Chapter 5 - The Missing Ten Minutes.
Daniel returned home under police supervision just after noon.
The house looked insultingly normal from the street.
A sprinkler clicked across the lawn.
A delivery truck passed without slowing.
Somewhere nearby, a dog barked.
Inside, the dining room remained sealed as part of the investigation.
Daniel was allowed only into his study to collect hospital clothes and Claire's insurance documents.
Officer Cole accompanied him.
Daniel opened the desk drawer where Claire kept household folders.
The insurance file was there.
Beneath it sat a cream envelope he had never seen.
His name was written on the front in Claire's handwriting.
DANIEL - ONLY IF SOMETHING HAPPENS.
His fingers went numb.
Cole saw the envelope.
"Don't open it yet."
Daniel looked at him in disbelief.
"It's addressed to me."
"And it may contain evidence."
Daniel handed it over because he knew Cole was right, and hated him for being right.
The envelope was photographed and opened with gloves.
Inside were copies of trust documents, printed emails, and a handwritten note.
Daniel read the first line aloud.
"Your mother and Grant have been trying to force me to sign a waiver."
He stopped.
His throat closed.
Cole continued silently.
Claire's note explained that the waiver would surrender any future claim Sophie might have to certain Mercer voting shares if Daniel died unexpectedly.
Claire believed the document was deceptive.
She had refused to sign.
Afterward, Evelyn began visiting more often.
Grant began sending messages about "protecting the company."
The pressure increased.
Claire did not tell Daniel because his relationship with his mother was already fragile after his father's death.
That sentence hurt more than anything else on the page.
She had been protecting him while someone had been cornering her.
Daniel looked at Cole.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She tells you here."
Cole pointed farther down the page.
Daniel read.
I was going to tell you after tonight.
I wanted proof first.
Daniel looked toward the hall.
"The recorder."
Cole nodded.
"It may have been Claire's."
That changed everything.
The device might not have been planted to spy on Sophie.
Claire may have hidden it herself because she expected a confrontation.
A technician entered the study with another update.
The missing ten minutes of camera footage had not simply been disabled.
Someone had logged into the home system using Grant's administrator credentials.
Daniel nearly laughed from disbelief.
"Then arrest him."
Cole remained calm.
"Credentials can be stolen."
"His car was here."
"Near here."
"His voice is on the recording."
"Possibly."
Daniel slammed his palm against the desk, then immediately stepped back.
"What else do you need?"
"Enough that the truth holds up when people start lying."
The answer silenced him.
Cole returned to Claire's envelope.
There was one final item inside.
A photograph taken from the kitchen security application three nights earlier.
It showed Evelyn standing at the pantry door.
She was handing something to a man whose face was outside the frame.
Only his hand and wrist were visible.
On the wrist was a silver watch with a cracked black dial.
Daniel recognized it instantly.
He had given that watch to Grant for his thirtieth birthday.
His phone rang.
It was the hospital.
Daniel answered, expecting an update about Claire.
Instead, the nurse asked a question that made him grip the desk.
"Mr. Mercer, do you know a man named Grant Mercer?"
Daniel stared at Cole.
"Yes."
May you like
The nurse lowered her voice.
"He just tried to enter your wife's room."
