Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO SAID HE WAS PROTECTING HER
Samuel arrived at the police station with an attorney.
Julian did not go.
That surprised Samuel.
It surprised Julian too.
He remained home with the boys.
Marisol found him in the kitchen making toast.
Badly.
“You’re burning it.”
“I see that.”
“You could lower the heat.”
“I run three restaurants.”
“You don’t work in them.”
He looked at the blackened bread.
“Fair.”
She took the pan.
“No.”
Julian frowned.
“What?”
“You’re learning.”
She handed it back.
He stared.
“Cruel.”
“Growth.”
He tried again.
The second piece survived.
Julian spread butter.
“Samuel’s car hit Elena.”
Marisol stopped.
“We don’t know Samuel was driving.”
“The vehicle belonged to his company.”
“Yes.”
“He hid everything.”
“Yes.”
“He knew Derek.”
“Yes.”
“You’re very committed to not letting me reach the conclusion.”
“I’m committed to letting evidence reach it.”
Julian looked at her.
“Were you always like this?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Marisol’s face changed.
There it was.
The part of her she kept behind calm eyes.
Julian set down the knife.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
She looked surprised.
He smiled faintly.
“I’m learning.”
Marisol sat.
“My sister died.”
Julian’s expression softened.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“How?”
She looked at the table.
“Her husband.”
His jaw tightened.
Marisol raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Turn it into rage before I finish.”
He forced himself to breathe.
“What happened?”
“She tried to leave him.”
Julian waited.
“He controlled money. Friends. Clothes. Everything. He never hit her in front of us.”
“But?”
“He threatened. Broke things. Drove dangerously when angry. She kept saying it wasn’t abuse because he didn’t hit her.”
Julian looked away.
“One night she called me.”
Marisol’s voice changed.
“She said she was scared.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her to come to my apartment.”
“And?”
“She said she would in the morning.”
Julian knew before she finished.
“She never came.”
Marisol nodded.
“He killed her and then himself.”
The kitchen became painfully quiet.
Julian closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“Is that why you work with children?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why this house?”
She smiled without humor.
“I applied for housekeeping.”
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“Why weren’t you afraid?”
“I was.”
That surprised him.
“You said you’d met scarier people.”
“I had.”
“Your brother-in-law.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at her.
“What made him scarier than me?”
“He needed everyone to think he was good.”
Julian went still.
Marisol continued.
“You don’t.”
“That may be the worst compliment I’ve received.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
He almost smiled.
She looked toward the stairs.
“When your sons screamed, every nanny tried to stop the noise.”
“And you?”
“I asked what they thought would happen if they stopped watching the door.”
Julian’s chest tightened.
“What did they say?”
“That Mom might come back and nobody would be awake to let her in.”
He closed his eyes.
The boys had been staying awake for Elena.
Night after night.
Waiting.
He had thought they were refusing sleep.
They were keeping watch.
“They thought she was coming home.”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“They knew she wasn’t.”
“Then why keep watching?”
“Because stopping felt like giving up.”
Julian’s throat tightened.
Marisol continued.
“I knew that feeling.”
He understood.
She had stayed awake after her sister’s death too.
In a different way.
Replaying.
Waiting for an impossible morning.
“You saw yourself in them.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s why you stayed.”
“Partly.”
“What’s the other part?”
Marisol looked at him.
“You looked worse than they did.”
Julian stared.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
A deep sound that startled them both.
Marisol smiled.
“That is the first time I’ve heard that.”
“What?”
“You laugh.”
“I laugh.”
“People claim you don’t.”
“People claim many things.”
The phone rang.
Detective Chen.
Julian answered.
“Samuel wasn’t driving.”
His smile disappeared.
“Who was?”
“We have camera footage from a gas station.”
Julian stood.
“Who?”
“Silver Harbor vehicle. Driver appears to be Derek Hale.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“Derek was driving the car that contacted Elena’s vehicle.”
Marisol stared.
Julian’s head spun.
Derek was helping Elena.
Derek struck her car.
Derek later claimed to have proof of who did it.
“How?”
Chen continued.
“The footage shows damage to the front corner consistent with the paint transfer.”
“Then Derek killed her.”
“Maybe.”
Julian gripped the counter.
“What do you mean maybe?”
“We recovered the rest of his cloud folder.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“And?”
“There is a written statement.”
“Read it.”
Chen did.
I followed Elena from the hotel because Sam asked me to make sure she got home. I was no longer working for Adrian. A dark SUV approached fast behind us. I moved between it and Elena. The SUV hit my front corner. My car touched Elena’s rear quarter. She lost control. I tried to reach her vehicle but the other SUV stopped me, then left. By the time I reached Elena, she was unresponsive.
Julian stopped breathing.
Derek had not attacked Elena.
He had tried to shield her.
His car made contact because another vehicle forced it.
“Did he identify the other SUV?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“He photographed it afterward.”
Julian’s pulse hammered.
Chen sent the image.
A dark SUV.
Partial plate.
Julian recognized the vehicle.
Everyone in his family would.
His father had owned it.
After Vincent died, it passed into the Mercer fleet.
Julian whispered, “Who had that car?”
Chen answered.
“Registration was transferred six years ago.”
“To?”
A pause.
“Rosa Mercer.”
Julian’s body went cold.
“No.”
Marisol stood.
Julian stared at the photograph.
His aunt.
The woman Elena loved.
The woman who watched his sons.
The woman whose cottage received calls from Elena’s prepaid phone.
“No.”
Chen said, “We’re bringing her in.”
Julian was already moving.
Marisol stepped in front of him.
“No.”
“My aunt—”
“Police.”
“She was with my children yesterday.”
“Police.”
“She could have killed Elena.”
“You do not know that.”
Julian looked at her.
She held his gaze.
“Questions first.”
His chest heaved.
“I hate those words.”
“I know.”
He stayed.
Barely.
Rosa arrived at the station with no attorney.
She asked for Julian.
Chen advised against it.
Julian insisted.
This time, Marisol went with him.
Not into the interview room.
To the station.
Rosa sat behind glass.
She looked tired.
Not afraid.
Julian entered with Chen.
“Was that your SUV?”
Rosa nodded.
“Yes.”
He felt sick.
“Were you driving?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Her eyes filled.
“Vincent.”
Julian stared.
“My father was dead.”
“Not when I gave him the vehicle.”
“What are you talking about?”
Rosa folded her hands.
“The SUV was his before it was mine.”
“Yes.”
“He kept a spare key.”
Julian frowned.
“He died eight years ago. Elena died eleven months ago.”
“I know.”
“So what does he have to do with—”
Rosa closed her eyes.
“I never changed the hidden tracking subscription.”
Julian stared.
Chen leaned forward.
“What tracking subscription?”
“The manufacturer service.”
Rosa continued.
“When you showed me the image, I remembered. I checked old account records this morning.”
Julian’s heart pounded.
“The vehicle wasn’t mine the night Elena died.”
“Who had it?”
“I loaned it to someone.”
“Who?”
Rosa’s face crumpled.
“Adrian.”
Julian shut his eyes.
Of course.
Again.
Adrian.
But Rosa raised a hand.
“He said his car was in the shop.”
“Why did you not tell police?”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot you gave him a car?”
“For three days. Eleven months ago. Yes.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
Rosa looked at him.
“Do you remember every car you lend?”
“I don’t lend cars.”
“Because you have drivers.”
Fair.
Chen asked, “Can you prove it?”
Rosa nodded.
“Text messages.”
She handed over her phone.
Adrian had asked.
Rosa agreed.
Two days later, Adrian thanked her.
The dates included Elena’s death.
Julian felt cold.
Adrian had admitted tracking Elena.
Claimed Derek worked for him.
Claimed he was not involved in the crash.
Yet he had access to the SUV that forced Derek into Elena’s car.
Julian called Dana.
“Locate Adrian.”
Her answer came instantly.
“He’s gone.”
His chest tightened.
“Gone where?”
“Private plane left Teterboro forty minutes ago.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“Destination?”
“Filed for Montreal.”
Chen said, “We’ll contact federal authorities.”
Julian’s old instinct screamed to send men.
Intercept.
Force the plane.
Handle it privately.
He looked at Marisol through the interview-room glass.
She could not hear.
She still seemed to know.
Julian said, “Let authorities handle it.”
Detective Chen studied him.
“Good.”
He hated how proud everyone sounded when he behaved like a normal citizen.
Then Dana called again.
“Plane changed course.”
“Where?”
“Back toward New York.”
“Why?”
“Unknown.”
Julian’s phone buzzed.
Adrian.
One message.
I’M COMING BACK. THERE’S SOMETHING ELENA NEVER KNEW.
A second message.
I DIDN’T KILL HER.
A third.
BUT I KNOW WHO WANTED HER DEAD.
Julian stared.
Chen asked, “What?”
He showed her.
Then the final text arrived.
THE PERSON IS STILL INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
Julian’s blood ran cold.
His sons were at the estate.
With staff.
With security.
With Samuel’s remaining people.
With everyone Julian had trusted before.
He called Marisol.
She answered from ten feet away.
“What?”
“Take the boys somewhere else.”
Her face changed.
“Why?”
“Now.”
She did not argue.
Not because he ordered.
Because this time she heard the fear underneath it.
“Where?”
Julian thought.
Not estate.
Not family property.
Not anywhere Mercer.
He looked at her.
“Your apartment.”
Marisol stared.
“My apartment?”
“No one in my world knows where it is.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
Julian stopped her.
“Marisol.”
“Yes?”
“Stay with them.”
Her face softened.
“I will.”
He watched her leave.
For once, sending his sons away did not feel like abandoning them.
May you like
It felt like trusting someone else with what he loved.
That was another kind of strength he had never practiced.
