Chapter 10 - The Price of Silence

Arthur Mercer received us in a glass office overlooking the city. He looked tired rather than powerful, which almost made me angrier. I had imagined the man behind my mother's silence as a villain from a movie. Instead, he wore reading glasses and had an untouched plate of toast on his desk.

Daniel dropped a copy of the notebook in front of him. “We know about Rebecca Lane.”

Arthur closed his eyes. “Then it is worse than I feared.”

“Tell the truth,” I said.

He looked at me, really looked, for the first time. “I knew your mother. She was brave. I was not.”

He admitted that Richard had brought him a birth certificate and demanded he keep it in the foundation safe. Richard threatened to cancel a major scholarship endowment if Arthur refused. Arthur had chosen the money, convincing himself the child was loved and the past couldn't be undone.

“Did you arrange the crash?” I asked.

“No.” He answered immediately. “But I knew someone was following Mara. I didn't warn her. And after her death, I allowed Richard's lawyers to discredit her so the foundation would survive.”

Daniel stood. “You let me believe she'd stolen money.”

“I told myself thousands of students depended on us.”

“And her children didn't count?” I said.

Arthur couldn't meet my eyes.

He opened a drawer and produced a sealed storage receipt. The original certificate had been moved to a bank vault when the foundation relocated offices. The receipt listed a box number and required Arthur's signature to access it.

“I'll go with you,” he said.

But the bank called before we reached the elevator. Someone had arrived with forged identification and a signed authorization to empty Arthur's safe-deposit box. The employee had noticed a discrepancy and stalled the visitor.

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“Describe them,” Daniel demanded into the phone.

The employee hesitated. “A blonde woman in a white dress. She said she was your son's wife.”