Chapter 18 - THE LAKE HOUSE
Mercer forced Ethan toward the dock.
“Keep moving.”
Police appeared between the trees.
“Paul Mercer.”
Detective Ortiz’s voice carried across the yard.
“Put the weapon down.”
Mercer pulled Ethan closer.
The gun remained low, but everyone understood the threat.
“Back away.”
Claire was kept behind a police vehicle farther up the road.
She could not see Ethan.
She could hear only fragments.
She tried to move forward.
An officer stopped her.
“You cannot go down there.”
“That’s my son.”
“And we’re getting him back.”
On the dock, Ethan remembered something Marcus Reed had told him after the funeral.
When you are scared, look for what you can control.
Ethan could not control Mercer.
He could not control the gun.
He could control where he stood.
One loose board lay beneath his right foot.
He shifted slowly.
Mercer tightened his arm.
“Stop moving.”
“I’m scared.”
“Good.”
Ethan looked toward the water.
Then toward Ortiz.
She was watching him.
He moved his foot again.
The board lifted slightly.
Mercer looked down for half a second.
Ethan dropped.
Not backward.
Straight down.
Mercer’s arm slipped over his shoulder.
Police moved instantly.
Ortiz rushed forward.
Another officer seized Mercer’s gun arm.
Mercer stumbled against the loose board.
The handgun dropped into the lake.
Seconds later, Mercer was face down on the dock in handcuffs.
Ethan ran.
Claire broke past the officer before anyone could stop her.
She met Ethan halfway up the yard.
They collided in an embrace so hard neither could speak.
“I’m sorry,” Ethan sobbed.
Claire held his face.
“Never do that again.”
“I thought he had Mrs. Ellis.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
Behind them, officers carried boxes from the lake house.
Those boxes contained enough evidence to destroy what remained of Richard’s defense.
They also contained something much older.
A recording.
Eight years old.
Daniel Parker’s voice.
Richard’s voice.
Mercer’s voice.
Daniel had secretly recorded a meeting days before his death.
“You’re stealing from people,” Daniel said.
Richard answered calmly.
“You should be very careful with accusations.”
Daniel replied.
“I already sent copies to my attorney.”
Then Mercer spoke.
“You have a son, don’t you, Daniel?”
The recording ended there.
Claire listened with tears running silently down her face.
For eight years, she had believed Daniel died because of an accident.
Now police reopened the case.
Mercer refused to discuss Daniel’s death.
Richard refused too.
Then Dr. Vale finally regained consciousness.
He asked for an attorney.
And in exchange for protection, he offered prosecutors something they had not expected.
May you like
Not information about Claire.
Information about Daniel Parker.
