Chapter 9 - Anna’s Real Name
Anna did not run.
She put the gun down.
Slowly.
Then she raised both hands.
Detective Brooks tackled the scarred man while two officers rushed to Rachel.
I grabbed Noah.
He wrapped himself around me so tightly it hurt.
“Daddy, I was scared.”
“I know. I know. I’ve got you.”
I kissed his hair again and again.
Then I looked at Anna.
“What did you do?”
Her face was wet with tears.
“He was going to shoot you.”
I looked at Rachel.
The bullet had gone through her shoulder.
She was alive.
Brooks kicked Anna’s gun away.
“Where did you get that?”
Anna looked at me.
“My name isn’t Anna Reyes.”
I stared.
She swallowed.
“It’s Annabelle Mercer.”
I knew the name.
Everyone connected to Cole Industries did.
Mercer had been the chief accountant who disappeared eight years earlier after being accused of stealing twelve million dollars.
“You’re his daughter?”
She nodded.
“Thomas Mercer was my father.”
I felt the night shift again.
“My dad said he stole from the company.”
“He didn’t.”
Brooks said, “Save it for the station.”
Annabelle shook her head.
“We don’t have time.”
Rachel groaned from the floor.
Victor’s people know we have the drive.”
“You work for Victor?” I asked.
“No.”
“For Rachel?”
“No.”
“Then why were you in my house?”
She looked at Noah.
“For Emily.”
Silence.
“She hired me before she died. She knew someone inside your family was watching her. I was supposed to get close after the funeral and protect Noah if anything happened.”
I almost couldn’t process the sentence.
“For three years?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“She made me promise.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then why keep the promise?”
Annabelle looked at me.
“Because the person she was afraid of was still living under your roof.”
I thought of Celeste.
“My fiancée.”
Annabelle said nothing.
That was worse.
“Who?”
Rachel coughed.
We turned.
She pointed at the flash drive in my hand.
“Open the folder marked NURSERY.”
“There wasn’t one.”
“There is if you enter the password.”
“What password?”
Rachel looked at Noah.
“His birthday.”
I plugged the drive into Brooks’s field laptop.
Entered Noah’s birthday.
A hidden folder appeared.
NURSERY.
Inside was one audio file.
I pressed play.
Emily’s voice filled the warehouse.
“If Ethan is hearing this, I failed.”
I stopped breathing.
Then another voice spoke in the recording.
May you like
A man’s voice.
My own.
