Chapter 7 - The Man in Raymond’s Grave
Nicholas went white.
“You saw Grandpa?”
Emma nodded.
“Older man. Silver hair. Cane.”
Julian stared at his brother.
“Dad’s dead.”
Nicholas whispered:
“I saw the body.”
“Did you?”
Nicholas had attended the funeral from a distance.
No casket viewing.
Raymond was supposedly cremated afterward.
No independent confirmation.
Victoria looked sick.
“Then who have I been taking instructions from?”
Silence.
She had never seen Dr. Vale’s face clearly?
She had.
Nicholas’s.
But sometimes communications came through someone else.
A voice.
Older.
Raymond.
She assumed recordings.
Maybe not.
Then Nicholas admitted something.
He returned to Chicago six months earlier because he received a letter signed by Raymond.
Not a threat.
An invitation.
COME HOME. THE TRUST IS READY.
Nicholas thought someone was using his father’s name.
He followed the trail.
It led here.
To the funeral home.
To hidden children.
To Emma.
The girl Raymond told him had died as an infant.
Nicholas had been manipulated too.
By the same dead man.
I looked at all of them.
“Stop.”
They did.
“None of you know which parts are true anymore.”
That mattered.
Too many people had built decisions on documents, whispers, family stories.
We needed proof.
Emma had some.
She led us into the locked room.
Inside was an old filing cabinet.
Raymond’s private records.
Birth certificates.
Guardianship documents.
Medical reports.
Death certificates.
Some genuine.
Some altered.
One file:
CHLOE MERCER.
Except Chloe’s surname was not Mercer legally.
Julian and Victoria were Mercers, yes.
But the file listed:
Contingency designation: Subject C.
Purpose: Trigger Nicholas return.
Nicholas stared.
“Dad used Chloe as bait.”
Maybe.
Then another:
EMMA VALE/MERCER.
Status: Active heir.
Victoria nearly dropped it.
Emma was recognized in Raymond’s hidden estate records.
Meaning he always knew she was alive.
Then:
JULIAN MERCER.
Status: Provisional heir.
NICHOLAS MERCER.
Status: Disqualified unless recovery conditions met.
“What recovery conditions?” Julian asked.
Emma handed him another page.
Nicholas must return voluntarily to family control and acknowledge Raymond Mercer as trustee.
Control.
Again.
Then I found something else.
RAYMOND MERCER.
Status:
Active.
Not deceased.
Julian sank into a chair.
Nicholas laughed once.
“He faked his death.”
Apparently.
Why?
To trigger the estate.
Test loyalty.
Force heirs to reveal themselves.
And operate without scrutiny.
Then the lights upstairs went out.
A cane struck the floor.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
A voice called down the stairwell.
“Julian.”
May you like
Both brothers froze.
Their father was home.
