Chapter 2 - The Suitcase Opens EverythingPolice arrived before the ambulance.
Nathaniel refused to put Emery down.
A paramedic finally convinced him to let her sit on the rear step of the ambulance while they examined her.
She was dehydrated, frightened, and exhausted.
But she was conscious.
Her breathing was steady.
No serious physical injury was immediately apparent.
That did not make Nathaniel feel better.
Nothing could make him forget how faint her voice had sounded beneath the soil.
Clarence stood twenty feet away speaking to a deputy.
His posture had returned.
Controlled.
Dignified.
Almost offended.
Nathaniel could not hear every word.
He heard enough.
“…family misunderstanding…”
“…child became emotional…”
“…never intended harm…”
Nathaniel stood.
Emery grabbed his hand.
“Don't go.”
He stopped immediately.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The paramedic looked at him.
“She needs calm.”
Nathaniel sat beside her.
His daughter leaned against him.
“Did Grandpa say I was bad?”
Nathaniel stared at her.
“What?”
“He said you’d believe him.”
Nathaniel’s throat tightened.
“Believe what?”
“That I stole Mom’s phone.”
“Did you?”
Emery thought carefully.
“I took it from his desk.”
“That sounds like taking something.”
“But it was Mom’s.”
Nathaniel paused.
“Okay.”
“He wasn't supposed to have it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mom said so.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“In the video?”
She nodded.
“What did she say?”
Emery glanced toward Clarence.
Nathaniel shifted so her grandfather disappeared from view.
“You can tell me.”
“She said, ‘If Dad is watching this, Clarence already lied.’”
Nathaniel stopped breathing for a moment.
Laurel had never called her father Clarence around Emery.
Not once.
Even when angry.
It made the sentence feel deliberate.
“Was there more?”
“I didn't finish.”
“Why?”
“Grandpa came in.”
“What happened?”
“I ran.”
“With the phone?”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“I hid it.”
“Under the garden angel?”
She nodded.
The garden angel stood near the east hedge.
A small stone statue Laurel had loved as a teenager.
Nathaniel called Detective Sonia Reyes over.
“My daughter says there's a phone hidden beneath a garden statue.”
Clarence turned from across the lawn.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
Reyes raised an eyebrow.
Clarence corrected himself.
“There’s no need to dig up the garden.”
Nathaniel stared at him.
Reyes said, “Mr. Whitmore, please remain with Officer Bell.”
Clarence’s face tightened.
Police photographed the statue before moving it.
Beneath the base was loose soil.
An officer recovered a phone wrapped in a child’s pink scarf.
Emery whispered,
“That’s it.”
Clarence shut his eyes.
Nathaniel watched him.
“What did Laurel know?”
Clarence did not answer.
Reyes placed the phone into an evidence bag.
“We’ll need to preserve this before anyone accesses it.”
Nathaniel nodded.
Clarence said, “It belongs to my daughter’s estate.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“You told Emery it belonged to you.”
Clarence recovered quickly.
“I meant the family.”
“No.”
Nathaniel stood.
“You said it was yours.”
Clarence’s eyes hardened.
“Be careful.”
“About what?”
“About allowing grief to turn you against the only family you have left.”
Nathaniel stared at the man.
Then at Emery.
“My family is sitting beside me.”
Clarence’s jaw clenched.
The ambulance transported Emery to the hospital.
Nathaniel rode with her.
Police detained Clarence for additional questioning while detectives consulted prosecutors about the circumstances.
On the ride, Emery stared at Nathaniel’s wedding ring.
“You still wear it.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Grandpa says that's weird.”
Nathaniel smiled sadly.
“Grandpa has opinions about everything.”
“He said Mom wanted you to move on.”
Nathaniel’s eyes sharpened.
“When?”
“A lot.”
“What else does Grandpa tell you?”
Emery became quiet.
Nathaniel recognized the reaction.
The same one he had seen since moving into Clarence’s mansion after Laurel died.
He had mistaken it for grief.
“What does he tell you about me?”
Emery picked at the blanket.
“That you might leave.”
Nathaniel’s stomach twisted.
“Why would I leave?”
“He said grown-ups get tired.”
“Of what?”
“Kids.”
Nathaniel turned toward her fully.
“Emery.”
She refused to look at him.
“Did he say I was tired of you?”
She nodded.
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“He said when you went to Baltimore, you were looking for somewhere else to live.”
Nathaniel almost laughed from disbelief.
“I was meeting investors.”
“I know now.”
“How?”
“I heard you tell Aunt—”
She stopped.
Nathaniel did not press the unfinished name.
There would be time.
He took her hand.
“I need you to understand something.”
She looked at him.
“I am not leaving you.”
“What if I do something really bad?”
“We deal with it.”
“What if I make you mad?”
“We deal with that too.”
“What if I take something?”
“You return it. We talk. There are consequences.”
Emery’s eyes filled.
“But you don't put me somewhere?”
Nathaniel’s voice almost failed.
“No.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
At the hospital, Nathaniel answered police questions while Emery was examined.
Detective Reyes eventually entered the waiting room.
“We recovered the phone.”
“Can you access it?”
“It's passcode protected.”
Nathaniel immediately knew the code.
“Laurel used 0917.”
Reyes stared.
“Significance?”
“Our wedding date.”
The phone unlocked.
There were eighteen videos.
Seven audio recordings.
Hundreds of photographs.
And a folder labeled:
IF CLARENCE MOVES FIRST
Nathaniel stared at the screen.
“What does that mean?”
Reyes selected nothing.
“We'll make a forensic copy.”
“Can you tell when Laurel created the folder?”
“Preliminary metadata says nineteen months ago.”
Nathaniel looked up.
Laurel died eighteen months ago.
She had created it during the final month of her life.
Reyes continued.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The phone contains recent activity.”
Nathaniel froze.
“How recent?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Someone charged it, unlocked it, and copied files.”
Nathaniel's eyes moved toward the door.
Clarence.
“Did he delete anything?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Reyes looked at him carefully.
“Mr. Mercer, did your wife ever tell you she was afraid of her father?”
Nathaniel wanted to say no.
Instead he remembered Laurel’s final weeks.
Her arguments with Clarence.
Her insistence that Nathaniel not sign anything without her lawyer.
A sentence he had dismissed because she was sick and exhausted.
My father doesn't protect people. He protects control.
Nathaniel looked at Reyes.
“No.”
May you like
Then he corrected himself.
“She tried.”
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