Chapter 16 - THE FOX
Threatening my daughter ended whatever restraint prosecutors still had.
A warrant went out for Margaret.
Ryan’s lawyer offered passwords, records, and testimony against Alan for reduced charges.
Priya asked what I wanted.
“For him to tell the truth.”
Ryan agreed to a recorded proffer.
I watched from another room.
He looked cornered, not sorry.
He admitted the trust debt, forged school forms, signature samples, and the fake medication plan.
Then the prosecutor asked about Margaret.
Ryan stared at the table.
“My mother believed Lauren would take Emma.”
“Did Lauren ever threaten that?”
“No.”
“Did Lauren know about the debt?”
“No.”
“So what was Mrs. Mercer protecting?”
Ryan’s answer came quietly.
“Me.”
There it was.
Not Emma.
Not family.
Him.
He explained that Margaret had covered Ryan’s financial mistakes since he was nineteen.
Every debt, lie, and consequence.
When Emma’s audit began, Margaret treated me as the final obstacle between Ryan and rescue.
“What about the threat package?” the prosecutor asked.
Ryan looked up.
“I didn’t send it.”
“Did your mother?”
“I don’t know.”
Then he said something unexpected.
“She has a storage unit.”
Everyone in the room went still.
“Where?”
“Cicero. Under Melissa’s name.”
Police searched it that night.
Inside were financial records, copied IDs, notary stamps, burner phones, and folders on me, Mom, Kate, Peter Walsh, and Dr. Reeves.
Margaret had been collecting leverage for years.
A lockbox held surveillance photos of Emma, Mom, and me.
On top was a handwritten list of dates.
One date was circled in red.
Tomorrow.
Next to it:
STOWE TRANSFER — FINAL WINDOW.
I called the property trustee.
No answer.
Priya called the bank.
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“Someone is trying to transfer the Vermont property tonight.”
