Chapter 14 - THE WOMAN EVERYONE WAS HUNTING
Evelyn Ross called Flora at 2:17 that afternoon.
The number was blocked.
Flora almost ignored it.
Something made her answer.
"Hello?"
For two seconds, there was only breathing.
Then Evelyn spoke.
"Do not say my name."
Flora stood from the table.
Alonzo saw her expression immediately.
"Where are you?"
Evelyn exhaled shakily.
"Somewhere Portia cannot reach me for another hour if I am lucky."
Flora motioned to Ramirez.
The detective moved closer and started tracing the call.
"Did you take Cedric?"
"No."
"Did you help him disappear?"
"Yes."
Alonzo leaned toward the phone.
"Where is my father?"
Evelyn heard him.
"Alonzo, I am sorry."
His face hardened.
"Where is he?"
"I do not know now."
"That is not good enough."
"I know."
Evelyn's voice cracked.
"I got him to the storage unit."
"We saw the video."
"Then you saw the boxes."
"Yes."
"The red ledger was in one of them."
Flora looked at Ramirez.
"What happened after you left?"
Evelyn was silent too long.
"Gideon happened."
Alonzo's jaw tightened.
"Explain."
"Portia sent me to watch your father this morning."
"Why?"
"She knew the hearing might fail if Cedric produced the original records."
"How did she know about Briar Storage?"
Evelyn gave a humorless laugh.
"She has known about it for years."
Flora remembered Portia's accidental comment about Claire's storage company.
"Then why didn't she empty it years ago?"
"Because she did not have the key."
"She forged my signature two months ago and took the china crate."
Evelyn's silence answered before her words did.
"Yes."
Flora closed her eyes.
"You did it."
"Yes."
Alonzo stepped closer to the phone.
"You impersonated Flora."
"I wore a wig."
"You opened the bank account."
"Yes."
"You met Evan Pike."
"No."
Flora opened her eyes.
"Who did?"
"Portia hired someone else for that."
"Who?"
"I never knew her real name."
Ramirez wrote quickly.
"Did you file the marriage certificate?"
Evelyn's breathing changed.
"Gideon handled that."
Alonzo looked at Ramirez.
That was the first direct accusation tying Gideon to the forged record.
"Why Daniel Mercer?" Flora asked.
Evelyn lowered her voice.
"Because if Daniel ever came back, Portia needed him connected to you."
"Why me?"
"Because Lenora connected you first."
"I was a child."
"Exactly."
Flora's stomach tightened.
"That does not explain anything."
"Claire was the only person Lenora trusted outside the family after Daniel disappeared."
"My mother was not outside the family."
"To Lenora, she was safer because she was."
Evelyn continued quickly.
"Claire held records."
"She held the three million in a preservation account."
"That money was not for you."
"I know."
"It was bait."
Flora went still.
"What?"
"Lenora moved three million into Claire's control because she wanted to see who tried to move it next."
Ramirez's pen stopped.
"A tracing account."
Evelyn heard her.
"Yes."
"Then Gideon moved it after Claire died."
"Exactly."
Alonzo looked furious.
"And nobody investigated."
"Cedric refused."
"Because Portia blackmailed him."
"Because Portia had something that could send him to prison too."
Flora looked at Alonzo.
"What?"
Evelyn whispered.
"Ask him when you find him."
Alonzo's face hardened.
"If we find him."
"You will."
"How do you know?"
Evelyn hesitated.
"Because Gideon needs him alive."
Flora felt a chill.
"For the trust hearing."
"For the confession."
"What confession?"
"The one Gideon has been trying to make Cedric sign for twelve years."
Ramirez leaned toward the speaker.
"Evelyn, where did the black sedan take Cedric?"
"I do not know."
"You were in it."
"Not with Cedric."
"Explain."
"After the storage unit, I left separately."
Evelyn began speaking faster.
"Cedric and Tomas drove toward the old Vale warehouse with the boxes."
"Why?"
"Cedric said there was a secure records room."
"Then?"
"Gideon's men intercepted them."
Alonzo's voice sharpened.
"Men?"
"Private contractors."
"How many?"
"I saw two."
"Were they armed?"
Evelyn hesitated.
"I did not see a weapon."
Ramirez spoke firmly.
"What did you see?"
"A struggle near the car."
"And you did nothing?"
Evelyn began crying.
"I drove away."
Flora felt anger rise.
"You left him there."
"I was afraid."
"You were afraid after helping Portia frame my daughter and me?"
"I know what I did."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
Evelyn's voice broke.
"I put the archive key in Maisie's pocket."
Flora's hands curled into fists.
"Why?"
"Portia told me it would only make the police question the adults."
"You put stolen evidence on a child."
"I know."
"Then Portia hit her."
Evelyn went silent.
"Did you know she would do that?"
"No."
"Would it have mattered?"
Evelyn began sobbing.
Flora did not soften.
"You watched that little girl all morning."
"I know."
"You tied her bow."
"I know."
"She trusted you."
Evelyn could barely speak.
"That is why I changed sides."
Flora felt no sympathy yet.
"You changed sides because the plan got ugly in public."
"Maybe."
Evelyn swallowed.
"But I am still trying to stop it."
Ramirez looked at the trace screen.
They were narrowing the call to the west side of the city.
"Where is Daniel Mercer?"
Evelyn gave an address.
Ramirez wrote it down.
"How do you know he is there?"
"Because I have been feeding him information for three months."
Alonzo stared at the phone.
"You have been working for Daniel too?"
"Not at first."
"When did it start?"
"After I found the first draft of the marriage certificate on Portia's desk."
Flora felt sick.
"You knew she was framing me three months ago."
"Yes."
"And you waited until tonight."
"Daniel told me to stay close."
"Daniel told you to let Portia plant evidence?"
"He told me he needed proof of who was directing it."
Alonzo exploded.
"My family is not an experiment."
Evelyn's voice hardened for the first time.
"Neither was Lenora's foundation."
Silence followed.
Then she said something quieter.
"Daniel has been trying to prove this for twelve years."
Ramirez looked at Flora.
"We need to move."
Flora nodded.
Evelyn interrupted.
"Wait."
"What?"
"Do not bring uniformed police to the front door."
Ramirez frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Gideon watches Daniel's address."
"Then how has Daniel stayed there?"
"He hasn't."
Flora stared at the phone.
"You just gave us an address."
"It is a meeting house."
"Will he be there?"
"For thirty minutes."
"How do we know this is not another trap?"
Evelyn's voice softened.
"You don't."
The line went dead.
Ramirez traced the call to a bus terminal payphone area.
By the time officers arrived, Evelyn was gone.
The address she gave was a narrow brick house in an old residential district.
Ramirez sent plainclothes officers to watch the street.
Flora and Alonzo waited in an unmarked vehicle a block away.
"You do not have to go inside," Ramirez said.
Flora looked at her.
"He supposedly married me."
Ramirez almost smiled.
"Fair point."
The house appeared empty.
No lights.
No movement.
No parked car in the driveway.
At 3:06, Ramirez received a signal from the officers.
A man had entered through the rear alley.
Age matched.
Height matched.
Slight limp.
Alonzo looked at Flora.
"Ready?"
"No."
"Me neither."
They approached with Ramirez.
The front door opened before they knocked.
A man stood in the shadowed hallway.
He was older than the photograph Cedric had described.
Gray touched his hair.
A narrow scar ran under his jaw.
His left leg favored one side.
He looked at Flora as if he had seen a ghost.
"Claire."
Flora stopped.
"I'm Flora."
The man's face changed.
He looked suddenly exhausted.
"Of course you are."
Alonzo stepped forward.
"Daniel Mercer?"
The man looked at him.
"You have Lenora's eyes."
Alonzo's jaw tightened.
"Are you Daniel Mercer?"
The man opened the door wider.
"According to your family, I have been dead for six years."
Then he looked at Flora again.
May you like
"According to Portia, you have been my wife for seven."
