Chapter 5 - ELEANOR'S SECRET
Annabelle refused to believe him.
Roger had lied for seventeen years. He had voted to remove Jonathan from the company, accepted shares after the scandal, and remained loyal to Diane until the recording surfaced. Accusing Eleanor seemed like one more act of cowardice.
Then Thomas showed Annabelle the text messages found on Roger's phone.
The sender used an unregistered number, but the instructions included details known only inside the estate: the security shift change, the balcony alarm fault, and the location of Annabelle's childhood room.
One message read: Frighten her. Do not harm her. Find out whether Garrett gave her the cassette.
Eleanor denied sending them.
"I would never terrorize that child."
Thomas did not accuse her. Instead, he asked who else had access to the estate's internal schedules.
The answer was Arthur Bell, Eleanor's longtime chief of staff.
Arthur had served the Mercer family for twenty-nine years. He managed staff, travel, medical appointments, and confidential correspondence. He had comforted Annabelle after her parents died. He had been the person who identified their bodies at the hospital.
When detectives went to question him, his office was empty.
A burner phone lay in the wastebasket.
The texts to Roger had been sent from it.
Arthur's car was found near the train station, but security footage showed him leaving in a black sedan registered to a Mercer Hospitality subsidiary.
Eleanor sat in the library, devastated.
"He knew everything," she whispered. "Every weakness. Every grief."
Thomas opened another section of the leather file. Rebecca's safety-deposit box had contained more than the cassette. There were letters addressed to Eleanor but never delivered.
In the first, Rebecca wrote that someone inside the Mercer estate intercepted her mail.
In the second, she described seeing Arthur meet secretly with Martin Kessler.
In the third, written two days before the crash, she stated that Jonathan wanted to go directly to federal authorities.
The final line read: If anything happens to us, do not trust the person who brings you the news first.
Arthur had brought Eleanor the news.
Annabelle looked at her grandmother. "Why were these letters in the bank box?"
"Rebecca must have realized they were being intercepted and kept the originals."
"So Arthur worked for Diane?"
Thomas shook his head. "Possibly. But the financial records suggest something larger."
Arthur had received payments from companies connected to Daniel and Diane. He had also received money from Charles Mercer.
For years, he had been paid by both sides.
Eleanor closed her eyes. "Charles used him to watch Diane. Diane used him to watch Charles."
"And Arthur used both of them," Annabelle said.
A call came from the district attorney.
Martin Kessler had vanished from protective custody.
His guard was found unconscious.
On the motel mirror, written in soap, were four words:
May you like
THE ORPHAN OWES ME EVERYTHING.
Orphan Inheritance - Magnolia Restaurant
