Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much

Rebecca disappeared the next morning.

Her apartment door stood open. Her suitcase was gone. A coffee mug sat in the sink, still damp when police arrived.

Detective Brooks called Simone at seven.

“Did she contact you?”

“No.”

“Marcus?”

“No.”

“Lena?”

“Nothing.”

The detective sighed. “She was supposed to meet us at nine.”

“Do you think Calder took her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Or she ran.”

“That’s possible too.”

Simone hated how every answer split into two worse answers.

At ten, Lena found Rebecca’s car at the Raleigh train station.

No ticket had been purchased in her name.

Security footage showed her entering the station with a red suitcase.

Then, twelve minutes later, leaving through a side exit without it.

A man followed her.

Grant Mercer.

Simone watched the footage twice.

“He’s alive.”

Detective Brooks nodded.

“And he wants us to know he is,” Marcus said.

“Why leave the car where cameras can see them?” Simone asked.

“Because maybe Rebecca isn’t running from us,” Lena replied. “Maybe she’s running with him.”

That possibility felt like betrayal layered on betrayal.

Then Rebecca called.

Her voice was barely audible.

“Don’t trace this.”

Simone stood from Evelyn’s sofa. “Where are you?”

“I can’t say.”

“Are you with Grant?”

A pause.

“Yes.”

Marcus gestured for Simone to keep her talking.

“Did he kidnap you?”

“No.”

“Then why are you with him?”

“Because he has evidence Calder ordered the dock sabotage.”

Simone’s anger surged. “Bring it to the police.”

“He won’t.”

“Why?”

“Because he did it.”

The room froze.

Simone whispered, “Grant cut the dock.”

“Yes.”

“On Calder’s orders?”

“Yes.”

“Then why would he help us?”

“He says Calder is going to kill him.”

“Good.”

Marcus touched her wrist.

Rebecca went silent.

Simone forced herself to continue. “What does he want?”

“Immunity.”

“He sabotaged a dock that killed my daughter.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know.”

Rebecca’s voice cracked. “I know I helped create the situation.”

“Then stop asking me to protect everybody who helped destroy my life.”

“I’m not asking for protection for me.”

“What are you asking?”

“Listen to what he has.”

Grant came onto the line.

“Mrs. Carter.”

Simone’s fingers tightened around the phone.

“You cut the dock.”

“Yes.”

The admission was so simple that Simone almost could not process it.

“Why?”

“Calder told me to weaken the section near the end. Said he wanted to scare you into signing something.”

“You expect me to believe he only wanted to scare me?”

“I don’t know what he wanted. I did the job.”

“My baby died.”

“I know.”

“If you say that one more time, I will hang up.”

Grant breathed out.

“I recorded Calder giving the order.”

“Where?”

“With me.”

“Send it.”

“I want a deal first.”

“You don’t negotiate with me.”

“Calder thinks you have Rebecca’s files. He’ll come after you next.”

“Then give the recording to the police.”

“I’ll meet your lawyer.”

Marcus mouthed, No.

Simone said, “You meet law enforcement, or there is no meeting.”

Grant cursed.

Rebecca came back on.

“Please, Simone.”

“No.”

“Grant says Calder has someone inside the sheriff’s office.”

Detective Brooks, listening from Marcus’s second phone, stiffened.

Simone said, “Who?”

“He doesn’t know.”

“Convenient.”

“He knows because Calder gets information before the public does.”

Marcus wrote: possible leak.

Grant returned to the line. “I’ll prove it. Ask the detective why Calder knew about the forensic search of the dock before the warrant return was filed.”

Detective Brooks’s face changed.

Only six people had known about that search.

The call ended before they could say more.

For the first time, the investigation had a new danger.

Not just the men outside the law.

Possibly someone inside it.

After the call, Detective Brooks contacted the SBI through a secure channel rather than using normal department email. Marcus moved Simone and Evelyn to a small hotel for the night while officers assessed whether the house had been watched.

Simone hated leaving.

“This is my grandmother’s home.”

“And it will still be her home tomorrow,” Marcus said. “Tonight, we reduce risk.”

Evelyn packed one overnight bag and her blood-pressure medication.

“If a criminal makes me miss my morning coffee, then I take it personally,” she muttered.

The joke eased the room just enough.

At the hotel, Simone placed a chair beneath the door handle despite the electronic lock.

She slept badly, but she slept knowing that for once, fear had produced a plan rather than paralysis.

Before sleeping, Simone texted Isaiah to warn him that his name might appear in court filings and asked whether anyone had contacted him.

Nobody had.

He replied a minute later: I’m fine. You protect your people. I’ll protect my porch.

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The message made Simone smile despite everything.

For the first time, the case no longer felt like a circle closing around her. It felt like a network of people refusing to let one another stand alone.