Chapter 13 - The School
We reached the school in eleven minutes.
Chloe was safe.
The woman had left when the receptionist asked for identification.
Mark knew the walk on the security footage instantly.
"So do I," I said.
Ruiz enlarged the footage.
Vanessa carried a red tote bag.
A luggage tag hung from the handle.
LAKE MERCER CABINS.
Mark stared.
"Our family used to go there."
"When?"
"Every summer when we were kids."
Ruiz sent units.
The cabins were two hours away.
We were told to stay home.
Then Dave arrived with another discovery.
His dashcam cloud service had recovered a larger block of deleted data.
The footage from the push now included the minutes before it.
Vanessa was talking to someone on speakerphone.
The microphone caught only pieces.
"...blue drive..."
"...kid has it..."
"...Monday..."
Then a man's voice.
"If you can't get it back, don't come here."
Mark looked at Dave.
"Play it again."
He did.
Alan heard it over the phone and went silent.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"I'm not sure."
"You are."
He exhaled.
"It sounds like Grant Mercer."
Vanessa's attorney.
The man currently claiming he did not know where she was.
Ruiz moved fast.
Mercer's office was searched under warrant later that evening.
They found no Vanessa.
But they found a file hidden in a locked cabinet.
CHLOE BENNETT TRUST.
I had never heard of it.
Neither had Mark.
His father had created it before he died.
If Mark died or became legally incapacitated, a block of voting shares would eventually pass to Chloe.
Until she turned twenty-five, the trustee would control those votes.
The named alternate trustee was Evelyn.
But an amendment had been filed three months ago.
Forged.
It replaced Evelyn with Vanessa.
I finally understood.
This had never been only about temporary control.
Vanessa was building a path to permanent control through my daughter.
Then Ruiz found the final page.
May you like
A handwritten note from Mercer.
IF MARK SURVIVES, USE SARAH.
