CHAPTER 27 SLOANE’S FOURTH LETTER
Sloane’s fourth prison letter arrived that afternoon.
It was addressed to Grace.
Elena opened it in Rebecca’s temporary command office.
The handwriting was controlled.
There were no excuses.
No apology.
Only a warning.
Elena,
By now, they have told you Grace is the key to Samuel’s trust.
That is what Thomas believed.
It is what Grant believed.
It is not the full truth.
The child they want is not Grace.
Grace is the distraction.
The real heir was inside the courthouse when you fell.
Elena read the sentence again.
Adrian leaned over the desk.
“Who else was there?”
“Hundreds of people.”
“Women with children?”
“Several.”
Rebecca searched the original courthouse footage.
Maya’s recording showed Elena near the top of the staircase, Grant beside her, and Sloane approaching from behind.
In the background, a courthouse employee pushed a cleaning cart.
A small child sat inside the lower compartment.
Rebecca enlarged the image.
The child’s face remained hidden.
But a wooden horse protruded from the child’s coat pocket.
The same type Samuel had made.
Daniel’s toy.
Elena looked through the glass toward the waiting room.
Daniel sat beside Miriam.
“Daniel was at the courthouse?”
“He would have been four,” Rebecca said.
Miriam entered after being summoned.
When she saw the footage, she closed her eyes.
“You brought him there,” Elena said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Samuel’s final instructions.”
“Samuel had been dead for years.”
“He left scheduled directives with people he trusted.”
“What directive?”
“To bring Daniel close to the Mercer family if the trust was ever activated.”
Elena glanced toward Daniel.
“He is the heir?”
“No.”
“Then who is?”
Miriam removed a sealed paper from her bag.
“Daniel’s mother.”
“You are not Samuel’s daughter.”
“No.”
Miriam handed the paper to Elena.
It was a birth certificate.
The child’s name had been removed.
The mother’s name read:
Iris Mercer.
Elena looked toward Claire Rowan.
Claire shook her head.
“I never had a child.”
Miriam’s expression hardened.
“Then you are not Iris.”
Silence filled the room.
Claire picked up the birth certificate.
“Where did you get this?”
“Rebecca’s mother gave it to me.”
Rebecca turned sharply.
“My mother is dead.”
Miriam looked at her.
“No. Your father has kept her hidden for twenty-eight years.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Where?”
“Ask him.”
Robert Hale was being held in a federal interview room downstairs.
Before Rebecca could leave, Elena reached the final paragraph of Sloane’s letter.
There is one more thing.
Maya’s camera did not only record the staircase.
It recorded the person who gave Grant the order.
You have never watched the full video.
Do not trust Maya.
She works for the woman who calls herself Iris.
At that exact moment, the building’s security system alerted them.
May you like
Maya had entered the Mercer Center.
She was walking toward Grace’s bedroom.
