Chapter 7 - Adrian's Offer.
Adrian called before Evelyn could answer the message.
His face appeared on the screen from what looked like a private lounge, his tuxedo jacket removed but his bow tie still perfectly straight.
Margaret was not visible behind him.
"You embarrassed me tonight."
Evelyn almost smiled.
"That seems to bother you more than everything else."
"It complicated a delicate evening."
"You grabbed me in front of two hundred people."
"You stole from me."
"Evidence isn't property when it proves a crime."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"You sound like your father."
The words landed exactly where he intended.
Evelyn did not give him the reaction he wanted.
"So you did know."
"From the day I met you."
Nora silently activated a recorder.
Daniel began tracing the call through his laptop.
Adrian leaned toward the camera.
"You were always going to come looking for answers."
"I simply made sure you looked where I could see you."
Evelyn thought of every invitation, every private dinner, every password Adrian had carelessly allowed her to observe.
None of it had been carelessness.
He had built a corridor and waited for her to walk through it.
"Why?"
"Because your father took something that belonged to my family."
"Your father stole public money."
"My father stole from everyone."
Adrian said it without loyalty or shame.
"Including me."
That surprised Evelyn.
Adrian continued.
"The final account contains assets my father concealed before his death."
"You unlock it, I release Margaret, and the old Mercer case disappears permanently."
"You mean you bury it."
"I mean your father's name is cleared publicly."
Evelyn's heartbeat changed.
Adrian saw it.
"There it is."
"The only thing you ever really wanted."
He knew exactly how to make the offer hurt.
For twelve years, Evelyn had imagined one headline replacing all the others.
THOMAS MERCER EXONERATED.
Adrian could probably make it happen.
That was the problem.
Men like Adrian turned justice into a service they could sell back to the people they harmed.
"Where is Margaret?"
"Safe for now."
"Let me speak to her."
Adrian looked off camera.
Margaret was brought into view.
She had no visible injuries, but fear had drained the color from her face.
"Evelyn, don't give him anything."
Adrian muted her microphone.
"Sunrise is in three hours."
Daniel held up three fingers, then pointed to his screen.
He had a location.
Old Vale Arts Center.
The building had been closed for renovation for six months.
Evelyn kept Adrian talking.
"If I agree, I want the original Mercer records."
"Done."
"And Margaret walks out first."
"No."
"Then there is no deal."
Adrian smiled faintly.
"You will come anyway."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Because you are still trying to prove your father was a good man."
His smile disappeared.
"And good people are remarkably easy to control."
The call ended.
Silence filled the old Mercer office.
Nora looked at Evelyn.
"We're not giving him the key."
Evelyn folded her father's letter and placed it inside her jacket.
"No."
Daniel closed his laptop.
"We're also not walking into that building without a plan."
May you like
Evelyn looked at the brass token.
"We already have one."
