Chapter 15 - THE THIRD PERSON
Police traced the photograph to a prepaid phone.
No subscriber.
No easy answer.
Lucas and Hannah moved temporarily into a rental apartment with private security while investigators reviewed everyone tied to Evelyn.
Warren denied sending the message.
Dr. Sloan denied it.
Evelyn, through her lawyer, called it “obvious harassment designed to frame her.”
Then Martin remembered something.
“There was someone else,” he said.
“Who?” Lucas asked.
“Your mother’s assistant. Denise Cole. She handled personal mail, board packets, travel, copies—everything.”
Lucas barely knew Denise. Quiet woman. Mid-fifties. Worked for Evelyn for twelve years.
Police found her apartment empty.
Her car was gone.
Her office computer had been wiped.
But the cloud backup had not.
Investigators recovered calendar entries connecting Denise to the fake hospital intake, the storage unit, and the prepaid phone purchase.
Hannah sank into a chair.
“So there really was a whole system around her.”
Lucas nodded.
He wanted to say it was over.
That evening, Sophie developed a fever.
Nothing dramatic, the pediatrician said. Likely a minor virus. But Hannah’s hands shook all the way through the appointment.
Every ordinary parenting fear now came mixed with memory.
At home, Lucas warmed a bottle while Hannah rocked Sophie.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman whispered, “Mr. Mercer?”
“Who is this?”
“Denise.”
Lucas motioned for Hannah to stay quiet.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Did you send the photo?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Denise started crying.
“I helped your mother with paperwork. I told myself it was family business. Then I saw what she planned for the baby.”
Lucas gripped the counter.
“What did she plan?”
Denise lowered her voice.
“There’s another set of documents. The ones she never put in the storage unit.”
“Where?”
May you like
“In your father’s old house.”
Then the line went dead.
