Chapter 5
Police reached the ranch before we did.
I wasn’t allowed to go.
Detective Lewis insisted I stay at the hospital while another team checked the property.
For forty minutes, I sat in silence.
My mother slept.
Maria prayed quietly near the window.
I stared at my phone.
Vanessa didn’t call.
Thomas didn’t call.
Then Lewis returned.
“They found Thomas’s vehicle.”
“At the ranch?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Not there.”
“Vanessa?”
“No.”
I stood.
“So they left the car?”
“Thomas’s car. Not your wife’s.”
“What did they find?”
Lewis watched me carefully.
“The back door of the farmhouse was open.”
My stomach tightened.
“Was anything taken?”
“We’re still determining that.”
“The house is mostly empty.”
“Apparently not completely.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
He pulled out a chair.
“Your mother had a locked file cabinet in the downstairs study.”
I looked at Mom.
I knew the cabinet.
My father had used it for cattle records when he was alive.
“What about it?”
“It was forced open.”
My mother woke at the sound of my voice.
Her eyes moved toward Lewis.
“Cabinet?”
I leaned closer.
“Mom, what was in it?”
She stared at me.
Then panic spread across her face.
“Blue book.”
“What blue book?”
She tried to sit up.
The heart monitor beeped faster.
A nurse hurried in.
“Mrs. Mercer, please lie back.”
Mom grabbed my shirt.
“Blue book, Daniel.”
“I’m listening.”
“Your father.”
“What about Dad?”
“He kept records.”
“Of what?”
Her eyes moved toward Detective Lewis.
“Everything.”
Lewis stepped closer.
“What kind of records, Mrs. Mercer?”
Mom swallowed.
“Thomas’s father.”
I froze.
Thomas Reed’s father had been my father’s accountant.
I hadn’t thought about that in years.
They had worked together for nearly two decades.
Then, shortly before my father died, Thomas’s father had suddenly retired and moved to Arizona.
“What records?”
Mom’s breathing grew shallow.
“Money.”
Lewis crouched beside the bed.
“Take your time.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Your father found money missing.”
My heart pounded.
“How much?”
“Big.”
“From where?”
“Companies.”
My father had owned several commercial properties and a construction business before selling most of it.
“Did Thomas’s father steal from Dad?”
Mom nodded.
“Your father... didn’t report.”
“Why?”
“He was sick.”
I stared at her.
My father died from pancreatic cancer.
The last year of his life had been brutal.
“He made him repay?”
“Agreement.”
“Where is it?”
Mom opened her eyes.
“Blue book.”
My skin went cold.
“So Thomas knows?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Lewis asked, “Would those records expose Mr. Reed’s family to financial or criminal liability?”
Mom looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
I did.
At the very least, they could destroy reputations.
Maybe more.
Suddenly the situation shifted.
This wasn’t only about Vanessa stealing my mother’s estate.
Thomas might have his own motive.
He might have been helping Vanessa because she gave him access to something he wanted.
The blue book.
I asked Lewis, “Did police find it?”
“No.”
“Then they took it.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Who else would?”
He didn’t answer.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I looked at Lewis.
He nodded.
“Answer. Speaker.”
I did.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice.
Thomas.
“Daniel.”
I nearly exploded.
“Where the hell are you?”
“Listen to me.”
“You drugged my mother?”
“No.”
“You were in my house telling Vanessa to move faster.”
“Daniel, you don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Silence.
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Vanessa told me Evelyn wanted to change her trust.”
“She was drugged.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You told Vanessa to make her tired.”
Lewis raised one finger, warning me to stay calm.
Thomas exhaled.
“That conversation is not what you think.”
“I heard it.”
“Vanessa said your mother was becoming aggressive and refusing medication. I told her to keep her calm.”
“By drugging her?”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa has lost control.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Lewis.
He leaned closer.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas heard him.
“Police are there?”
“Yes.”
Thomas cursed.
“Good,” I said. “Maybe now you can explain the trust.”
“I shouldn’t have drafted it.”
“No kidding.”
“But Vanessa had documents.”
“What documents?”
“About your marriage.”
I frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“She said she had evidence you were moving assets.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I know that now.”
“You believed her?”
“She showed me financial statements.”
“Fake ones?”
“I think so.”
I clenched my jaw.
“And you decided that justified giving her sixty percent of my mother’s estate?”
“No. She told me Evelyn requested that structure.”
“Did you speak to my mother alone?”
Silence.
“Thomas?”
“No.”
Detective Lewis wrote something.
I felt anger rise through me like fire.
“You’re an attorney.”
“I know.”
“You knew better.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
I remembered the blue book.
“Because she promised you something.”
Silence.
I knew.
“The records about your father.”
Thomas inhaled sharply.
That was all I needed.
“You went to the ranch.”
“Daniel.”
“You broke into the cabinet.”
“No.”
“Where’s the blue book?”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then Vanessa does.”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
Maria covered her mouth.
Detective Lewis leaned toward the phone.
“Mr. Reed, this is Detective Aaron Lewis. I need you to tell me where Mrs. Mercer is.”
Thomas laughed nervously.
“I wish I knew.”
“When did you last see her?”
“At the ranch.”
“What happened?”
“She found the book before I did.”
“And then?”
“She started reading.”
“What was in it?”
“Records.”
“Be specific.”
Thomas hesitated.
“Your father documented payments made by my father.”
“Repayments?”
“Yes.”
“So why does Vanessa care?”
Another pause.
“Because there was another name in the book.”
I stared at the phone.
“Whose?”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“Her father’s.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Vanessa’s father.
Richard Hale.
A man I had met only twice before he died.
Vanessa told me he had been a salesman.
Mostly absent.
Always broke.
“What did her father have to do with my dad?”
Thomas whispered, “More than she ever told you.”
I looked at my sleeping mother.
“Explain.”
“My father wasn’t working alone.”
“In stealing from Dad?”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa’s father was involved?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
I closed my eyes.
This was impossible.
“Why would Vanessa marry me if—”
I stopped.
Nobody spoke.
The answer stood there before I could finish the question.
Maybe Vanessa hadn’t met me by accident.
Maybe our entire marriage had started with a lie.
Thomas continued.
“She saw something else in that book.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t show me.”
“Where did she go?”
“She took my phone and my car keys.”
“But police found your car.”
“She left it later. I walked to a gas station.”
“Why didn’t you call police?”
“Because I’m implicated in the trust.”
At least he finally admitted it.
Detective Lewis took over.
“Mr. Reed, tell me your current location.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“You are a lawyer.”
“Not for this.”
Lewis stared at the phone.
“Thomas, Mrs. Mercer may be in danger. Help us find Vanessa.”
Thomas was silent for a long time.
Then he said, “There’s one place.”
“Where?”
“Her father owned a storage unit outside Fort Worth.”
I frowned.
“Her father has been dead for fourteen years.”
“I know.”
“Why would she still have it?”
“Because she’s been paying for it.”
My pulse quickened.
“How do you know?”
“She mentioned it years ago.”
Lewis started writing.
“Location?”
Thomas gave him the facility name.
Then said one more thing.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“If Vanessa has that blue book, don’t go near her.”
“Why?”
“She found out something today.”
“What?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Thomas.”
“She looked at one page and started crying.”
“So?”
“Then she said, ‘He knew all along.’”
My mouth went dry.
“Who knew?”
“She didn’t say.”
The call ended.
I stared at the dark screen.
He knew all along.
My father?
Her father?
Someone else?
My mother stirred.
Her eyes opened.
I sat beside her.
“Mom, did Dad know who Vanessa was when I married her?”
Her entire face changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Fear.
And guilt.
“Mom?”
Her lips trembled.
May you like
Then she whispered the words that shattered what was left of my certainty.
“Yes.”
