Chapter 15 - The Man on Television
Walter Mercer smiled into the cameras and promised the county every available resource.
Lily wanted to break the screen.
"That's Wade?"
Daniel nodded.
"Plastic surgery, weight loss, new glasses. But yes."
Detective Vega called her captain.
Within minutes, the church became a command post.
Daniel's flash drive contained tax records, shell-company transfers, construction bids, and photographs tying Wade to current flood-control contracts.
Claire found something worse.
"He's still buying condemned property."
The same pattern.
Flood.
Forced evacuations.
Cheap acquisitions.
Federal rebuilding money.
Ethan stared at the screen.
"He opened the gate to increase the damage."
Daniel nodded.
"And Thomas was helping him erase the old evidence."
Vega received a message.
Thomas had escaped police custody during a transport accident caused by flood debris.
Ethan swore.
Then Lily noticed one file name on the drive.
MIA COLE - CUSTODY.
Claire opened it.
A petition had been prepared to declare her unfit and place Mia with a court-appointed guardian.
The guardian's address belonged to a shell company linked to Wade Mercer.
Claire went white.
"He was going to take my daughter."
Daniel looked grim.
"Because Claire has the ledger and Mia is leverage."
Ethan grabbed his phone to call Ruth at the shelter.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a text arrived from Ruth's number.
COME ALONE OR THE GIRL GOES INTO THE RIVER.
Attached was a photograph.
May you like
Mia sat in the back seat of a truck, crying.
Thomas was beside her.
