Brooks sat down.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Daniel stared at his hands.
“I found records showing that money was being moved out of a company Arthur Mercer controlled.”
Hayes leaned forward.
“Mercer Holdings?”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your grandfather was investigating. He suspected someone was using his properties as collateral for loans he hadn’t approved.”
Evelyn Whitcomb’s financial findings flashed through my mind.
Eight million dollars.
Unexplained consulting payments.
Documents Hayes had never seen.
Daniel continued.
“Arthur asked me to bring him copies of the records.”
“What happened?” Brooks asked.
“I was crossing the garden near the old bocce court when someone called my name.”
He paused.
“I turned.”
His hand moved unconsciously toward the scar near his neck.
“And something hit me.”
The room went silent.
“A steel ball?” Brooks asked.
Daniel nodded.
“I didn’t see who threw it.”
Hayes stared at him.
“But you said someone was standing beside you.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Someone was.”
“Who?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with something that looked like shame.
“Your father.”
Hayes went completely still.
I felt my stomach tighten.
Daniel continued.
“Orson was standing near the terrace. He was the last person I saw before I lost consciousness.”
Detective Brooks made a note.
“Did you see him throw the ball?”
“No.”
“Then we need to be precise about that.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
He looked toward Hayes.
“But when I woke up, your father was the one who told me what had happened.”
“What did he say?”
“That I had fallen.”
Hayes shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel gave a bitter smile.
“Apparently not.”
He leaned forward.
“Your grandfather knew I hadn’t fallen. He wanted an investigation.”
“What stopped him?” Brooks asked.
Daniel looked down.
“His health.”
Then he added, “And pressure from his own family.”
Daniel explained that he had been offered a settlement.
A large one.
Enough to cover his medical bills and provide financial security.
But the money came with conditions.
He couldn’t publicly accuse anyone in the Mercer family.
He couldn’t discuss the financial records he had discovered.
And he couldn’t return to the estate.
“Who arranged the agreement?” Brooks asked.
Daniel looked at Hayes.
“Vesta.”
My husband’s face hardened.
“Of course.”
Daniel continued.
“She brought the documents to the rehabilitation center. Told me the family wanted to help.”
I watched him struggle to keep his voice steady.
“She said I should be grateful.”
The words made my chest tighten.
I knew that tone.
That same poisonous mixture of cruelty and entitlement.
Vesta had used it on me while I lay bleeding on the grass.
Daniel looked at me.
“When I heard what happened to you, I knew.”
I wrote:
KNEW WHAT?
He swallowed.
“That somebody had brought number seventeen back.”
Detective Brooks spent another hour taking Daniel’s statement.
She asked careful questions.
Dates.
Locations.
Names.
Documents.
Who had witnessed what.
Who had signed which agreements.
She didn’t promise an arrest.
She didn’t declare the old case solved.
But I noticed something important.
She stopped treating the events as isolated coincidences.
When Daniel finished, she closed her notebook.
“Mr. Rourke, do you still have the settlement agreement?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Any correspondence?”
“Some.”
“Medical records?”
“Most of them.”
“Would you be willing to provide copies?”
Daniel looked at me.
Then at Hayes.
“That’s why I came.”
Brooks nodded.
“Good.”
She stood.
“And I strongly recommend that nobody here contacts the Mercer family directly about this information.”
Hayes looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because evidence has already gone missing in your wife’s case.”
She paused.
“And because someone has been threatening witnesses.”
I watched Daniel’s expression change.
He looked toward the hospital room door.
“Detective, there’s something else.”
Brooks turned.
“What?”
“Vesta didn’t come here just to stop me from talking.”
“How do you know?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Because she knew I was coming before I told anyone.”
The room fell silent.
I felt my heartbeat quicken.
Brooks leaned forward.
“Who knew you were coming?”
Daniel looked at his hands.
“One person.”
“Who?”
He swallowed.
“My daughter.”
After Detective Brooks left to make arrangements for Daniel’s documents, Hayes stepped into the hallway with Evelyn.
Daniel remained beside my bed.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he looked at me.
“You remind me of someone.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Your husband’s grandfather.”
I almost smiled.
Daniel continued.
“Arthur didn’t come from money. Not originally. He built everything with his own hands.”
I listened.
“He could be stubborn. Proud. Difficult.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“But he hated bullies.”
I reached for my notepad.
THEN WHY DIDN’T HE STOP ORSON?
Daniel read the question.
His smile disappeared.
“Because by the time he understood what his son had become, Orson controlled too many people around him.”
I looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“Arthur trusted the wrong people for too long.”
