## CHAPTER 10 — THE MAN BEHIND THE GLASS
Evan Mercer looked older than he had during the trial.
His expensive suits had been replaced by a gray prison uniform. His face was thinner, and the arrogance that once controlled every room had almost disappeared.
Almost.
He smiled when Harrison sat behind the visitation glass.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
Harrison picked up the phone.
“You knew about the Family Protection Initiative.”
Evan’s smile faded.
“So they finally showed you the old files.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
“I don’t know their names.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew one name. My mother.”
“Judith is serving twenty-seven years because she pushed my pregnant sister down the courthouse stairs.”
“I know.”
“You helped plan it.”
“I helped scare Khloe. I never agreed to kill her.”
Harrison’s grip tightened around the phone.
“You disabled her car two weeks earlier.”
“To frighten her into dropping the divorce petition.”
“You forged medical documents.”
“My mother gave them to me.”
“You tried to have Khloe declared unstable so you could take control of Nora.”
Evan leaned closer to the glass.
“That wasn’t about custody.”
“Then what was it about?”
“Your niece’s inheritance.”
Harrison remembered Mara’s words.
“What inheritance?”
Evan looked toward the guard.
“My grandfather helped create the Family Protection Initiative. For years, the Mercer family received money for managing estates connected to children placed under sealed guardianships.”
“You stole from children.”
“I inherited a structure that already existed.”
“That is how cowards describe crimes committed before they were born.”
Evan ignored the insult.
“One account was never closed. The beneficiary was listed under an identification number instead of a name.”
“Nora’s number?”
“Khloe’s.”
Harrison said nothing.
Evan continued.
“When Khloe became pregnant, the system automatically recognized a living descendant. Someone noticed.”
“Who?”
“A judge contacted my mother. He said if Khloe died before the baby was born, the inheritance would return to the management trust.”
“And after Nora was born?”
“The money became hers.”
“How much?”
Evan’s expression revealed the answer before he spoke.
“Approximately four hundred eighty million dollars.”
Harrison stared through the glass.
“Khloe would know if she inherited nearly half a billion dollars.”
“Not if the trust was hidden behind sealed court orders.”
“Who was the judge?”
“I never met him.”
“Give me the name.”
“My mother called him the Archivist.”
Harrison placed the photograph of the gray-suited man against the glass.
“Is this him?”
Evan studied the image.
“I saw him once.”
“Where?”
“At the courthouse on the day Khloe fell.”
“You testified that you and Judith acted alone.”
“I was told that if I mentioned him, Khloe would not leave the hospital alive.”
Harrison’s voice lowered.
“She almost didn’t.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Evan appeared ashamed.
“Why tell me now?” Harrison asked.
“Because three prisoners tried to kill me last week. One whispered Nora’s name before he attacked.”
The guard announced that visiting time was ending.
Evan pressed his hand against the glass.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“After Khloe fell, I followed the gray-suited man into the courthouse.”
“And?”
“He entered a restricted elevator.”
“Where did it go?”
“Below the evidence basement.”
Harrison had worked in the courthouse for years.
There were no registered floors below the evidence basement.
Evan continued speaking as the guard approached.
“The doors closed before I could follow him. But I saw the name printed on the access panel.”
“What name?”
Evan looked directly at Harrison.
May you like
“Daniel Cole.”
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