Chapter 7
Merrick remembered the driver.
Not a face.
A ring.
Three years old.
That was how memory worked.
Not names.
Details.
I sat beside him in my private room.
No Agatha.
No Julian.
No Leon.
Just me, Merrick and Cecily.
I held up my signet ring.
“Was the driver wearing one?”
Merrick nodded.
“Like Daddy?”
“Sort of.”
“Same?”
He shook his head.
“What was different?”
He looked at Cecily.
She handed him crayons.
Merrick drew slowly.
A circle.
Then something inside it.
Three lines.
A crown.
My stomach tightened.
Leon Vale's old family signet.
He still wore it.
I had seen it every week for twenty years.
Cecily whispered:
“Conrad…”
I stood.
Merrick grabbed my sleeve.
“Daddy.”
I stopped.
He looked frightened.
“Is Uncle Leon mad?”
“No.”
“Agatha said he gets mad when I remember.”
Everything in me went cold.
“How often did she ask?”
Merrick looked down.
“A lot.”
“What did she say?”
He hesitated.
Then copied her tone.
Cruel.
Adult words coming from a child's mouth.
“If you keep telling stories about that night, Daddy will get tired of you too.”
Cecily closed her eyes.
Merrick continued.
“She said Mommy got tired of me.”
My jaw tightened.
“She said Mommy drove fast because I cried.”
I crouched in front of him.
“No.”
Merrick's eyes filled.
“No?”
“No.”
“Mommy didn't leave because of me?”
“No.”
His lower lip shook.
I touched his face.
“Nothing that happened to your mother was because of you.”
He started crying.
Quietly.
Relief can look a lot like pain in a child.
I held him.
Then he whispered:
“Uncle Leon was driving.”
That was enough.
Not for strangers.
For me.
I didn't need strangers.
I needed truth.
I returned downstairs.
Leon stood in the reception room with guards around him.
Agatha sat nearby.
Julian paced.
I placed Merrick's drawing on the table.
Leon looked at it.
His face didn't move.
Agatha's did.
I noticed.
“Merrick remembers your ring.”
Leon smiled tiredly.
“Children imagine things.”
“He remembers you driving.”
Silence.
Agatha interrupted.
“For God's sake, Conrad. He was barely two.”
I looked at her.
“You've spent months trying to convince him he couldn't remember.”
“Because he can't.”
“Then why were you afraid of the button?”
Nothing.
“Why did Julian tell you to remove it?”
Silence.
“Why did Leon know I was upstairs?”
Agatha's mouth tightened.
“You're emotional.”
There it was.
The oldest trick.
Call the person discovering your cruelty unstable.
I smiled.
“Good.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“You're running out of answers.”
Leon finally spoke.
“Elena got into my car willingly.”
The room went still.
I turned.
“What?”
He looked at Agatha.
She whispered:
“Don't.”
Leon ignored her.
“She wanted to speak privately.”
“About Julian?”
“Yes.”
“You drove.”
“Yes.”
“Merrick was in the back seat.”
“Yes.”
My hands tightened.
“What happened on Blackwood Road?”
Leon looked at Julian.
“Northgate arrived.”
“Because?”
“Julian called them.”
Julian's face changed.
“No.”
Leon continued.
“He wanted Elena frightened.”
“I wanted her quiet.”
“You said force her off the road if necessary.”
Julian lunged.
Two guards grabbed him.
“You lying bastard!”
Leon laughed.
“Now you're offended by betrayal?”
Agatha stood.
“Enough.”
I looked at her.
She wasn't worried about Julian anymore.
She was watching Leon.
“What are you still hiding?”
Leon stared at her.
Agatha's face changed.
I saw it.
He smiled.
“Oh.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Your aunt never told you why Elena was in my car.”
I waited.
Leon continued.
“She wasn't confronting Julian.”
Agatha whispered:
“Leon.”
“She was leaving.”
My chest tightened.
“Leaving what?”
Leon looked directly at me.
“The estate.”
“No.”
“With Merrick.”
I stared.
Agatha closed her eyes.
May you like
Leon finished:
“Because she had discovered what Agatha was planning to do to you.”
