Thomas was not a surname.<\/p>\n
That was the first problem.<\/p>\n
Rebecca's old records contained three men named Thomas.<\/p>\n
A cousin.<\/p>\n
A former coworker.<\/p>\n
And Thomas Avery, who had worked for Mercer Construction during the year she died.<\/p>\n
Detective Ruiz focused on Avery.<\/p>\n
"Why him?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"Because Richard fired him six days after the fire."<\/p>\n
I was sitting in the station again, Noah with my friend under police protection.<\/p>\n
"For what?"<\/p>\n
"Company records say theft."<\/p>\n
"Was he charged?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"So Richard accused him and fired him."<\/p>\n
"Correct."<\/p>\n
"Where is he now?"<\/p>\n
"We found a possible address."<\/p>\n
"Alive?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Local?"<\/p>\n
"About ninety miles away."<\/p>\n
"What did he do for Richard?"<\/p>\n
"Electrical work."<\/p>\n
The significance landed immediately.<\/p>\n
"The fire was ruled electrical."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Did Thomas inspect the house?"<\/p>\n
"We're trying to determine that."<\/p>\n
"Rebecca wrote his name on a photograph."<\/p>\n
"Apparently."<\/p>\n
"Then she trusted him."<\/p>\n
"Possibly."<\/p>\n
I looked at the surviving corner of the image.<\/p>\n
The fourth person had been deliberately burned away.<\/p>\n
"Is that Thomas?"<\/p>\n
"We don't know."<\/p>\n
"Who burned the picture?"<\/p>\n
"Also unknown."<\/p>\n
"Daniel?"<\/p>\n
"Could have."<\/p>\n
"Richard?"<\/p>\n
"Could have."<\/p>\n
I was beginning to hate possibilities.<\/p>\n
Ruiz sent two investigators to find Thomas Avery.<\/p>\n
They located him that afternoon at a small appliance repair shop.<\/p>\n
When police mentioned Rebecca Mercer, he reportedly stopped working and asked one question.<\/p>\n
"Is Richard dead?"<\/p>\n
Ruiz told me this herself.<\/p>\n
"What did they say?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"And Thomas?"<\/p>\n
"He said he would talk."<\/p>\n
"Here?"<\/p>\n
"He's coming in."<\/p>\n
I waited in a separate room.<\/p>\n
I had no right to participate in his interview.<\/p>\n
I understood that.<\/p>\n
Still, knowing the man Rebecca had apparently trusted was thirty feet away made sitting still almost impossible.<\/p>\n
Nearly two hours passed.<\/p>\n
Then Ruiz entered.<\/p>\n
She closed the door behind her.<\/p>\n
"Thomas knew Rebecca."<\/p>\n
"How well?"<\/p>\n
"Well enough that she confided in him."<\/p>\n
"About Daniel?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What did she say?"<\/p>\n
Ruiz sat.<\/p>\n
"Rebecca was planning to leave Daniel."<\/p>\n
The pattern tightened around me.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Financial deception. Daniel had accumulated debt. Richard was pressuring him regarding money connected to family property."<\/p>\n
"Noah didn't exist then."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"So what money?"<\/p>\n
"Rebecca inherited property from her mother."<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
"Daniel's wives keep becoming financially useful."<\/p>\n
Ruiz did not react.<\/p>\n
"What happened to Rebecca's property?"<\/p>\n
"After her death, proceeds eventually benefited Daniel."<\/p>\n
"And Richard."<\/p>\n
"Indirectly, yes."<\/p>\n
I rubbed my palms together.<\/p>\n
"What did Thomas know about the fire?"<\/p>\n
"He had been at House 14 two days earlier."<\/p>\n
"For electrical work?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Was there a problem?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
"No?"<\/p>\n
"Thomas says the electrical system had issues in the past, but the specific circuit later blamed for the fire had recently been repaired and tested."<\/p>\n
"So the official cause was wrong."<\/p>\n
"Not necessarily. Electrical failures can occur after repair."<\/p>\n
"But Thomas didn't believe it."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did he tell investigators?"<\/p>\n
"He says Richard pressured him not to involve himself."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"Threatened to blame him for faulty work."<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The theft accusation days later.<\/p>\n
Richard had removed him.<\/p>\n
"Did Rebecca think Daniel would hurt her?"<\/p>\n
"Thomas says she was afraid."<\/p>\n
"Of Daniel?"<\/p>\n
"Mostly Richard."<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
"Why Richard?"<\/p>\n
"She believed Richard had discovered she was collecting financial records."<\/p>\n
"What records?"<\/p>\n
"Evidence that Daniel and Richard had used her identity in loan applications."<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
Forgery again.<\/p>\n
Documents again.<\/p>\n
A wife becoming paperwork.<\/p>\n
"Did Rebecca go to police?"<\/p>\n
"She planned to."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"The week she died."<\/p>\n
I stood and walked toward the wall.<\/p>\n
"What did Thomas do?"<\/p>\n
"Rebecca gave him copies of several documents."<\/p>\n
"Does he still have them?"<\/p>\n
Ruiz's expression changed.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
After twelve years.<\/p>\n
A man fired and threatened had kept a box.<\/p>\n
Inside were loan documents, photocopied checks, correspondence, and a handwritten note from Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Ruiz would not show me the entire note yet.<\/p>\n
She read one section.<\/p>\n
Daniel says his father can fix anything. I think that means Richard has been fixing Daniel's mistakes his whole life.<\/p>\n
I thought of the current case.<\/p>\n
Daniel gambled.<\/p>\n
Richard covered losses.<\/p>\n
Daniel needed money.<\/p>\n
Richard offered a plan.<\/p>\n
Daniel's affair became useful.<\/p>\n
Marissa became a source for medication.<\/p>\n
I became an obstacle.<\/p>\n
Noah became access to money.<\/p>\n
Richard fixed Daniel's mistakes by creating larger ones.<\/p>\n
"What happened the night Rebecca died?"<\/p>\n
"Thomas was not there."<\/p>\n
"Then why did she write his name?"<\/p>\n
"She may have wanted someone to find the documents."<\/p>\n
"Where were they?"<\/p>\n
"Thomas had them already."<\/p>\n
"Did Daniel know?"<\/p>\n
"Thomas doesn't think so."<\/p>\n
"Richard?"<\/p>\n
"He suspected."<\/p>\n
I sat again.<\/p>\n
"Is that why Richard fired him?"<\/p>\n
"Likely."<\/p>\n
"Did Thomas ever tell anyone?"<\/p>\n
"He spoke with an investigator after the fire but withheld the financial documents."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Fear."<\/p>\n
I laughed without humor.<\/p>\n
"Everyone was afraid of Richard."<\/p>\n
"Apparently."<\/p>\n
"Except Daniel."<\/p>\n
Ruiz looked at me.<\/p>\n
"I'm not sure Daniel wasn't."<\/p>\n
That stayed with me.<\/p>\n
Daniel and Richard were together now, but alliance did not mean equality.<\/p>\n
Maybe Daniel had spent his entire adult life believing Richard could rescue him from consequences.<\/p>\n
Maybe that dependence had become a prison.<\/p>\n
It did not excuse anything.<\/p>\n
But it explained the strange mixture of obedience and fear in the messages.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
Ruiz saw it.<\/p>\n
"Speaker."<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
"Claire."<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
His voice sounded exhausted.<\/p>\n
"Where are you?"<\/p>\n
"Doesn't matter."<\/p>\n
"Police are listening."<\/p>\n
"I assumed."<\/p>\n
Ruiz motioned for me to continue.<\/p>\n
"Why are you calling?"<\/p>\n
"Because Richard lied."<\/p>\n
I looked at Ruiz.<\/p>\n
"About what?"<\/p>\n
"Everything."<\/p>\n
"That's rich coming from you."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"No, I don't think you do."<\/p>\n
"Claire, listen."<\/p>\n
"Did you drug Noah?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
"You already admitted it."<\/p>\n
"I didn't know the dose would hit him that hard."<\/p>\n
"You put it in his food."<\/p>\n
"I needed him asleep."<\/p>\n
"To take him to Richard."<\/p>\n
"At first."<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
"What changed?"<\/p>\n
"Richard changed the deal."<\/p>\n
Ruiz began writing.<\/p>\n
"What deal?"<\/p>\n
"Money."<\/p>\n
"The trust."<\/p>\n
Daniel breathed out.<\/p>\n
"So you know."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What did Richard promise you?"<\/p>\n
"Enough to clear my debts."<\/p>\n
"In exchange for control of Noah's money."<\/p>\n
"I wasn't going to steal from him."<\/p>\n
"Then what do you call it?"<\/p>\n
"Borrowing."<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
"You drugged your son so you could borrow his inheritance."<\/p>\n
"It wasn't supposed to become this."<\/p>\n
"Then what was supposed to happen to me?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
"C medical."<\/p>\n
Daniel said nothing.<\/p>\n
"Answer me."<\/p>\n
"I was going to make it look like you took too much medication."<\/p>\n
My hand trembled.<\/p>\n
"Would I wake up?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"How do you know?"<\/p>\n
"I calculated it."<\/p>\n
The casual horror of the sentence emptied the room.<\/p>\n
"You calculated it."<\/p>\n
"I wasn't trying to kill you."<\/p>\n
"You left me on the floor."<\/p>\n
"I was coming back."<\/p>\n
"You came back for my plate."<\/p>\n
"Because I panicked."<\/p>\n
"You checked my pulse."<\/p>\n
"Because I wanted to make sure you were okay."<\/p>\n
"Then why didn't you call an ambulance?"<\/p>\n
Daniel's voice cracked.<\/p>\n
"Because if I called, everything was over."<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
His plan mattered more than my safety.<\/p>\n
"Why Noah?"<\/p>\n
"I needed him asleep when I moved him."<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"To the motel."<\/p>\n
"And then Richard."<\/p>\n
"Eventually."<\/p>\n
"What did Richard want?"<\/p>\n
"Temporary control. Documents. Access to trust distributions."<\/p>\n
"Why abandon Noah's birth certificate?"<\/p>\n
Daniel became silent.<\/p>\n
"Daniel?"<\/p>\n
"Because I decided I wasn't bringing him."<\/p>\n
Ruiz looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"After the hospital."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Richard told me what he really wanted."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"He didn't want temporary control."<\/p>\n
I gripped the phone.<\/p>\n
"He wanted permanent custody arrangements."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"Claire…"<\/p>\n
"Say it."<\/p>\n
"By making sure neither of us could challenge him."<\/p>\n
The meaning came slowly.<\/p>\n
Neither.<\/p>\n
Me.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
Richard did not simply intend to use Daniel to gain control.<\/p>\n
Daniel himself was disposable.<\/p>\n
"That's why you ran from Richard."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"But traffic cameras showed you together."<\/p>\n
"He found me."<\/p>\n
"At the river?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What happened in the truck?"<\/p>\n
"We fought."<\/p>\n
"The blood?"<\/p>\n
"Mine."<\/p>\n
"Where is Richard now?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
Ruiz wrote quickly.<\/p>\n
"Where are you?"<\/p>\n
Daniel ignored the question.<\/p>\n
"Claire, Richard knows about Thomas."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"I told him years ago."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"I was scared after Rebecca died."<\/p>\n
"You knew Thomas had evidence."<\/p>\n
"I knew Rebecca trusted him."<\/p>\n
"Did you kill Rebecca?"<\/p>\n
The line went silent.<\/p>\n
Ruiz stopped writing.<\/p>\n
"Daniel."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did Richard?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"That's not good enough."<\/p>\n
"I wasn't there when the fire started."<\/p>\n
"Richard gave you your alibi."<\/p>\n
"Because I was with him earlier."<\/p>\n
"Earlier?"<\/p>\n
Ruiz's eyes sharpened.<\/p>\n
The old record said Daniel had been at the yard during the relevant period.<\/p>\n
"What time did you leave?"<\/p>\n
Daniel breathed heavily.<\/p>\n
"Before Richard said I did."<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
"Where did you go?"<\/p>\n
"Home."<\/p>\n
"To Rebecca?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What happened?"<\/p>\n
"We argued."<\/p>\n
"About the documents?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"And then?"<\/p>\n
"I left."<\/p>\n
"Was she alive?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Was she conscious?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
"Daniel."<\/p>\n
"She'd taken something."<\/p>\n
"On her own?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Did you give it to her?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did Richard?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"You keep saying that."<\/p>\n
"Because I don't know what happened after I left."<\/p>\n
"Where did you go?"<\/p>\n
"Back toward the yard."<\/p>\n
"And Richard?"<\/p>\n
"He said he'd handle Rebecca."<\/p>\n
The room went completely still.<\/p>\n
"What does that mean?"<\/p>\n
"I thought he meant he'd talk to her."<\/p>\n
"Then the house burned."<\/p>\n
Daniel began crying.<\/p>\n
Not loudly.<\/p>\n
I had heard him cry only twice in twelve years.<\/p>\n
"I should have told them."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"I was twenty-eight."<\/p>\n
"You were an adult."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"Did Richard start the fire?"<\/p>\n
"I never asked."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because I knew what the answer might be."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Cowardice had become complicity.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not murder.<\/p>\n
But silence.<\/p>\n
Insurance money.<\/p>\n
A new life.<\/p>\n
Me.<\/p>\n
"Why marry me without telling me about Rebecca?"<\/p>\n
"I wanted that life gone."<\/p>\n
"You didn't make it gone. You buried it."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
Ruiz pointed to the phone and mouthed: location.<\/p>\n
"Daniel, where are you?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Richard is looking for you."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"Police can protect you."<\/p>\n
He laughed weakly.<\/p>\n
"You don't know my father."<\/p>\n
"Then help them stop him."<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
"Where is he going?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Does he know where Thomas lives?"<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
Ruiz immediately stood and left the room while signaling another officer.<\/p>\n
"Daniel, listen to me. If Richard thinks Thomas has evidence\u2014"<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"Then tell police everything."<\/p>\n
"I can't."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because there's something else."<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
Always something else.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Rebecca wasn't the first person Richard helped me with."<\/p>\n
I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
"What does that mean?"<\/p>\n
Daniel continued before I could ask.<\/p>\n
"Look at Mercer Construction payroll from the year before Rebecca died. Find a man named Owen Price."<\/p>\n
"Who is he?"<\/p>\n
"My old business partner."<\/p>\n
"What happened to him?"<\/p>\n
The line crackled.<\/p>\n
Then Daniel whispered:<\/p>\n
"He disappeared."<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Ruiz returned moments later.<\/p>\n
Officers were already being sent to Thomas Avery.<\/p>\n
But the name Daniel had given me opened another door.<\/p>\n
Owen Price.<\/p>\n
A former business partner who vanished thirteen years ago.<\/p>\n
Police records showed his vehicle had been found abandoned near a quarry owned at the time by Mercer Construction.<\/p>\n
His body had never been recovered.<\/p>\n
And Richard Mercer had been the last confirmed person known to have seen him alive.<\/p>\n
Thomas was not a surname. That was the first problem. Rebecca's old records contained three men named Thomas. A cousin. A former coworker. And Thomas Avery, who had worked for … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1774,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions\/1774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}