Chapter 3 - The Voice Before Midnight.
Evelyn noticed Daniel staring at her hand.
She immediately curled her fingers into her palm.
Officer Cole noticed that too.
"Mrs. Mercer, would you mind showing me your hands?"
Her face hardened.
"For what purpose?"
"To document anything that may be relevant."
"I was cooking in this kitchen."
"Were you?"
The question came from Daniel.
Evelyn turned on him.
"I helped your wife prepare dinner."
Daniel remembered Claire's message from an hour before he came home.
Dinner is almost ready.
Your mother has been in the sitting room criticizing my flowers for forty minutes.
He still had the text.
He opened it.
"Claire said you were in the sitting room."
Evelyn looked away.
"Then I went into the kitchen later."
Officer Cole recorded the inconsistency without comment.
Daniel hated how calmly everyone moved while his mind felt like it was tearing itself apart.
He wanted to be at the hospital.
He also knew that walking away now might allow a crucial detail to disappear with his mother.
Cole seemed to understand.
"Go to your family, Mr. Mercer."
Daniel hesitated.
"What about her?"
"We'll handle the investigation."
The hospital waiting room smelled of coffee and disinfectant.
Daniel sat alone beneath a television he never looked at.
Shortly after midnight, Officer Cole called.
His tone was different.
"We recovered usable audio from the device."
Daniel stood immediately.
"What's on it?"
"Enough that I need you to listen to a short section and identify a voice."
An hour later, Cole met him in a quiet consultation room at the hospital.
He placed a secure tablet on the table.
"This is not the full recording."
"Play it."
Cole pressed a button.
At first Daniel heard only fabric scraping against the teddy bear's microphone.
Then Sophie's voice appeared, distant and cheerful.
"Maple, Daddy's going to be late again."
Daniel closed his eyes.
The next sound was Claire laughing softly.
Then a door opened.
A woman's voice entered the recording.
"We need to settle this tonight."
Daniel's eyes opened.
It was Evelyn.
Claire answered.
"There is nothing to settle."
Evelyn spoke more quietly.
"You don't understand what Daniel is risking."
"His life is not yours to control."
A chair moved.
Then Evelyn said something that made Daniel's skin turn cold.
"If you sign the family trust amendment, all of this can stop."
Claire laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
"You mean the pressure can stop."
"Call it whatever you want."
"I call it intimidation."
Daniel looked at Cole.
"What trust amendment?"
Cole paused the audio.
"Do you know what she's referring to?"
Daniel shook his head.
The Mercer family trust held shares in the company Daniel's father had built.
Daniel had never asked Claire to sign anything involving it.
Cole resumed playback.
Claire's voice was sharper now.
"You forged the first draft."
Daniel leaned forward.
Evelyn replied.
"Watch your language."
"I'm watching everything now."
Then came a sound Daniel did not recognize.
A low male voice, far from the microphone.
"Evelyn, we're out of time."
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the tablet.
"Who was that?"
Cole folded his hands.
"That's what we're trying to determine."
Daniel replayed the voice in his head.
It was muffled.
Still, something about its rhythm felt familiar.
Not a stranger.
Not staff.
Family.
Then he remembered one detail from dinner invitations Claire had shown him that morning.
May you like
Only one other Mercer relative had been expected at the house that evening.
His cousin Grant.
