Chapter 7 - Rebecca
The ballroom was three floors below us.
By the time federal agents reached it, the room was empty.
The chair remained at the center of the floor. The ropes had been cut. Sophie’s bracelet lay beside one leg.
The gold egg was gone.
A service elevator at the back of the ballroom connected to an alley behind the building. Its security system had been disabled.
Rebecca had planned every movement around our response.
“She wanted us to see her,” Mara said.
“She wanted me to see her.”
“You cannot assume she is related to you.”
“I am not assuming anything.”
But my mind had already begun comparing details.
Claire’s eyes.
The angle of the jaw.
The way Rebecca stood with more weight on her left foot.
Lily did that.
Claire did too.
Genetics can become a dangerous form of persuasion. People see what they fear or hope to see.
I forced the resemblance aside.
“What do we know about Rebecca Mercer?”
“Almost nothing,” Mara replied. “No licensed therapist exists under that name. The video service account used a stolen identity.”
“Facial recognition?”
“Running.”
“Voice?”
“Running.”
“Vehicle?”
“Traffic cameras lost the service elevator route two blocks from here.”
“She had help.”
“Clearly.”
An agent called from the ballroom entrance.
“We found a phone.”
It sat beneath the chair, already connected to a video call.
The screen activated when I approached.
Rebecca appeared.
She sat inside a moving vehicle with Sophie beside her. The child was frightened but unharmed.
“Say hello,” Rebecca instructed.
Sophie looked at the camera.
“Hello.”
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
She shook her head.
Rebecca moved the camera closer.
“No bruises. No restraints. I gave her juice and a blanket.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I rescued her before the Crown reached her.”
“You attacked federal agents.”
“I sedated them.”
“You fired through a hospital window.”
Her expression changed.
“That was not me.”
“You sent the Easter card.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“The Crown.”
“You keep speaking as if you are separate from it.”
“I am trying to destroy it.”
“So are several people who keep using Lily as bait.”
Rebecca’s eyes hardened.
“I kept Lily alive.”
“You manipulated her.”
“I gave her information.”
“You pretended to be her sister.”
“I am her sister.”
“Prove it.”
“I will.”
“Bring Sophie to the federal building.”
“No.”
“Then you are a kidnapper regardless of your intentions.”
“If I surrender, Eleanor’s people will reach me before sunrise.”
“Eleanor is detained.”
“Eleanor is a manager. Not the Crown.”
“Who leads it?”
Rebecca smiled sadly.
“The same man who taught you to trust no one.”
Daniel.
The answer seemed obvious.
Perhaps too obvious.
“You mean Daniel Kerr.”
“I mean the person who built Sentinel.”
Sentinel had been authorized by Assistant Attorney General Charles Voss.
Voss was seventy-eight years old now, officially retired in Maryland after a celebrated career. He had mentored Mara. He had recruited me.
He attended Claire’s funeral.
He carried Lily through the cemetery when I was too numb to stand.
“Charles Voss is the Crown?” I asked.
Rebecca’s face became still.
“I never said his name.”
“You did not have to.”
Mara stepped closer to the phone.
“Where is Sophie’s red drive?”
“Safe.”
“Where are the remaining eggs?”
“One is already in Crown custody. Two are moving. One is with a frightened family. The final one is with me.”
“The gold egg?”
Rebecca lifted it into view.
“Eleanor’s piece.”
“Release the child and arrange a protected surrender,” Mara said. “I will personally guarantee your safety.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“You guaranteed Claire’s safety too.”
Mara flinched.
Rebecca noticed.
“I know what happened that night,” she continued.
“What night?” I asked.
“The night Claire died.”
I stepped closer to the phone.
“You were not there.”
“I was.”
The moving vehicle passed beneath a light. For an instant, Rebecca’s face became clearer.
A thin scar crossed her forehead near the hairline.
“Explain.”
“Claire was not alone in the car.”
The official report stated she was.
The emergency crew found only one victim.
“Who was with her?”
“A baby.”
My heart began to pound.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel claims Claire discovered she was pregnant three days before the crash.”
“Daniel lies whenever the truth threatens him.”
“You would have been an infant. You could not remember the crash.”
“I don’t remember it. I have the rescue report.”
“There was no rescue report.”
“Not in the public file.”
Rebecca reached outside the camera frame and held up a yellowed document.
At the top was the emblem of a private emergency company.
“An off-duty medic arrived before the county team. He removed a premature infant from a concealed carrier in the rear compartment.”
“Why would the baby be concealed?”
“Claire knew someone was following her.”
“Where did the medic take the child?”
“To a private clinic.”
“Who authorized it?”
“Charles Voss.”
Mara’s voice became sharp.
“That is impossible.”
“Ask him.”
“He is retired.”
“He is watching this conversation.”
Mara looked toward the hidden room’s camera.
Rebecca continued.
“Every system you use was designed by someone. Every secure line belongs to an institution. The Crown grew by controlling institutions.”
I thought of the cloned credentials, leaked hospital room, erased archive, and court order signed within nine minutes.
The network did not need to break through doors.
It owned the people who designed the locks.
“Why would Voss hide my child from me?” I asked.
“Because Claire had discovered he was the source of the Sentinel leaks. She planned to take both daughters and disappear.”
“Both?”
“Claire placed Lily with you that morning. She took me to meet a protected witness who could expose Voss.”
I searched my memory.
The morning Claire died, she left Lily with me at the field office because she had a medical appointment. Lily colored pictures at my desk for two hours.
Claire kissed her twice before leaving.
At the time, it seemed affectionate.
Now it felt like goodbye.
“Who raised you?” I asked.
“A family selected by Voss.”
“Why keep you alive?”
“To control Claire’s evidence.”
“Claire was dead.”
“But Voss did not know where she hid the original files. He believed she might have arranged for them to be released if I was harmed.”
“Did she?”
Rebecca looked at the gold egg.
“She divided the final Crown registry into six encryption fragments.”
My mind caught the inconsistency.
“The eggs were prepared recently.”
“The devices were. The encryption fragments are fifteen years old.”
“Where were they?”
“Hidden inside six archived Sentinel exhibits. Daniel found them over time.”
“Then Daniel knew Claire created the list.”
“He knew part of it.”
“Why involve Lily?”
“Because one fragment was hidden in Eleanor’s mansion. Lily was the only person who could enter without triggering suspicion.”
“You could have told me.”
“Voss watches you.”
“You contacted Lily.”
“Voss was not watching her closely until she entered the archive.”
“And now Sophie is in danger because of your plan.”
Rebecca looked toward the child.
Regret crossed her face.
“I did not expect Daniel to reveal the egg locations.”
“He claims only you and he knew.”
“He is telling the truth.”
“Then how did the kidnappers find the Lambert house?”
“Because Daniel gave them the address.”
“Why?”
“To force me into the open.”
I studied her.
“You blame Daniel. Daniel blames the Crown. Eleanor blames no one because she says nothing. Every person gives me enough truth to distrust someone else.”
“That is how the Crown survives.”
“Then give me something verifiable.”
Rebecca considered this.
“At 8:30 tonight, Voss will appear on national television from his home. He will condemn the attack on Lily and offer support to your family.”
“Why?”
“To place himself publicly beside the victims before anyone connects him to the crime.”
“And what will that prove?”
“Nothing.”
“Then it is not useful.”
“He will wear Claire’s wedding ring on a chain beneath his shirt.”
The sentence struck me harder than Daniel’s claim about the pregnancy.
Claire’s wedding ring was missing from the crash scene.
Investigators assumed it was lost in the wreckage.
Only Claire and I knew the inscription inside.
ALWAYS FIND YOUR WAY HOME.
“If you can see the ring, you will know he was connected to the crash,” Rebecca said.
“Release Sophie.”
“When Voss’s interview begins, I will leave her somewhere safe.”
“Now.”
“If I release her now, the Crown will take her.”
“You expect me to trust you.”
“No.”
She leaned closer to the camera.
“I expect you to recognize your own eyes.”
The call ended.
At 8:28, Mara found the national news interview.
Charles Voss appeared in a dark study lined with books and military photographs. He looked older than I remembered but still carried the calm authority that once made rooms obey him.
He spoke about public corruption, domestic violence, and the importance of protecting victims.
He said my name with sorrow.
“Arthur Mercer served this country with distinction. His daughter deserves justice.”
At 8:34, the interviewer asked whether the old Sentinel task force had investigated the Vale family.
Voss shifted in his chair.
His shirt collar opened slightly.
A gold chain became visible.
A ring hung from it.
Mara froze the image and enlarged it.
The ring’s interior could not be seen.
But I recognized a tiny repaired notch on the band.
I had damaged it while installing Lily’s crib. Claire teased me for weeks before having it repaired.
There was no doubt.
Charles Voss wore my dead wife’s wedding ring.
At 8:37, a police officer found Sophie sitting inside a twenty-four-hour grocery store beneath a security camera.
She held the red Easter egg.
Taped to it was a note.
ASK VOSS WHICH DAUGHTER HE SAVED.
At 8:42, Charles Voss ended his interview and disappeared from federal surveillance.
At 8:43, Mara received a call from headquarters.
A warrant request for Voss had been denied.
The official who denied it had once served as his deputy.
The Crown had revealed its first layer.
May you like
And somewhere in the city, a woman who might be my daughter carried the final piece needed to expose them all.
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