Chapter 7 - The Other Heir
Adrian Mercer entered without asking for an embrace.
Charles didn't offer one.
Father and son stared at each other across the foyer.
Evelyn stood beside Annie.
“So you're my brother.”
“Half brother.”
“That's usually what people mean.”
Adrian almost smiled.
He had Charles's eyes.
That was impossible to miss.
“What do you want?” Charles asked.
“To keep you alive.”
He opened his briefcase.
Inside were copies of financial records.
The same shell company.
Wellington Consulting.
Adrian was a forensic accountant.
Three months earlier, an anonymous client hired his firm to examine irregularities related to Whitmore Holdings.
“I didn't know your company was involved until last week.”
“Who hired you?” Annie asked.
“A law firm acting for an unnamed client.”
He looked at her.
“And you are?”
“The maid.”
Evelyn said, “It's complicated.”
Adrian traced Wellington Consulting through seventeen shell corporations.
The final beneficiary had died.
Thomas Reed.
Charles stared.
“Thomas?”
“But someone continued using the accounts after his death,” Adrian said. “Which means Thomas was a front.”
“For whom?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
Annie showed Adrian Daniel's phone.
His expression changed when he saw the photograph of himself.
“Where was this taken?”
“Yesterday.”
“I was at the Grand Marlow Hotel.”
The photograph showed him entering the lobby.
Someone inside Whitmore House had been tracking him.
Adrian examined Catherine's surviving documents.
Then he noticed a signature.
“This isn't your signature, Charles.”
“I know.”
“No. I mean the forgery isn't random.”
He overlaid several documents.
The forged signature contained a peculiar upward stroke.
Adrian retrieved an old Christmas card from Catherine's papers.
Someone else had signed it.
Best wishes, Robert.
The R carried the same stroke.
Charles stared.
“Robert Hale.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Uncle Robert?”
Not an uncle by blood.
Robert Hale had been Charles's closest friend for forty years.
He was also vice chairman of Whitmore Holdings.
And the man managing Friday's sale.
Annie felt the pieces align.
“Where is Robert?”
Charles checked his phone.
“He's coming tonight.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Don't warn him.”
For once, Charles listened.
They prepared quietly.
Security was told nothing except that Charles expected an important guest.
Robert arrived at seven.
Silver-haired, charming, immaculate.
He embraced Charles.
Kissed Evelyn's cheek.
Then noticed Adrian.
His smile remained.
His eyes did not.
“Adrian. What an unexpected pleasure.”
“You know me?” Adrian asked.
“Your father once showed me photographs.”
Charles watched him carefully.
Dinner became a performance.
Annie served while listening.
Robert discussed the sale.
Adrian asked casual questions about historical company accounts.
Robert answered smoothly.
Too smoothly.
Then Annie deliberately dropped a spoon.
Robert glanced down.
His cuff shifted.
A silver chain appeared beneath his sleeve.
The same design seen on the disguised figure.
Annie's heart accelerated.
She looked toward Evelyn.
Evelyn had seen it too.
After dinner, Robert entered Charles's study.
Annie and Evelyn waited outside.
Charles confronted him with the forged records.
Robert laughed.
“You're trusting a maid and an illegitimate son?”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Charles remained calm.
“Answer the question.”
Robert denied everything.
Then Annie entered.
“Where did you get the necklace?”
Robert looked at his wrist.
For the first time, his composure cracked.
“It belonged to my wife.”
“Rebecca Vale had one identical to it.”
“Many exist.”
“Not according to the jeweler who made it.”
That part was a bluff.
Robert didn't know.
His face changed.
Enough.
Evelyn saw it.
“You knew my mother had Rebecca's necklace.”
Robert stood.
“This is absurd.”
Charles blocked the door.
“Sit down.”
Robert smiled slowly.
“You really don't understand what's happening, do you?”
“What?”
“Catherine wasn't killed because she discovered money.”
Evelyn went still.
Robert looked directly at her.
“She was killed because she discovered who you really are.”
Charles struck him.
Robert fell against the desk.
Evelyn screamed.
Annie grabbed Charles's arm.
Robert wiped blood from his lip.
Then laughed.
“Ask your father.”
Evelyn looked at Charles.
“What does he mean?”
Charles said nothing.
“Dad.”
Robert reached into his jacket.
Security rushed forward.
But he wasn't holding a weapon.
He held an envelope.
He threw it onto the desk.
A birth certificate slid out.
Evelyn picked it up.
She read it.
Her hands began trembling.
Under FATHER, Charles Whitmore's name did not appear.
Another name did.
Robert Hale.
Evelyn looked up.
May you like
Robert smiled.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
