out of Northstar.”

Daniel went cold.

“Impossible.”

“She was nineteen, studying finance, eager to impress him. He gave her documents and told her they were routine intercompany transfers.”

Sophia’s voice broke in the earpiece.

“That happened. I remember paperwork. I didn’t know—”

Eli continued.

“When Gideon discovered Richard was draining accounts, he threatened to make Sophia look like the architect of the theft.”

Daniel understood the letter now.

There is one person Daniel must not trust, no matter how convincing the evidence appears.

Sophia.

Not a warning against her.

A warning that evidence would be built to condemn her.

Daniel lowered the photograph.

“So Dad hid the truth to protect Sophia.”

“Yes.”

“And after he died?”

“I tried to destroy the paper trail connecting her.”

“Did you?”

“Most of it.”

“Most?”

Eli looked toward the terminal entrance.

“Someone has been reconstructing it.”

Daniel’s eyes sharpened.

“Who?”

“I thought Renner. Then he died.”

“Gideon?”

“Maybe.”

“That is not enough.”

“No.”

Daniel held up his phone.

“The ledger was stolen from River House. Your team knew we were there.”

“Half the company knew within an hour. You arrived in two SUVs with Mercer plates.”

“Who else knew the safe existed?”

“Richard. Renner. Me.”

“Victoria’s mother?”

“Possibly.”

“And Gideon?”

Eli shook his head.

“If Gideon knew, that safe would have been empty eleven years ago.”

Daniel’s phone vibrated.

A new message.

Unknown sender.

It contained a photograph of the stolen ledger lying open on a marble table.

Daniel recognized the marble immediately.

Victoria’s childhood home on Fifth Avenue.

Gideon Vale’s library.

Beneath it were four words.

Bring Victoria. Come alone.

Daniel showed Eli.

Eli swore.

In the SUV, Victoria had already seen the mirrored message feed on Sophia’s laptop.

“I’m going,” she said.

Sophia grabbed her arm.

“No.”

“He has the ledger.”

“He wants you there.”

“Exactly.”

Daniel returned to the SUV five minutes later.

Victoria opened the door before he reached it.

“I’m going.”

“No.”

“You promised no more decisions alone.”

“That does not mean I let you walk into your father’s house because he texts a photograph.”

“He has the ledger.”

“We don’t know that’s the original.”

“He has something he wants me to see.”

“That is precisely why you’re not going.”

Victoria stepped close.

“Daniel, listen to me. My whole life, he has relied on one thing.”

“What?”

“That I would be too afraid to stand in front of him and say no.”

Daniel looked at her.

“I am afraid,” she continued. “I’m terrified. But I’m going.”

Sophia said quietly, “Then we all go.”

Eli shook his head.

“Gideon will have surveillance.”

Victoria looked at him.

“Good.”

Eli frowned.

She reached for Daniel’s phone and opened the photograph of the ledger.

“He wants us reacting to what he shows us.”

Daniel understood her expression.

“What are you thinking?”

Victoria looked from Daniel to Sophia to Eli.

“For once, we let him see exactly what he expects.”

Sophia’s mouth curved slightly.

“A frightened daughter.”

Victoria shook her head.

“No.”

She looked at Daniel.

“A divided family.”

Daniel held her gaze.

“And while he watches the performance?”

Victoria’s fear did not disappear.

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It simply became useful.

“We find out what he is protecting.”