Chapter 7: The Witness
Marcus Holt arrived at Rebecca's office on a Wednesday morning looking like a man who hadn't slept well in four days.
He was Owen's age — thirty-one — with the kind of face that had probably been easy and open before whatever he was carrying had settled into it.
He sat across the conference table from me and Rebecca and kept his hands flat on the surface, as if he needed to feel something solid.
"I appreciate you coming," Rebecca said.
"I should have come a long time ago," he said.
"I've been telling myself it wasn't my business.
That it wasn't my place." He looked at me.
"I watched Owen do this to a woman named Claire Odom three years ago.
I told myself it was a bad breakup.
I told myself I didn't know enough to get involved."
"What do you know?" Rebecca asked.
He exhaled.
"I know that Richard Hale drafted the same LLC structure for Claire that he drafted for Mara.
I know that Owen used the same language — the security speech, the property-as-a-gift framing.
I was there when he practiced it.
He called it the setup."
My stomach tightened.
"He called it that out loud?"
"To me.
He thought I was on board.
I was his best man.
I was supposed to be." Marcus looked at the table.
"Claire lost a property in Charleston.
She didn't fight it because Lorraine told her that if she filed anything, she'd make sure Claire's employer found out about a financial irregularity that didn't exist.
Claire was an accountant.
She couldn't risk it."
"Do you have any of this in writing?" Rebecca asked.
"I have texts.
From Owen, from that time.
He was careless because he trusted me." Marcus reached into his jacket and set a phone on the table.
"I kept them.
I don't know why.
Maybe I always knew I'd need them."
Rebecca looked at the phone, then at me.
"This changes the scope significantly," she said.
"With Marcus's testimony and these messages, we're no longer looking at a single incident.
We're looking at a pattern.
That moves this from a civil property dispute into potential crjminal fraud territory."
"What does that mean for Owen?" I asked.
"It means the DA's office may become interested.
It means Richard Hale's exposure increases substantially.
And it means Lorraine's involvement — the intimidation of Claire — becomes part of a larger picture."
Marcus looked up.
"Will Claire be contacted?"
"With her permission," Rebecca said.
"We won't force anything.
But if she's willing to come forward, her account strengthens everything."
"She might," Marcus said.
"She moved to Portland.
Started over.
But she told me once that she wished she'd fought back." He paused.
"She said she felt like she'd let the next woman down."
The room was quiet for a moment.
I thought about Claire Odom in Charleston, signing documents she didn't fully understand, then receiving a visit from Lorraine and deciding the risk was too great.
I thought about the woman before her, whose name I still didn't know.
"Find her," I said to Rebecca.
"Both of them, if you can.
And ask them."
Rebecca made a note.
Marcus looked at me across the table.
"I'm sorry I was his best man," he said.
"I'm sorry I stood up there and smiled."
"You're here now," I said.
It wasn't absolution.
But it was the truth.
As I stood to leave, Rebecca's assistant knocked and opened the conference room door.
"Rebecca.
Owen Mercer's attorney just called.
Patterson says his client wants to negotiate a full settlement before any criminal referral is made."
Rebecca didn't look surprised.
"Tell him we'll consider it," she said.
"After we've spoken with Claire Odom."
The door closed.
Marcus let out a slow breath.
May you like
"He's scared," he said.
"Good," I said.
