Chapter 14 - THE DRIVER
Luciano wanted murder charges immediately. Detective Cole refused to promise anything.
“A suspicious payment is not proof Marcus ordered a killing.”
“What was the driver paid for?”
“We’re investigating.”
“He killed my wife.”
“Maybe. Or maybe he was paid for something unrelated. I need evidence, not rage.”
Luciano hated hearing it, but knew she was right.
The next day, Rachel dug through archived vendor files and found that the dead driver, Colin Mercer, had briefly worked as a subcontractor for one of Marcus’s projects.
Then Daniel found a voicemail Elena had sent him the night before her death.
His old phone carrier had preserved it in a legal backup from an unrelated contract dispute.
Elena’s voice filled the conference room.
“Daniel, it’s Elena. I need to talk to you about Marcus. I found fake invoices and money moving through Bellweather. Please don’t call Luciano yet. I want proof first. Marcus knows I’m looking.”
A pause.
Then:
“He followed me home tonight.”
Theo was safely with Sofia in another room.
Luciano played it again until Daniel stopped him.
“That’s enough.”
“No.”
“Luciano.”
“She was scared.”
“Yes.”
“And I didn’t know.”
“You can’t punish yourself for information she intentionally kept from you.”
Luciano laughed bitterly. “Apparently everyone thought I couldn’t handle the truth.”
Detective Cole entered carrying a sealed evidence bag.
“We searched the lake cottage.”
Inside the bag was an old prepaid phone.
“It was hidden behind a loose panel in Marcus’s desk.”
She set down a printed call log.
Marcus had called Colin Mercer seven times during the week before Elena’s crash.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
There was one incoming text recovered from the phone, sent by Mercer twenty minutes before the collision.
SHE’S ON ROUTE 9. DO YOU STILL WANT ME TO SCARE HER?
Marcus had replied with two words.
May you like
DO IT.
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