Chapter 15 - Gone

I shouted Claire’s name so loudly the guards came running.

The bathroom was empty.

The nursery was empty.

The back door stood open.

For ten seconds, I became someone I did not recognize.

I could not think. Could not breathe. Could only hear my mother’s note repeating in my head.

I’m going to take something from him.

Then one of the guards shouted from outside.

“Mr. Mercer!”

I ran.

Claire stood near the side garden, wrapped in a cardigan, staring at three police cars speeding through the gate.

She turned, startled.

“What happened?”

I grabbed her and held her so tightly she gasped.

“Nathan.”

“Don’t ever disappear like that.”

“I went outside because I couldn’t sleep.”

I pulled back. “My mother is missing.”

Claire’s face changed.

I told her about the note.

Within minutes, police moved us to a protected location.

My mother’s photo went to airports, train stations, hotels, and border agencies.

At 2:00 a.m., Daniel called.

“She took one of Dad’s old cars.”

“How do you know?”

“The garage manager found it missing.”

“What car?”

“A dark green Jaguar.”

My father’s favorite.

I knew where she was going before Daniel finished the sentence.

The cemetery.

My father’s grave sat thirty miles north of the city.

Police units arrived first.

The Jaguar was there.

My mother was not.

But someone had placed fresh white lilies on my father’s grave.

Beneath them was another note.

YOU CHOSE HER OVER ME.

Ruiz looked at me. “Where else would she go?”

I thought about childhood homes, vacation properties, private clubs.

Then Claire said, “The mansion.”

Everyone looked at her.

“She lost everything there,” Claire said. “The board. The family. The story she tells herself. She’ll go back to the place where she still thinks she’s in control.”

Police raced toward the mansion.

We stayed behind.

Thirty minutes later, Ruiz called.

“We found her car.”

“Is she inside?”

“We think so.”

Then I heard an officer shouting in the background.

Ruiz’s voice sharpened.

“Nathan, I have to go.”

“What happened?”

The line went dead.

A minute later, my phone received an image from an unknown number.

It showed the mansion balcony.

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My mother stood behind the railing.

And in her hand was a can of gasoline.