Chapter 7 - The Promise Martin Broke
Alessandra looked at Martin.
“You promised her?”
Martin nodded.
“Yes.”
“When Mom died?”
Christian shook his head.
“My mother.”
Alessandra stopped.
Martin looked at Christian.
“I was afraid.”
Christian laughed bitterly.
“Of Shaw?”
“Yes.”
“He was seventy-three.”
“He still had people.”
“So did I.”
Martin looked down.
Christian continued.
“You were afraid I would find my father.”
“Yes.”
“And what?”
“That you would reopen everything.”
Silence.
There it was.
Christian stared.
“Not protection.”
Martin’s face fell.
“No.”
“Self-preservation.”
“Yes.”
Alessandra began crying.
Christian looked at her.
She whispered:
“I did not know about the letter.”
He believed her.
Again, belief did not erase the rest.
Lillian stepped toward Christian.
“I knew.”
Everyone turned.
Alessandra stared at her mother.
“You knew too?”
Lillian nodded.
“After your mother died.”
Christian closed his eyes.
“How many people knew?”
Lillian’s voice broke.
“Too many.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
“Because Martin begged me not to.”
Christian laughed quietly.
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lillian looked at Alessandra.
“To protect her father.”
Christian nodded.
“Of course.”
Alessandra looked at both parents.
“You used me as the reason.”
Martin shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She stepped back.
“You both keep saying you were protecting me.”
Lillian started crying.
Alessandra continued.
“But what you protected was the life you had built.”
Silence.
Christian looked at Thomas.
His father had said nothing.
Christian asked:
“Did Mom ever tell you she planned to tell me?”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
Christian froze.
“You spoke to her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Phone.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before.”
Christian stared.
“What did she say?”
Thomas looked at him.
“That she was done.”
Christian’s face changed.
“Done with what?”
“Lying.”
Silence.
“She told me if Shaw did not move against you within thirty days, she would bring me home.”
Christian looked at Martin.
His expression hardened.
“And then she died.”
Martin shook his head quickly.
“No.”
Christian turned.
“What?”
Martin understood.
“No.”
He stepped forward.
“Her death was natural.”
Christian laughed without humor.
“Everyone says that until a file appears.”
Lillian looked frightened.
Thomas said:
“She had heart disease.”
Christian stared.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
Martin added:
“There was an autopsy.”
Christian looked at him.
“Who signed it?”
Martin went silent.
Christian’s jaw tightened.
“Who?”
Lillian whispered:
“Dr. Mercer.”
Thomas frowned.
“Daniel Mercer’s brother.”
Christian looked at Martin.
“The corrupt prosecutor’s brother signed my mother’s autopsy.”
Martin closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The room changed.
Shaw smiled from the chair.
Christian turned.
“You knew.”
Shaw said nothing.
Christian moved closer.
“What happened to my mother?”
Shaw looked at Thomas.
Then Christian.
“I did not kill her.”
Christian stared.
“That was not my question.”
Shaw’s smile faded.
He looked at Martin.
“Tell him.”
Martin whispered:
“I do not know.”
Christian laughed once.
“Twenty years of buried evidence and nobody knows anything.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Then we find out.”
Christian looked at him.
His father continued.
“No more disappearing.”
Christian stared.
Thomas held his eyes.
“No more letting fear choose the next move.”
Christian nodded once.
Then looked at Alessandra.
She was crying.
He did not touch her.
Not yet.
He turned to security.
“Take Shaw.”
Then to Beatrice:
“Call the medical examiner’s office.”
Beatrice nodded.
Christian looked at Martin.
“And you.”
Martin’s face tightened.
“You are coming with us.”
“Where?”
Christian folded his mother’s letter.
“To find out whether you broke one promise.”
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