Chapter 6 - Mercer Street
The original Mercer Luxe boutique smelled like dust and leather.
The sign had been removed years earlier, but pale lettering remained on the brick facade.
Daniel unlocked the back entrance.
Rosa followed.
Detective Keene had advised them not to disturb anything potentially relevant.
So Daniel brought outside counsel’s investigator, Hannah Price.
The storage room occupied the second floor.
Boxes filled metal shelves.
Julia’s handwriting appeared everywhere.
SPRING PROTOTYPES
RETURNS 2017
VENDORS
Daniel stopped.
Five years after her death, seeing her handwriting still felt intimate.
Rosa pointed.
“There.”
Three gray archive boxes.
J.M. REVIEW
Hannah photographed them before opening.
Inside were invoices.
Security vendors.
Event contractors.
Temporary labor.
Transportation.
Most looked ordinary.
Then a spreadsheet.
Julia had highlighted repeated addresses.
Different companies.
Same mailing address.
Halcyon Event Logistics.
Pike Protective Services.
Atlantic Guest Management.
All shared a commercial mailbox in Marietta.
Daniel sat.
“She found it.”
Rosa nodded.
Julia had also handwritten:
ASK OWEN — duplicate services?
Then beneath:
O says acquired vendors / normal consolidation. Verify independently.
Daniel felt something close to nausea.
He knew Owen’s handwriting too.
Owen had written on another page:
Julia—resolved. Stop wasting energy on this. D. needs you home.
Daniel stared.
“D.”
Rosa looked away.
Daniel.
Owen had invoked him.
Used Daniel’s concern for Julia to shut her down.
Hannah continued sorting.
Another folder contained an incident report.
Leonard Pike.
Seven years earlier.
At a Mercer charity event, a cash donation envelope disappeared.
No proof Pike took it.
But Julia discovered a camera had been disabled before the loss.
Exactly like the champagne event.
She terminated Pike’s contract.
“Why didn’t she go to police?” Daniel asked.
Rosa answered.
“There wasn’t enough evidence.”
Hannah found an email printout.
Julia to Owen:
Do not use Pike or any entity connected to him again.
Owen replied:
Understood.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Seven years later, Pike entered another Mercer event through Halcyon credentials.
Owen had said he barely remembered Halcyon.
Maybe he did.
Maybe he had simply forgotten that Julia left paper.
Hannah’s phone rang.
She stepped aside.
Daniel sat on the dusty floor.
Rosa remained standing.
“I failed her.”
Rosa frowned.
“No.”
“I told her to stop working.”
“She was dying.”
“I treated her concern like illness.”
“You were scared.”
“That doesn’t change it.”
Rosa sat beside him.
“Julia was impossible when she thought she was right.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“She usually was.”
“Not always.”
“Almost.”
Rosa smiled.
Then Daniel asked:
“Why did Celeste hate you?”
Rosa’s smile disappeared.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Rosa looked toward the boxes.
“She thought I kept Julia in the house.”
“What does that mean?”
“Pictures. Stories. Emma asking about her mother.”
Daniel frowned.
“You were there before Celeste.”
“Yes.”
“Did Celeste ask you to stop?”
“More than once.”
“And?”
“I told her Emma deserved to know her mother.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“How did I miss all of this?”
Rosa answered gently.
“You wanted peace.”
He looked at her.
“That sounds noble.”
“It isn’t always.”
Daniel understood.
Keeping peace had often meant not looking closely at tension.
Celeste saying Rosa was too involved.
Rosa becoming quieter.
Emma spending less time with Rosa.
Celeste redesigning Julia’s old office.
Daniel called everything adjustment.
Hannah returned.
“You need to see something.”
She held a printed transaction log recovered from the archive.
Seven years earlier, shortly after Julia questioned Halcyon-linked invoices, Mercer Luxe had paid Atlantic Guest Management $48,000.
The approving executive:
Owen Grant.
Attached email:
Special project authorized by D.M.
Daniel stood.
“I never authorized this.”
Hannah pointed.
“No signature.”
“Then why does it say I did?”
“Someone claimed you did.”
Daniel stared.
Years before Celeste.
Years before the marriage.
Owen had possibly been using Daniel’s name to approve questionable vendors.
Then Hannah showed him the final paper.
Julia’s note.
Only seven words.
If Owen lies again, tell Daniel everything.
Daniel read it repeatedly.
Again.
May you like
Julia knew Owen had already lied.
The question was about what.
