Chapter 11 - NOAH
Dominic's first instinct was to lock the estate down harder.
Then he heard Catherine's voice in his head.
Do not confuse control with protection.
So he asked Natalie what she wanted.
"Noah stays with me," she said. "Not hidden in one of your safe houses. Not moved without explanation."
They told Noah the truth at a nine-year-old level.
Brooke had lied.
His father had discovered bad people stealing from Grandma Catherine's trust.
Police were investigating his death.
Noah listened silently.
Then asked, "Was Dad scared?"
Natalie's eyes filled.
"Yes."
"Did he still try?"
"Yes."
"Then he was brave and scared."
The kid understood something adults often refused to.
Gabriel traced Brooke through a burner phone.
She had gone to Providence.
Preston Hale's office.
The office was empty.
Safe open.
Servers removed.
But Noah had given Dominic one more clue before they left.
"Brooke had Dad's old watch."
Owen's watch disappeared after the crash.
Brooke wore it once at dinner, calling it vintage.
Dominic had not recognized it.
Natalie had.
She said nothing because she thought grief was making her irrational.
That made Dominic angry at Brooke.
Then at himself.
How often had the people around him learned to doubt their own eyes because a Mercer room rewarded confidence over truth?
Gabriel searched old photographs.
Brooke wore Owen's watch three weeks after his death.
Inside the watch case, Owen used to keep a micro-storage chip for encryption keys.
"If Brooke has the watch, she may have Owen's original evidence."
Then Emma spoke from the doorway.
"She doesn't."
Emma reached into her apron.
May you like
"Mrs. Natalie gave me Owen's watch to polish before the funeral. The back was loose. This fell out. I thought it was part of the watch, so I put it in my sewing tin."
For eighteen months, the evidence everyone had killed for had been sitting beside spare buttons in the maid's room.
