Chapter 7: The Price of a Daughter
Vincent’s car was still outside.
A trail of white extinguisher powder crossed the service hall and ended at the old greenhouse behind the mansion.
Grace held out her cuffed hands.
“Free me.”
One of Mercer’s officers shook his head.
“I can’t.”
“Your detective just took a three-year-old child.”
The younger officer removed the key from his belt.
“If I do this, my career is over.”
Mrs.
Donnelly touched his sleeve.
“If you don’t, you’ll remember her scream for the rest of your life.”
The cuffs opened.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Officer Daniel Ruiz.”
“Stay with Olivia and Sophie.”
He drew his radio.
“No.
I’m calling state police and going with you.”
That was the first honorable thing I had seen from a badge in fourteen months.
Grace caught my arm before we crossed the garden.
“You cannot rush in.”
“He has my daughter.”
“And he knows you will trade your life for hers.
That is his advantage.”
“What do you suggest?”
She held up her phone.
“We make sure the whole world hears what he asks for.”
Inside the greenhouse, Mercer stood by the rear door with a g*n beneath his jacket.
Vincent held Nora against his chest, one hand covering her mouth.
“Let her go,” I said.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
I raised them.
Nora kicked Vincent’s knee.
“That’s my girl,” I said.
Vincent tightened his grip.
“Tell Grace to bring the card.”
“She doesn’t have it.”
“Then Mercer takes Nora, and you never see her again.”
Grace stepped through the doorway.
“I have a copy.”
Vincent smiled.
“There is the helpful housekeeper.”
“You forged bank records in my name.”
“You were supposed to look guilty long enough for me to leave.”
“And Isabelle?”
“She was supposed to give me the ledger.”
Nora twisted toward him.
“You hurt Mommy.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“Your mother made a choice.”
I took one step forward.
“You ordered it.”
“I gave Mercer a problem to solve.”
Mercer pulled out his g*n.
“Stop talking.”
Grace held up the card.
“Let Nora walk to Dominic, and you get this.”
“Throw it first,” Vincent said.
“No.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
A side door creaked open.
Marco Bellini, my oldest lieutenant, entered with his hands raised.
He had worked for Vincent longer than he had worked for me.
“Police are at the front gate,” Marco said.
Vincent laughed.
“They are my police.”
“Not these.”
Marco placed a telephone on the table.
“Federal investigators are listening.”
Vincent’s face collapsed.
“You betrayed me?”
“You made me drive the car that followed Isabelle.”
My hands curled into fists.
Marco looked directly at me.
“I didn’t know what Mercer planned until I heard the sh0t.
I have lived with that sound every night.”
“You watched her die?”
“I called an ambulance.
Then Vincent threatened my sons.”
Vincent dragged Nora backward.
“You pathetic old fool.”
Marco took off his jacket.
A tiny recorder was clipped inside.
“I recorded every payment you made to Mercer.”
Mercer aimed his g*n at him.
Officer Ruiz entered behind us.
“Put it down, Detective.”
“You first.”
Nora suddenly sank her teeth into Vincent’s hand.
He shouted and released her.
She ran.
I caught her against my chest as Grace knocked Mercer’s wrist aside.
The g*n slid beneath a bench, and Officer Ruiz forced him to the floor.
Vincent reached the rear door, but federal officers filled the path outside.
He looked at me through the glass.
“You think this makes you innocent?”
“No.”
“Without me, you are nothing.”
Nora wrapped both arms around my neck.
“I’m her father.”
Two officers pulled Vincent’s hands behind him.
“This family will beg me to come back,” he said.
“You will destroy each other without someone strong enough to lie for you.”
Olivia and Sophie ran into the greenhouse with Mrs.
Donnelly behind them.
They stopped when they saw the handcuffs.
Sophie pointed at Vincent.
“We talked.”
Vincent’s face twisted as the officers led him away.
Marco remained beside the table, waiting for me to decide what happened to him.
Instead, Olivia looked up at him.
“What were Mommy’s last words?”
Marco’s eyes filled.
May you like
“She told me to tell your father that she was leaving him.”
All three girls turned toward me.
