A Brother's Price
Chapter 05 - A Brother's Price
Josie did not go alone. She went with Ruth, who remained three tables away pretending to read the food section of the Tribune. The diner was near Midway Airport, in a strip mall where the lights buzzed and the pie sat uncovered beneath glass. Matthew Mercer arrived twenty minutes late with an expensive watch and the restless eyes of a man who measured every room for exits. He embraced Josie before she could decide whether to allow it. "You look just like Paul when you're mad," he said. "That's a terrible way to say hello." He smiled, and for a moment she remembered him at nineteen, teaching Paul to dance badly in their first apartment.
She asked him about Ben. Matthew admitted he'd approached the boy because he feared Josie would refuse to speak with him. "You were right," she said. "Don't do it again." He nodded without arguing, which surprised her. Then he pushed a bank statement across the table. It showed a transfer of seventy-five thousand dollars from a consulting company to Daniel Rourke's account, nine days after Paul's death. "The same company paid for the post-accident audit," Matthew said. "Victor Hale controlled it." Josie read the line twice. "Where did you get this?" "The person who sent me the documents knows what they're worth." "And what do they want?" Matthew glanced toward Ruth. "Depends who ends up paying."
Josie hated the familiar shape of the answer. "Did you come to help Paul, or to sell what happened to him?" "Both, if I'm being truthful." He took a long drink of coffee. Matthew had been a gambler once, not at casinos so much as in life. He believed every disaster contained an angle. At the funeral he had promised to look into the accident. She had assumed he'd forgotten. Perhaps he had been circling it for years, seeing in his brother's death a chance to become someone important. "I need the originals," she said. "Then I need to know who is sending them." "I can't give you either yet." "Then we're done." He caught her hand as she stood. "Josie, I found something else. Paul's name was on a transfer order scheduled for the week after he died. Someone was preparing to move him off the site."
Outside, Ruth listened without interruption. "The statement may be real, or altered, or missing context," she said. "We verify with lawful records. And we don't let Matthew decide who sees the evidence." Josie looked at the traffic. Five years ago, she'd wanted a villain with a face. Now faces were everywhere. She worried that if she followed the money far enough she would find everyone she'd ever relied upon. Ruth put a firm hand on her arm. "You can be angry at a dead man's brother without carrying the whole investigation in your purse."
Emmett was having his own poor afternoon. Victor had placed a memorandum before the board warning of reputational damage, and two directors were urging Emmett to suspend the inquiry. One suggested a financial accommodation for the housekeeper. Emmett said the question was not whether they could afford a prosthetic device. The question was whether the company had tolerated discrimination, concealed evidence, or both. A director who had known his father since college said, "Your father would have settled this quietly." Emmett replied, "My father's way of doing things is part of what we're examining." Catherine, seated across from him, did not look away.
After the meeting he found Josie in the hotel's side courtyard. She had come to collect her personal belongings and speak with Elaine. Nina had arranged a temporary mobility plan while the clinic assessed replacement options, and Josie was moving carefully with her crutches. The lilacs in the courtyard were nearly spent. Emmett stayed a respectful distance from her. "Elaine told me you have representation," he said. "Good." "She told you that?" "Only that communication should go through your lawyer. I asked her not to tell me anything private." Josie turned the statement over in her mind. The man could command every door in the building, yet seemed to be practicing the difficult art of leaving one closed.
"I heard you lost your wife," she said. He nodded. "Four years ago." "People probably think that means you'll understand me." "People think too much about grief they haven't had." She laughed, unexpectedly. His eyes widened slightly, then warmed. "My son was seven," he said. "He still asks why everyone refers to life before and after, as though we were different families. Maybe we were." Josie looked down at her crutch. "Ben was four. He remembers Paul's boots better than Paul's voice. I kept the boots." "I kept Lydia's coffee cup," Emmett said. "The ugly yellow one. Noah hates it." They stood with the uncomfortable ease of two people who had spoken more plainly than planned.
May you like
She told him there were things about Paul's accident that might lead back to the hotel. She did not show him the evidence; Ruth had instructed her not to. Emmett did not ask. "I won't interfere with your attorney," he said. "I want you to know that much." "Why do you care?" she asked. He watched a leaf scrape the stone. "Because I've had the luxury of looking away. I don't want to do it again." It wasn't the kind of answer that made a woman fall in love. It was better: the kind that could, with work, be tested.
At home that evening, Josie found Daniel waiting across the street from her apartment. He looked tired and frightened. "I know what Matthew showed you," he said. "The money wasn't for my silence." "Then what was it for?" Daniel swallowed. "I was paid to take blame for the inspection failure. But someone else received a larger transfer." He took a folded page from his coat. The recipient's name was printed plainly. Josie recognized it before she finished reading, and the air went out of her lungs. The money had gone to **Paul Mercer.**
