Chapter 6 - The Dead Brother’s Account
Nathan Mercer remained missing.
His car sat inside the clinic garage.
His passport, wallet, and laptop were gone.
Airport records showed no confirmed departure.
Evelyn claimed she had not spoken to him since the hospital called police.
Her phone records showed a twelve minute conversation.
Laura Mills admitted driving Mercer to an abandoned pediatric center outside the city.
“Why?” Detective Hayes asked.
“Evelyn said he needed to destroy duplicate records.”
“What happened there?”
“Evelyn arrived.”
“Then?”
“They argued.”
“About what?”
“The capsules.”
Mercer accused Luke of using too much medication during the current pregnancy. Evelyn said no one was supposed to endanger the male child.
That did not make her compassionate.
It clarified the plan.
They wanted me frightened, dependent, and medically unstable.
They wanted Eli alive because the trust required him.
Luke’s rage threatened both goals.
“What happened to Mercer?” Hayes asked.
“Evelyn told me to leave.”
“Was anyone else there?”
“A man.”
“Name?”
“Andrew.”
Laura had met him twice.
He resembled Luke.
Older.
Quieter.
He handled clinic medication, copied patient identification, and private transport.
Evelyn had told everyone Andrew was dead because the family could not survive another scandal after he stole controlled medication from a hospital pharmacy.
Samuel arranged the false death and sent him abroad.
Years later, Evelyn brought him back.
Andrew had been working under dead identities and clinic contractor names.
He supplied the medication hidden inside my vitamin capsules.
He also created the first false pregnancy record.
Police issued a warrant.
A vehicle linked to Andrew appeared near the state border.
It was found abandoned with Melissa’s jacket inside.
No blood.
No sign of injury.
A note rested on the driver’s seat.
Caroline has the copy that matters.
I did not understand.
Then Hannah remembered the pale blue maternity dress.
Before the attack, I had photographed Luke’s locked cabinet after finding the key inside his coat.
I copied the fetal reports and payment pages onto a small memory card.
I sewed it into the hem because Luke searched my purse and phone.
The hospital had cut the dress away.
The evidence bag remained with police.
Detective Hayes opened the hem under camera.
The card contained everything from the cabinet.
Trust documents.
Male fetal reports.
Messages between Luke and Mercer.
One video file had been deleted from my phone but preserved on the card.
Luke stood inside his office speaking to a man outside the camera frame.
“If Caroline leaves after the boy is born, Mother loses the properties.”
The man answered.
“Then she does not leave with the child.”
The voice was calm.
Older than Luke.
Melissa entered the edge of the frame carrying a clinic file.
“You are not taking that baby,” she said.
The man turned.
For one second, his face appeared.
He looked like Luke.
Not identical.
The police compared old photographs.
Andrew Hayes.
Alive.
Melissa had confronted both brothers.
The video ended when Luke found my phone.
Andrew knew I had made a copy.
He believed I still carried it.
That explained why Luke attacked me on the day I said I planned to call Hannah and leave.
The boiling water was rage.
It was also an attempt to stop me before the evidence reached anyone.
Dr. Carter examined the memory card metadata.
One message from Mercer to Luke read:
Andrew has prepared the final incapacity dose. Use only if Caroline attempts to remove the child after delivery.
Luke replied:
She is leaving before delivery.
Mercer:
Then wait. The trust requires a living male child.
Luke:
I am done waiting.
Luke acted before the medical plan was ready.
He poured the water because control was slipping.
The family structure did not order every movement.
It gave him tools, excuses, and confidence.
He chose violence.
A hospital employee called Detective Hayes.
Nathan Mercer had entered St. Catherine wearing maintenance clothing.
Security footage showed him near Eli’s records office.
He used Melissa’s old clinic badge to request a neonatal transfer.
The order attempted to move Eli to Hayes Family Pediatric Center, a closed facility controlled by Evelyn’s trust.
Dr. Carter rejected it.
Mercer disappeared into a maintenance corridor.
Police searched the building.
They found his discarded uniform and a portable drive.
The drive contained my psychiatric file, Eli’s trust confirmation, and a video.
Mercer sat inside a locked room.
“Luke has lost control,” he said. “Evelyn will sacrifice everyone. The boy must leave St. Catherine before Carter completes the tissue report.”
He looked toward someone outside the frame.
“I did what you asked. Where is my passport?”
A woman answered.
“After the transfer.”
Megan played the voice twice.
Her hands began shaking.
“That is Melissa.”
Her sister might be alive.
May you like
Or someone was using old recordings.
Continue to the next part: Melissa’s voice appears beside the missing doctor, but investigators cannot tell whether she is helping Mercer or forcing him to expose the scheme.
