Chapter 5
Nerelle reached him before anyone else.
Of course.
Elias barely stayed standing when she hit him with the force of the embrace.
He was thinner than the photograph she carried in her staff locker.
Longer hair.
Beard.
Exhausted eyes.
Alive.
That was enough for several minutes.
I turned away.
Some moments belong to blood before power.
When they finally separated, Nerelle struck his chest once.
Hard.
“You idiot.”
He laughed and cried at the same time.
Good.
Then he saw me properly.
The laughter disappeared.
“Mr. Wynthorne.”
“Anselm tonight.”
He nodded cautiously.
I asked:
“Did Merrick try to kill you?”
Elias looked toward the cabin.
“No.”
Interesting.
“What happened?”
“Merrick wanted me gone.”
From the lodge?
From Rosamonde?
From my reach?
All three.
After the confrontation in June, Merrick drove Elias north.
Not at gunpoint.
At first.
He told him Rosamonde wanted to settle things privately.
Then the road changed.
Remote.
No signal.
Elias tried leaving the car.
Merrick stopped him.
Still no beating.
No blood.
Just a threat.
Disappear for a while or Nerelle loses her job and gets blamed for stealing from the estate.
Elias knew his sister had only recently secured steady work.
He believed him.
That angered Nerelle.
“You vanished for my job?”
“I thought temporary.”
That word again.
Merrick placed him with a remote maintenance crew under another name.
Cash work.
No questions.
Elias planned to return after a few weeks.
Then Merrick visited.
Told him Nerelle had been dismissed anyway.
False.
Told him Rosamonde had convinced me Elias stole from lodge accounts.
False.
Told him if he returned, I would punish his sister for helping him.
False.
Merrick built a wall using my reputation.
I had never met the man.
Yet he used fear of me like a locked door.
“How did he convince Rosamonde you were dead?”
Elias’s face changed.
“He didn’t just convince her.”
I waited.
“He made me help.”
Nerelle stared.
Merrick forced Elias to leave the coat near North Ridge.
Wallet too.
Then spread the accident story privately.
Not public enough to raise questions.
Only enough to close Rosamonde’s curiosity.
Elias whispered:
“He needed her to think the problem was gone.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
May you like
Because after hiding Elias, Merrick took over Rosamonde’s access business.
And made it far bigger.
