Chapter 8 - THE WRONG UNCLE
"Malcolm."
Caitlyn said the name first.
Vincent did not agree.
"Maybe."
She turned on him.
"Noah said uncle."
"Noah was eighteen when the crash happened."
Vincent remained calm.
"He could mean your uncle."
"I don't have one."
"A family friend."
"He means Malcolm."
Damian replayed the video.
Noah's face filled the tablet screen.
His eyes moved slightly before he said the word.
Not toward the man asking questions.
Toward someone standing on his left.
Damian paused the frame.
"There."
Caitlyn leaned closer.
A reflection appeared in the stainless-steel cabinet beside the bed.
Distorted.
Barely visible.
But enough to show a tall man in a dark suit.
Vincent enlarged it.
Silver hair.
Caitlyn's pulse accelerated.
"Malcolm."
Damian stared at the reflection.
"Maybe."
Caitlyn slammed her palm against the island.
"Stop saying maybe."
Damian's eyes lifted.
"No."
"No?"
"You want certainty because certainty gives you somewhere to put your anger."
His voice was steady.
"I want certainty because if we move on the wrong person, Noah pays for it."
Caitlyn looked away.
She hated that he was right.
Again.
Vincent's phone rang.
He answered.
"Russo."
His face changed.
"Where?"
A pause.
"Alive?"
Caitlyn's stomach dropped.
Vincent ended the call.
"They found Graham Bell."
Damian stepped forward.
"Where?"
"Maintenance room under Penn Station."
"Condition?"
"Alive, barely."
"Can he talk?"
"Paramedics say maybe."
Damian grabbed his coat.
Caitlyn stood.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"We already did this."
"And last time you stole a car."
"Then don't leave your keys near me."
Vincent looked down to hide a smile.
Damian did not.
"You stay here."
"Graham saw me this morning."
Caitlyn stepped closer.
"He reacted when he saw me."
Damian paused.
"How?"
She told him.
The surprise.
The rumor that she was being questioned.
The refusal to say who told him.
Vincent nodded.
"She may get something from him we don't."
Damian looked at him.
"You are becoming irritatingly supportive of her bad ideas."
"I like variety."
Damian turned back to Caitlyn.
"You stay between us the entire time."
"Agreed."
"You follow instructions."
"Depending on the instruction."
"Caitlyn."
"Fine."
They left through the garage.
The trip to the hospital took eleven minutes.
Graham had been transported under police guard.
Hamilton security arrived first anyway.
Caitlyn stopped outside the emergency department.
"Police are here."
Vincent glanced at her.
"They tend to gather near people found bleeding in train stations."
"I mean, how are you going to question him?"
Damian looked toward the entrance.
"Politely."
Vincent coughed.
Caitlyn looked between them.
"Why does that sound illegal?"
"Because you have become cynical."
"I work for you."
"Suspended."
"Temporarily."
Damian's eyes flicked toward her.
"We'll discuss that later."
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and coffee.
Caitlyn immediately thought of Noah.
She pushed the thought away.
Graham Bell occupied a private room on the sixth floor.
A detective stood outside.
He recognized Damian.
That created its own silence.
"Mr. Hamilton."
"Detective."
"Mr. Bell is not ready for visitors."
Damian glanced through the glass.
"Is he conscious?"
"Intermittently."
"Did he identify his attacker?"
The detective's expression hardened.
"You know I can't discuss that."
Vincent handed him a business card.
"Then discuss it with our counsel."
The detective looked at Caitlyn.
Recognition appeared.
"You're the assistant from the news."
Caitlyn's stomach tightened.
"Apparently."
"They say you sold company passwords."
Damian turned his head slowly.
The detective noticed.
"I said they say."
"They are wrong," Damian replied.
Caitlyn looked at him.
The answer came too quickly for performance.
The detective raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting."
A nurse opened the room door.
"He's asking for someone named Caitlyn."
Everyone froze.
Caitlyn stepped forward.
"I'm Caitlyn."
The detective blocked her.
"I'll be inside."
Damian's voice became quiet.
"So will I."
"No."
The detective met his eyes.
"You will wait here."
The hallway chilled.
Caitlyn touched Damian's sleeve.
It was the first time she had deliberately touched him since the plane.
His attention shifted to her hand.
"I can do this."
He looked at her.
"Five minutes."
"You don't control the hospital."
"Four minutes."
Caitlyn almost smiled.
She entered the room with the detective.
Graham looked twenty years older than he had that morning.
Bandages covered his head.
Bruises darkened his face.
One eye was swollen shut.
He saw Caitlyn and began shaking.
"I'm sorry."
She moved closer.
"For what?"
"I didn't know about your brother."
The detective straightened.
Caitlyn's heart began pounding.
"What did you do?"
Graham closed his eyes.
"They had pictures of my daughter."
His voice was weak.
"School, dance class, our house."
Caitlyn's anger faltered.
"Who?"
"Mercer."
The detective leaned closer.
"Elias Mercer?"
Graham nodded.
"He made me open Hamilton's office."
"How?" Caitlyn asked.
"Emergency override."
"Why my file?"
Graham's face twisted.
"They told me what to download."
"They?"
"Mercer and someone else."
"Who?"
Graham looked toward the glass wall.
Damian stood on the other side.
Graham visibly recoiled.
"He'll kill me."
Caitlyn glanced toward Damian.
"Damian?"
Graham shook his head too quickly.
"No."
He swallowed painfully.
"The other one."
"Malcolm?"
Graham's good eye filled with panic.
He did not answer.
That was an answer.
The detective wrote something down.
Caitlyn leaned closer.
"Where is Noah?"
"I don't know."
"Graham."
"I swear."
"You downloaded his information."
"I sent it to Mercer."
"Where does Mercer work?"
"Different places."
"Give me one."
Graham squeezed his eyes shut.
"Old courthouse annex in Queens."
The detective looked up.
"Address?"
Graham whispered it.
Caitlyn memorized it.
"What was on my father's accident report that mattered?"
Graham's breathing changed.
"The passenger list."
Caitlyn frowned.
"My parents and Noah."
"No."
Graham looked terrified.
"There were four people in the car."
Caitlyn went still.
"No."
"The original report had four."
"There were three."
Her parents.
Noah.
Caitlyn had not been in the car.
She had been working in Boston.
"Who was the fourth?"
Graham began trembling harder.
"I don't know."
"You just said—"
"The name was removed."
The detective stepped closer.
"By whom?"
Graham looked toward the door again.
"Robert Hamilton."
Caitlyn's stomach dropped.
"Damian's father?"
Graham nodded.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
His monitor began beeping faster.
The nurse entered.
"That's enough."
Caitlyn remained frozen.
A fourth person.
Someone had been in the family car before the crash.
Someone whose name Robert Hamilton removed from the official copy.
The nurse pushed her toward the door.
Graham grabbed Caitlyn's wrist.
His fingers were weak but desperate.
"Wait."
She leaned down.
"What?"
His voice became a whisper.
"Your brother didn't say uncle."
Caitlyn stared.
"What?"
"The video."
"How do you know about the video?"
"Mercer showed me before they left me."
Graham's breathing rattled.
"Noah said one word before uncle."
"What word?"
Graham's eye widened.
"Not."
Caitlyn stopped breathing.
Not uncle.
The video had been edited.
Someone wanted them to believe Malcolm was responsible.
The nurse pulled Graham's hand away.
Caitlyn walked into the hallway in a daze.
Damian stepped toward her.
"What did he say?"
She looked at him.
"The video was edited."
Vincent's face changed.
"What?"
"Noah didn't say uncle."
Caitlyn swallowed.
"He said not uncle."
Damian went very still.
"Then someone is framing Malcolm."
"Maybe."
The word came from Caitlyn this time.
Damian's eyes narrowed slightly.
She almost laughed.
"I learned from you."
Caitlyn did not leave the hospital immediately.
She stood outside Graham's room while two detectives moved in and out with notebooks.
Damian spoke quietly with the attending physician.
Vincent remained near the elevators, watching everyone who entered the floor.
For the first time since the flight, Caitlyn had nothing useful to do for almost five full minutes.
She hated it.
Her mind returned to the edited video.
Not uncle.
Two words had changed the direction of their suspicion.
That frightened her almost as much as the kidnapping itself.
If Mercer could remove one word and make them believe Noah accused Malcolm, what else had he altered?
The bank transfer.
The contract.
The news story.
Every piece of evidence seemed real until someone looked from the correct angle.
Damian joined her.
"You are thinking too loudly."
Caitlyn looked at him.
"That is not a real thing."
"With you, it is."
She folded her arms.
"How many people in your life have been framed?"
Damian considered the question.
"Enough that I assume evidence has a purpose before I assume it has a meaning."
Caitlyn frowned.
"Explain."
"A photograph tells me what someone wanted recorded."
"A payment tells me money moved, not why."
"A witness tells me what they remember, what they were told, or what they need me to believe."
His gaze moved toward Graham's room.
"The question is always who benefits from the conclusion."
Caitlyn looked at him.
"That sounds exhausting."
"It is."
"You said that before."
"It remains true."
A detective passed them carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside was Graham's damaged phone.
A photograph on the lock screen showed a teenage girl in a blue dance costume.
Caitlyn remembered Graham saying Mercer had pictures of his daughter.
Her anger shifted.
"He used everyone's family."
Damian's expression hardened.
"Yes."
"Graham's daughter."
"Rowan, maybe."
"Noah."
She looked toward him.
"Who would he use against you?"
Damian did not answer.
The silence lasted just long enough.
Caitlyn's pulse changed.
"Who?"
"No one."
"That was a lie."
"It was an incomplete answer."
"Those are related."
Damian looked at her.
"My cousin has a family."
"Vincent has people he cares about."
"Malcolm has people he pretends not to care about."
Caitlyn waited.
He finally said it.
"And now Mercer knows you matter to me."
The hallway seemed to lose sound.
Caitlyn stared at him.
Damian did not look away.
"That makes you a target whether I like it or not."
Her heartbeat became unhelpfully loud.
"Because I'm your employee?"
"No."
The answer came too fast.
Neither of them spoke after that.
Vincent approached from the elevators and saved them from having to.
"We have another problem."
Vincent's phone rang.
He listened.
Then his expression emptied.
"Boss."
"What?"
"Malcolm's car exploded twelve minutes ago outside his townhouse."
Caitlyn's blood turned cold.
"Was he inside?"
Vincent looked at Damian.
"They found a body."
Damian's face became stone.
"Identification?"
"Not yet."
The hallway suddenly seemed too bright.
Caitlyn thought of the signet ring in the photograph.
The forged authorization.
The edited video.
Someone had spent the entire night making Malcolm Hamilton look guilty.
And now someone had apparently killed him before he could defend himself.
Damian looked through the hospital window at Graham.
"Mercer is cleaning the board."
Vincent nodded.
Caitlyn felt dread settle into her stomach.
"Then Malcolm wasn't the target."
Damian looked at her.
"No."
"He was a distraction."
"Yes."
"From what?"
Damian's phone buzzed.
A message arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a live photograph of Noah.
This time, a clock was visible behind him.
And beside the bed stood a man whose face was finally clear.
Elias Mercer smiled at the camera.
Beneath the image were five words.
May you like
BRING ME ROBERT HAMILTON'S SON.
