Chapter 3
Detective Brooks took us back inside Maya’s house.
I hated every second of it.
My mother had just been driven away by a man who might have killed my uncle, and everyone kept telling me to sit down.
“I’m not sitting.”
“Caleb.”
Brooks kept her voice firm.
“I need you thinking clearly.”
“I am thinking clearly.”
“You want to chase Grant Mercer in a police cruiser?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
She studied me for a moment.
Then she placed the flash drive on Maya’s dining table.
“This is what it takes.”
I stared at it.
“Then open it.”
“We will.”
“Now.”
Brooks looked at Maya.
“Do you have a computer that’s disconnected from the internet?”
Maya disappeared into the hallway.
I frowned.
“Why disconnected?”
“Because I don’t know what’s on that drive or whether Grant has someone watching for access.”
“You think he can do that?”
“I think Grant has money.”
She paused.
“And money buys talented people.”
Maya returned with an old laptop.
Brooks opened it and inserted the drive.
A password screen appeared.
My heart sank.
“Great.”
Brooks looked at me.
“Did your mother ever give you a password?”
“No.”
“Any phrase Daniel used?”
“I barely remember him.”
Maya leaned forward.
“Try Caleb’s birthday.”
It failed.
Mom’s birthday failed.
Daniel’s birthday failed.
My hands tightened.
“This is wasting time.”
“Think,” Brooks said.
“Your mother wanted you to have this. She would choose something you could figure out.”
I stared at the screen.
Mom and I had a stupid tradition.
Every year on my birthday, she told me the same thing.
You changed my whole life at 4:17 in the morning.
I typed 0417.
The drive opened.
Three folders appeared.
DANIEL.
MERCER.
CALEB.
I stopped breathing.
“Why is my name there?”
Brooks didn’t answer.
I clicked it.
She caught my hand.
“Let me.”
“No.”
“Caleb.”
“My name is on it.”
She slowly moved her hand away.
I opened the folder.
There was one audio file.
I clicked play.
At first, there was only static.
Then Mom’s voice.
“If Caleb is hearing this, something has gone wrong.”
My throat closed.
Maya covered her mouth.
Mom continued.
“Baby, I’m sorry.”
I looked away.
She hadn’t called me baby in years.
“I should have told you more, but I kept believing silence could protect you.”
Brooks sat very still.
Mom’s recorded voice trembled.
“Grant did not just steal from Daniel’s company. Daniel found proof Grant was paying people to sabotage competitors, threaten employees, and falsify safety inspections.”
I glanced at Brooks.
She nodded slowly.
“Daniel wanted to testify.”
Mom continued.
“Three days later, he died.”
I felt pressure behind my eyes.
“I never believed the crash was an accident.”
Maya reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
I needed to hear everything.
“I kept copies of Daniel’s evidence. Grant suspected I had them. Years later, he came back into my life under the excuse of wanting a relationship.”
Mom inhaled shakily on the recording.
“I was lonely enough to believe him.”
That hurt.
“I realized the truth too late.”
Then she said something that made the entire room disappear.
“Grant told me if I went to the police, he would destroy the person I loved most.”
Me.
I knew it before she said my name.
“Caleb.”
My fists clenched.
“He had photos of your school. Your job. Maya’s house. He knew your schedule.”
My stomach turned.
“I pretended to cooperate because I needed time.”
I closed my eyes.
All those evenings when Mom acted distracted.
All those times she checked the windows.
The new deadbolt.
Her sudden insistence on driving me places.
I thought she was being overprotective.
She was terrified.
“If Grant returns, I need you to stay away from him. He wants me frightened. He wants you angry. He knows you will try to protect me.”
Mom’s voice cracked.
“I need you to protect me differently.”
I opened my eyes.
“Take the evidence to Lena Brooks.”
Brooks lowered her head.
“Trust her.”
Then Mom whispered.
“And please forgive me for whatever I have to say to make you leave.”
The audio ended.
No one spoke.
I stared at the blank screen.
My mother had known.
She had known I would think she chose Grant.
She had been willing to let me hate her if that was what it took to get me out alive.
I covered my face.
For several seconds, I was seven years old again.
Sitting on the bathroom floor after a nightmare.
Mom kneeling beside me.
Telling me she would never let anything happen to me.
She had kept that promise.
Even when it cost her.
Brooks touched the laptop.
“We need the Mercer folder.”
It contained hundreds of files.
Bank records.
Emails.
Scanned contracts.
Photos.
Audio recordings.
Brooks stared at the screen in disbelief.
“This is enough to reopen Daniel’s case.”
“Then arrest Grant.”
“We need to find him first.”
My phone rang again.
This time it was Mom’s number.
Brooks lifted a finger.
“Speaker.”
I answered.
“Mom?”
Grant spoke.
“Caleb.”
Every part of me went tight.
“Where is she?”
“She’s safe.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“It belongs to my uncle.”
A long silence.
“You’ve been listening.”
“I know what you did.”
Brooks quietly signaled an officer beside her.
He began working on his tablet.
Grant laughed.
“You know what your mother told you.”
“I know enough.”
“Then you know she has lied to you for years.”
I looked at Brooks.
She motioned for me to keep him talking.
“You murdered Daniel.”
“Careful.”
“Did you?”
Another silence.
Then I heard Mom.
“Caleb, don’t.”
Her voice sounded strained.
“Mom?”
“I’m okay.”
Grant took the phone back.
“You bring me the drive.”
“No.”
“Then your mother pays for Daniel’s mistake.”
Rage exploded through me.
“You touch her—”
“What?”
He sounded amused.
“You’ll stop me?”
I almost shouted.
Then I remembered Mom’s recording.
He wants you angry.
I forced myself to breathe.
“What do you want?”
“The original drive.”
“You think I’m stupid?”
“I think you love your mother.”
I looked at Brooks.
She wrote on a piece of paper.
AGREE. BUY TIME.
My stomach twisted.
“Fine.”
Grant went quiet.
“I’ll bring it.”
“Alone.”
“Fine.”
Brooks shook her head, but I continued.
“Where?”
Grant gave me an address.
An abandoned warehouse on the edge of town.
Then he said, “One hour.”
The line disconnected.
Brooks grabbed her radio.
“We have the location.”
I stood.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“He asked for me.”
“You are seventeen.”
“He asked for me.”
“And I am telling you no.”
“If he sees police, he might hurt her.”
Brooks stepped closer.
“Which is exactly why we do this carefully.”
I looked at the screen.
The third folder.
DANIEL.
I opened it.
More recordings.
One caught my attention.
FINAL MEETING.
I clicked.
My uncle’s voice filled the room.
“I know you tampered with the truck.”
Then Grant answered.
“You should have stayed out of my business.”
Brooks froze.
The recording continued.
Daniel said, “If anything happens to me, Sarah has everything.”
Grant’s voice became low.
“Then maybe Sarah becomes my next problem.”
The recording ended.
I looked at Brooks.
She stared at the laptop.
“That is motive.”
“It’s more than motive.”
She nodded.
“It’s a threat.”
My phone buzzed again.
A photo.
Mom tied to a metal chair.
My heart shattered.
Grant had sent one message.
FORTY-EIGHT MINUTES.
I showed Brooks.
She immediately started issuing orders.
Officers moved.
Radios crackled.
Maya grabbed my arm.
“You stay here.”
I looked at her.
Then at Brooks.
Then at the front door.
Everyone thought I was scared I might lose my mother.
They were wrong.
I was terrified.
But I also knew something Grant didn’t.
Mom had spent years preparing for this day.
May you like
And now we had the one weapon he feared.
The truth.
