Chapter 14 - DR. MERCER’S LAST LIE
Dr. Leonard Mercer denied sending the messages.
He denied taking the photograph.
Then forensic technicians showed him the reflection.
His face collapsed.
“I can explain.”
Detective Quinn almost smiled.
“That phrase is becoming expensive.”
Mercer admitted he had followed Aaron.
Once.
At Reena’s request.
“She said Aaron was meeting someone to buy illegal medication.”
“You believed that?”
“I was concerned.”
“You were his cardiologist.”
“Yes.”
“So instead of asking your patient, you followed him.”
Mercer looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“What did you see?”
“Aaron arguing with Peter.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“Why photograph it?”
“Reena asked for proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Aaron was unstable.”
Quinn stared.
“You were helping her build a story.”
“I didn’t see it that way.”
“That does not mean you weren’t.”
Mercer still denied sending the recent anonymous messages.
Investigators checked his devices.
Nothing.
Phone location placed him at home when one message was sent.
Unless somebody else used a burner, Mercer was telling the truth about that.
But why did somebody have an old photograph Mercer took?
He gave the answer reluctantly.
“I sent it to Reena.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
“Did she store it somewhere?”
“I don’t know.”
Police searched Reena’s digital archives.
The photograph existed in a hidden cloud folder.
Someone had accessed that folder after Reena’s arrest.
From an IP address associated with Victor Shaw’s law firm.
Peter stared at Rachel.
“Her lawyer?”
“Defense teams are allowed access to evidence their client provides.”
“They’re sending threatening messages?”
“We cannot assume that.”
Investigators obtained a warrant based on the threats.
The specific access came from a paralegal account.
The paralegal was twenty-seven-year-old Colin Marsh.
When police arrived, Colin surrendered his phone.
He looked terrified.
“I didn’t threaten anyone.”
“Your account accessed the photograph.”
“Reena asked me to.”
“How?”
“I help organize defense files.”
“She gave me login credentials.”
“And then?”
“She told me there were documents proving Peter was dangerous.”
“Did she ask you to contact him?”
“No.”
Phone records showed Colin had not sent the messages.
But he had downloaded dozens of photographs.
He placed them in a shared defense folder.
Someone else gained access.
That someone used credentials belonging to Victor Shaw.
Shaw denied involvement.
His office discovered the credentials had been stolen through a phishing email.
Digital investigators traced the intrusion.
The trail led to a public library.
Security footage showed a woman at a computer.
Dana Price.
Peter stared in disbelief.
“Dana?”
Quinn nodded.
“She lied again.”
“Why would she threaten me?”
“We arrested her.”
Dana broke almost immediately.
She had sent the messages.
But she claimed she was not threatening Peter.
She was trying to stop Drew from testifying.
“Why?”
“Because Reena told me what would happen.”
Quinn leaned forward.
“Reena is in jail.”
“She sent a message through another inmate.”
“What did it say?”
“If Drew testifies, she tells the truth about Dana.”
“What truth?”
Dana cried.
“About Aaron.”
Peter felt cold.
There was still more.
Dana admitted that on the morning Aaron died, she did not merely alter records afterward.
She had been at the hospital earlier than she claimed.
Reena called her before the ambulance arrived.
Reena told Dana Aaron was sick and might accuse her.
She asked Dana to “make sure doctors understood his mental state.”
Dana went to the hospital.
When Aaron briefly regained consciousness, Dana entered the room.
He recognized her.
He whispered something.
“What?”
Quinn asked.
Dana covered her face.
“He said, ‘You helped her.’”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then why did he say it?”
“Because I had done something weeks earlier.”
“What?”
Dana’s voice shook.
“I changed one of his prescription records.”
Peter gripped the table when Quinn later told him.
Reena had asked Dana to edit Aaron’s electronic medication list.
The change made it appear Aaron had once been prescribed the cardiac-active medication later found in his system.
That way, if toxicology detected it, investigators might assume he accidentally took an old prescription.
Dana claimed she believed Reena wanted the correction for insurance purposes.
Nobody believed she was that naive.
But the alteration proved planning.
It also explained why Aaron told her she had helped.
Dana panicked after he spoke.
She left the room.
Later Reena ordered her to delete the nurse’s note.
Dana obeyed.
“Why is she afraid of Drew testifying?” Peter asked.
Quinn answered.
“Because Dana was at Reena’s house when Drew was locked in the basement once.”
Peter stood.
“What?”
“Drew may remember.”
“Did she let him out?”
“No.”
Peter closed his eyes.
Another adult.
Another door left closed.
Dana admitted hearing Drew crying.
Reena told her he was having a tantrum.
Dana did nothing.
The prosecution no longer needed Dana as a sympathetic witness.
Rachel would present her as compromised.
A person who repeatedly chose self-protection.
That made the case messier.
But truth was messy.
The following trial week focused on Aaron.
His videos.
His journal.
Medical records.
Financial documents.
The jury heard his voice.
Peter watched Reena during the recording where Aaron said he feared she would make his death look natural.
She did not look at the screen.
She looked at the jurors.
Measuring them.
Victor Shaw attacked authentication.
Experts held firm.
Then Mark Hensley took the stand.
The courtroom changed.
Mark admitted fraud.
Celia.
The medication.
The forged texts.
The morning Aaron died.
Victor Shaw destroyed him on cross-examination.
“You are a liar.”
“Yes.”
“A thief.”
“Yes.”
“You helped conceal a death.”
“Yes.”
“You broke a child’s leg.”
Mark closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And now you expect this jury to believe you discovered honesty at the exact moment prosecutors offered you a reduced sentence.”
Mark looked toward Reena.
“No.”
“Then why should they believe you?”
“Because Reena will do to everyone what she did to Aaron if people keep being afraid of her.”
Shaw smiled.
“Dramatic.”
Mark’s voice steadied.
“True.”
The strongest moment came when Rachel showed Mark the photograph left in his hand at the rest area.
“You should have finished what you started.”
“Who wrote it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who attacked you?”
Mark looked toward Reena.
“She arranged it.”
Shaw objected.
Sustained.
Mark could not prove it.
Still, the jury saw his fear.
After testimony, Peter returned home exhausted.
Drew waited in the kitchen.
“I have to talk in court?”
Peter sat.
“Maybe.”
Dr. Hayes and prosecutors had arranged possible testimony by closed-circuit video to minimize stress.
Drew stared at his hands.
“I don’t want Reena to see me.”
“She won’t be in the same room.”
“Can she hear me?”
“Yes.”
Drew thought.
“Can I hear her?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“What if I cry?”
Peter’s throat tightened.
“Then you cry.”
“What if I forget?”
“Then you say you don’t remember.”
“What if I say something wrong?”
“Tell only what you know.”
Drew nodded slowly.
Then he looked up.
“Daddy didn’t get to tell.”
Peter understood.
“No.”
“So I should.”
Peter wanted to say no.
He wanted to keep the boy far away from every courtroom.
But that decision belonged to the legal team, therapist, judge, and ultimately Drew’s welfare.
Peter took his hand.
“You never have to save anybody.”
“That’s the grown-ups’ job.”
Drew considered.
“But I can tell truth.”
“Yes.”
“You can tell the truth.”
That night Peter received another anonymous message.
Not from Dana.
Her devices were seized.
This message contained an audio file.
Aaron’s voice.
“You know what you did, Pete.”
Peter froze.
He played it again.
Aaron sounded furious.
“You know what you did, Pete.”
Peter had never heard the recording before.
A second file arrived.
Aaron again.
“If anything happens to me, this is on you.”
Peter’s skin went cold.
Quinn arrived within thirty minutes.
Digital experts examined the files.
The audio was real.
Not artificial.
Not edited in an obvious way.
Peter stared at Quinn.
“When did he say that?”
“We need context.”
“I never heard him say it.”
“The recording could have been made when you weren’t present.”
“Then why is he blaming me?”
The next morning, technicians found the source.
The files came from another recording on Reena’s hidden cloud account.
They restored the full audio.
Aaron was arguing with Mark.
“You know what you did, Pete.”
Peter frowned.
Then context clarified.
Aaron was not saying Pete.
He was saying repeat.
“You know what you did.”
“Repeat the lie all you want.”
The clipped audio had been deliberately manipulated through selective trimming to make it sound like Peter’s name.
The second sentence came from another conversation.
“If anything happens to me, this is on you.”
Aaron had been speaking to Reena.
Someone was still trying to destroy Peter’s confidence.
Quinn traced the new message.
Again public Wi-Fi.
Again security footage.
This time the sender was unmistakable.
Victor Shaw.
Reena’s attorney.
He was arrested for witness intimidation and obstruction.
The trial immediately paused.
A mistrial became possible.
Peter stared at Rachel.
“You’re telling me we might have to start over?”
“Possibly.”
“After all this?”
“The judge has to decide whether Shaw’s misconduct prejudiced the proceeding.”
Peter looked through the courthouse doors.
Reena sat at the defense table with a newly appointed temporary attorney.
And she was smiling.
She had managed to create chaos again.
Then Rachel’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression changed.
“We found something on Shaw’s computer.”
“What?”
“A document Reena wrote before trial.”
Peter waited.
Rachel continued.
“It’s titled ‘If the jury turns against me.’”
Peter felt cold.
“What does it say?”
“It contains instructions.”
“For what?”
Rachel looked toward the courtroom.
May you like
“For someone outside the jail to take Drew and Lily.”
And according to the document, that person had already been watching Peter’s house for weeks.
