Chapter 11 - The Godmother Behind the Gate
Helen Mercer's house stood behind stone walls, iron gates, and a line of bare maple trees that made the property look abandoned from the road.
Nathan had been there once as a child.
He remembered summer lemonade on a screened porch, his mother laughing beside a blue hydrangea bush, and Helen kneeling to tie his shoelace because Caroline's hands were full of grocery bags.
That memory became almost unbearable when he saw armed private security at the gate.
Detective Mills obtained a warrant based on Sloane's statement and the surveillance image showing Edwin at the property.
Nathan was not legally required to remain outside, but Mills tried anyway.
"This is family," Nathan said.
"That is exactly why you should remain outside."
"Family is why I have spent five years living inside a lie."
Mills stared at him.
Then he nodded to Marcus.
"Keep him behind us."
The gate opened without resistance.
That worried Nathan more than if someone had tried to stop them.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, the house smelled faintly of cedar and old perfume.
No alarms sounded.
No one answered.
They found Edwin in the dining room.
He was sitting upright at the table with both hands visible.
There was dried blood on his shirt from a cut near his ribs, but he was alive.
Nathan stopped in the doorway.
"You ran."
Edwin looked exhausted.
"I survived."
"You left us with a resignation letter and a recording."
"I left you more than I had courage to leave five years ago."
Nathan wanted to drag him across the table.
Grace's voice from the previous night stopped him in memory.
Don't give them exactly what they need.
He stayed where he was.
"Where is Helen?"
Edwin looked toward the staircase.
"Gone."
Mills stepped forward.
"When?"
"Twenty minutes before you arrived."
"How?"
"There is a service road behind the property."
Marcus swore quietly.
Mills told two officers to check it.
Nathan sat across from Edwin.
"Why are you here?"
Edwin rubbed both hands over his face.
"Because Helen saved me."
"From whom?"
"Victoria."
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
"We found your car with blood in it."
"Mine."
"Who hurt you?"
"One of Victor's men."
"Why?"
"Because I sent you the recording."
Edwin looked at Nathan with shame.
"I knew they monitored my office, so I left through the basement before they arrived."
"And Helen picked you up."
"Yes."
Nathan leaned back.
"Grace says Helen stood beside my father when he threatened her."
Edwin closed his eyes.
"She did."
"Why?"
"Because your father threatened Helen too."
Nathan's expression hardened.
"With what?"
Edwin looked toward Mills.
"This is where things become complicated."
Nathan almost laughed.
"Complicated was several murders ago."
Edwin flinched.
"Caroline's death was not an accident."
Nathan's voice went flat.
"I know."
For the first time, Edwin looked surprised.
"How?"
"Margaret Bell."
Edwin's face changed.
"She's alive?"
"For now."
Edwin whispered something that sounded like a prayer.
Nathan leaned forward.
"Tell me about Helen."
Edwin nodded slowly.
"After Caroline died, Helen wanted the crash reopened."
"Richard stopped her."
"Richard paid people to stop her."
"Including Sloane."
"Yes."
Nathan looked toward the windows.
"Why would Helen later help Richard threaten Grace?"
Edwin's eyes filled with regret.
"Because Richard had custody of Helen's son."
Nathan stared at him.
"Helen didn't have a son."
"She did."
Edwin's voice dropped.
"A boy named Daniel."
Nathan searched his memory.
Nothing.
"Why did I never meet him?"
"Because Daniel was born from an affair with Richard Cole."
Nathan felt the air disappear from the room.
"My father?"
Edwin nodded.
"The affair began three years before Caroline died."
Nathan stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
"My father had a child with my mother's sister?"
"Yes."
Nathan walked away from the table.
He felt physically ill.
Every layer of his family history seemed to contain something worse beneath it.
Edwin continued because there was no humane way to stop now.
"Caroline discovered the affair six months before her death."
Nathan looked back.
"Did Victor know?"
"Eventually."
"Did my mother?"
"Yes."
"Is that why she was fighting with my father?"
"Partly."
Nathan clenched his jaw.
"Where is Daniel now?"
Edwin hesitated.
"He died when he was seven."
Nathan's anger shifted.
"How?"
"Leukemia."
For a moment, no one spoke.
"Richard controlled the trust paying for Daniel's treatment," Edwin said.
"He used that control to keep Helen silent."
Nathan understood with sickening clarity.
"And later he used the same strategy on Grace."
"Yes."
Money for medical care.
Threats of custody.
Fabricated records.
Richard had repeated methods because they worked.
"Why did Helen help him threaten Grace after Daniel was already dead?"
Edwin looked down.
"Because by then Richard had something else."
Nathan waited.
"Evidence making Helen look responsible for Caroline's death."
Nathan stopped breathing.
"Was she?"
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because I helped create the evidence."
Mills stepped forward.
"You forged evidence in a homicide investigation?"
Edwin nodded.
"At Richard's order."
"What evidence?"
"A letter implying Helen had threatened Caroline over the affair."
Nathan stared at him.
"So my father blackmailed my mother's sister with a fake murder case."
Edwin nodded.
Nathan thought of Helen standing silently in Grace's apartment.
She had not been an ally.
She had been another prisoner.
That did not excuse her silence.
But it changed its shape.
"Why is Helen with the Kensingtons now?"
Edwin gave a bitter smile.
"She isn't."
Nathan frowned.
"This house belongs to them."
"On paper."
"Then whose side is she on?"
Edwin looked directly at him.
"Her own."
A phone rang upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Mills signaled officers forward.
The ringing continued.
They found an old landline in Helen's bedroom.
Nathan answered.
Margaret Bell spoke.
"Put Edwin on."
Nathan's grip tightened.
"Where are you?"
"Not yet."
"Margaret."
"Put Edwin on."
Nathan handed him the receiver.
Edwin listened.
His face went pale.
"No."
He stood.
"Margaret, do not do that."
Nathan watched him.
"What?"
Edwin closed his eyes.
"She's going public."
Nathan grabbed the phone.
"With what?"
Margaret answered calmly.
"The last tape."
"Where?"
"Everywhere."
Nathan's pulse surged.
"If you release it before we authenticate it, Victor will call it fabricated."
"Then authenticate it quickly."
"What is on it?"
Margaret was silent for several seconds.
"Your father confessing that he helped Victor cover up Caroline's murder."
Nathan leaned against the wall.
"And something else."
Margaret continued.
"Richard names the person who drove the second car."
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Who?"
"Helen."
Nathan looked across the room at Edwin.
Edwin shook his head violently.
"No."
Margaret's voice remained calm.
"But Richard also admits Helen did not know Victor had tampered with Caroline's brakes."
Nathan's mind raced.
"Then why was Helen following her?"
"Because Richard sent her."
"Why?"
"To bring Caroline home before she went to the police."
Nathan's knees felt weak.
Margaret finished.
"Your father sent his mistress to stop his wife from exposing his business partner, and Victor used that moment to kill her."
The line went dead.
Nathan stood in his godmother's bedroom surrounded by the remains of a family that had destroyed itself to protect money.
Then Marcus entered with a tablet.
"We have another problem."
Nathan almost laughed.
"Of course we do."
Marcus showed him a breaking-news banner.
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A woman claiming to be Grace Miller's former psychiatric nurse had just appeared on national television.
She said Grace had once confessed that Lily was not Nathan's child at all.
