Chapter 10 - LORRAINE'S SECRET
I laughed when I read the message.
Not because it was funny.
Because the idea was absurd.
Lorraine Mercer?
The woman who had shoved a silver tray into my hands and ordered me to serve thirty men?
The woman who had watched her son hit me twice and then helped launch a smear campaign against my company?
She was supposed to be Owen’s secret source?
“No,” Rebecca said immediately.
“Owen would never trust her.”
“Maybe he did not know who Sparrow was,” Claire said.
Rebecca stopped.
“Did he?” I asked.
She shook her head slowly.
“He said they communicated through an encrypted drop.”
“He never met Sparrow?”
“No.”
That changed the possibility.
A source could be useful without being benevolent.
Lorraine might have leaked information to Owen for reasons that had nothing to do with helping him.
She might have wanted leverage over Daniel.
Or Richard.
Or both.
Maya crossed her arms.
“Why would Lorraine expose her own son?”
I thought about the Mercers.
About image.
Control.
Hierarchy.
Lorraine loved Daniel, but her love had always looked like ownership.
She defended him when defense preserved her authority.
What would she do if his actions threatened her money, status, or family name?
“Because people like Lorraine do not protect people,” I said.
“They protect structures.”
Rebecca stared at me.
“What does that mean?”
“It means if Daniel became dangerous to the Mercer name, she might quietly build insurance.”
Claire nodded.
“Information as insurance.”
Exactly.
The federal agent asked for every anonymous message I had received.
Luis analyzed timing patterns and language.
Some messages seemed to come from Owen.
Others did not.
We had assumed one anonymous sender because the prepaid routing looked similar.
But someone had been imitating the method.
That realization made my stomach turn.
The warning not to trust Richard might have come from Owen.
The instruction about Bellweather might have come from someone else.
The information about Lorraine could be true, false, or bait.
At 3:05 a.m., agents located Victor’s Tahoe abandoned in a hospital parking garage.
No Victor.
No Caleb.
The vehicle had been wiped in obvious places, but a child’s muddy shoe print was visible on the rear floor mat.
Caleb had been there.
Security footage showed Victor entering the garage with Caleb at 2:12 a.m.
Then both disappeared into a stairwell.
A second camera captured Victor leaving alone through a service corridor six minutes later.
Caleb was not with him.
That meant someone else had taken the boy.
Or Caleb was still inside the hospital complex.
Teams began searching.
Rebecca could barely sit still.
I understood.
Every minute stretched.
At 3:41 a.m., an officer found Caleb in an unlocked maintenance room on the basement level.
He was frightened, cold, and exhausted.
But alive.
Rebecca collapsed into Claire’s arms.
I closed my eyes.
Maya started crying openly.
For the first time all night, I let myself breathe.
Caleb told officers Victor had driven him to the cabin, then received a call and became angry.
Victor kept asking someone, “How did they know?”
After that, he drove Caleb back toward the city.
At the hospital, another person met them.
Caleb could not see the person clearly because Victor told him to keep his head down.
But he heard a woman’s voice.
A woman.
She argued with Victor.
Then she told Caleb, “You are going home.”
Victor called her crazy.
She said, “This was never the agreement.”
Then the woman led Caleb into the maintenance room, gave him a bottle of water, and told him police would find him soon.
She took Victor away.
When agents asked Caleb whether he recognized the voice, he said no.
But he remembered one thing.
The woman wore a strong rose perfume.
Maya and I looked at each other.
Lorraine Mercer wore rose perfume every day.
It was so strong that it lingered in rooms after she left.
Rebecca whispered, “No.”
I did not answer.
At 4:10 a.m., Claire received a call from Lorraine.
Of course she did.
Lorraine did not call me.
She called the attorney.
That was its own message.
Claire answered on speaker with agents listening.
“Mrs. Mercer.”
“I want immunity.”
No greeting.
No denial.
Claire’s expression did not change.
“You are calling the wrong person for that.”
“Then connect me to the right one.”
The federal agent signaled for Claire to continue.
“What are you offering?”
Lorraine inhaled slowly.
“Everything.”
I felt something inside me go still.
Claire asked, “Where are you?”
“I am safe.”
“Is Victor Shaw with you?”
A pause.
“No.”
“Were you at the hospital?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Rebecca stood.
“You were with my son?”
Lorraine heard her.
“Rebecca?”
“You touched my child?”
“I got him away from Victor.”
“You helped take him.”
“No.”
Lorraine’s voice sharpened.
“I told Victor to scare Owen into returning the account numbers.”
The room exploded.
Rebecca shouted.
Maya swore.
The agent raised a hand for silence.
Claire remained calm.
“You instructed Victor to take Caleb?”
“No.
I told him to create pressure.”
“What did you think that meant?”
“Not kidnapping a child.”
Lorraine sounded offended by the interpretation.
I wanted to reach through the phone.
Instead, I stayed silent.
Claire asked, “Why?”
“Because Bellweather cannot come out.”
“There it is,” I said.
Lorraine heard me.
“Elena.”
“Hello, Lorraine.”
“This is your fault.”
I almost laughed.
A child had been abducted by a man she hired to create pressure, and somehow she still found a path to me.
“How?”
“You should have given Daniel the drive.”
Rebecca screamed, “My son is twelve!”
Lorraine replied, “And he is safe because I fixed Victor’s mistake.”
That sentence told me everything I needed to know about her.
She did not see Caleb’s abduction as a moral horror.
She saw it as an operational error.
The federal agent wrote something and slid it to Claire.
Ask about Sparrow.
Claire did.
Lorraine went quiet.
Finally she said, “Who told you that name?”
So it was real.
“You are Sparrow?”
Lorraine exhaled.
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked physically ill.
“Why were you feeding information to Owen?”
Lorraine answered with chilling simplicity.
“Because Daniel stopped listening to me.”
No one spoke.
She continued.
“He became reckless.
Richard became weak.
I needed leverage.”
“You used Owen as leverage against your son?” I asked.
“I gave Owen enough information to keep Daniel cautious.”
“Cautious?”
I could barely contain my anger.
“Daniel had Owen beaten.”
“I did not know he would do that.”
“You keep saying that about consequences you helped create.”
Lorraine’s voice turned cold.
“You have no idea what it takes to hold a family together.”
“No.
I know what it looks like when a family should come apart.”
The line went silent.
Then the federal agent took over.
“Mrs. Mercer, this is Special Agent Naomi Brooks.
I need you to tell me where you are.”
Lorraine did not answer immediately.
Then she said, “I will come in if my attorney is present.”
“You can arrange counsel.”
“I also want protection.”
“From whom?”
“Daniel.”
That changed the room again.
“Why?” Agent Brooks asked.
“Because he knows I was Sparrow.”
“How?”
Lorraine’s voice dropped.
“Victor told him.”
“Where is Daniel now?”
“I do not know.”
“Where is Victor?”
“I do not know.”
“What do you know?”
Lorraine paused.
Then she said, “Daniel has a second ledger.”
I stared at the black notebook on Claire’s table.
“A second ledger?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At the Mercer family house.”
“What does it contain?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Inspectors.
Consultants.
County officials.
People who made Bellweather possible.”
Agent Brooks asked, “Where in the house?”
Lorraine whispered, “Behind the wine cellar wall.”
I looked at Claire.
Richard had claimed he only signed what Daniel placed in front of him.
A hidden payment ledger inside the family home suggested the corruption was not merely Daniel’s private project.
Then Lorraine said one final thing.
“And Elena?”
“Yes?”
“Your wedding was never supposed to happen.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you talking about?”
Lorraine’s voice softened.
May you like
“Daniel did not marry you because he loved you.”
“He married you because Bellweather needed your company.”
