Chapter 13 - THE BOAT
Julian was arrested before sunset for violating the protective order through the kidnapping attempt, but he denied ordering it.
Eleanor denied everything.
Genevieve stopped caring which liar blamed the other.
She wanted the truth about her father.
Ortiz reopened Arthur Mercer’s death investigation.
The boat had been recovered six miles offshore. Arthur’s body was found the next morning.
The original report called it an accident caused by weather.
But the cutoff switch had been disabled.
And one witness had been overlooked.
A marina mechanic named Luis Santos remembered seeing Julian at Arthur’s slip the night before the storm.
“He said Mr. Mercer asked him to check a fuel problem,” Luis told Ortiz on video.
“Did you see him working on the boat?”
“I saw him inside the engine compartment.”
Genevieve’s stomach tightened.
Julian had told her he was at a board dinner that night.
Sarah pulled archived parking records.
Julian’s car had entered the marina at 9:14 p.m.
It left at 10:02.
Arthur sailed the next morning.
Then Sarah found a voicemail in Arthur’s old cloud backup.
It had never reached Genevieve’s phone because it had been deleted from her account.
Arthur sounded angry.
“Gen, call me. Julian came by tonight pretending I asked him to. I didn’t. I’m changing the trust tomorrow. I don’t want him controlling a dime if something happens to me.”
The voicemail ended with a click.
Genevieve covered her mouth.
Sarah said quietly, “Someone had access to your cloud password after he died.”
Genevieve knew who.
Julian had handled everything during the funeral.
Her phone.
Her email.
Her grief.
Ortiz arrived with one more piece.
A traffic camera captured Julian’s car near the marina the morning Arthur died.
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He had gone back.
And in the passenger seat sat Marcus Lyle.
