C21 THE WITNESS WHO VANISHED

The name on the old agreement was the first thing Isabella saw when she opened her eyes the next morning. She had written it on a sheet of paper before going to bed, beneath the photograph recovered from Samuel’s storage unit.

ROBERT MERCER.

The former legal adviser had witnessed the partnership between Daniel Hart and Richard Sterling. If he was still alive, he could confirm whether the missing page had been altered. If he was dead, someone had spent years making certain his silence lasted.

Alexander stood by the windows of his office, reading the report from the storage facility.

“Victor used his own signature,” she said. “Either he wanted us to find it, or he believes no one can touch him.”

“Or someone used his name to direct us toward him.” Alexander placed the report on the desk. “We need to establish where Mercer is before we confront Victor.”

“Then find him.”

“I have people checking the legal records.”

“Your people work for you. If Mercer is connected to what happened to my father, someone inside your company may already know we’re looking.”

Alexander accepted the accusation without reacting. “Then we won’t use my company’s systems.”

She watched him end the call. “You knew Mercer personally?”

“I met him twice. He was careful with his words and never stayed in a room longer than he needed to. My father trusted his legal judgment.”

“Did your father trust him enough to let him change an agreement?”

“I don’t know.” Alexander’s expression tightened. “That is what we’re trying to prove.”

Isabella felt the room contract around her. Her mother had appeared in the photographs and letters, but every new clue seemed to pull her deeper into a story no one had been willing to explain.

Alexander read both messages. “We don’t go there alone.”

“We don’t know where he is. This is the only lead we have.”

“It could be bait.”

“Everything has been bait since I met you.” Isabella slipped the phone into her pocket. “The difference is that I’m done waiting for someone else to decide what I’m allowed to know.”

Isabella tried the handle. “Someone sent me here for a reason.”

“Look at the notice.” Alexander pointed to the bottom corner. A number had been written in blue ink, almost hidden beneath the official stamp.

She called it. It rang four times before a man answered.

“Who gave you this number?” he asked.

“Is this Robert Mercer?”

The line went silent.

“My name is Isabella Hart. My father was Daniel Hart. I need to ask you about the partnership agreement he signed with Richard Sterling.”

The man breathed sharply. “You should not have said those names on a phone.”

“Then tell me where to meet you.”

“I have nothing to tell you.”

“Your signature is on the agreement. My father died, his company was taken, and someone has been trying to erase the records. If you know the truth, I need to hear it from you.”

“You don’t understand what you’re asking.”

“Then explain it.”

A sound came from the other end, like a chair scraping against a hard floor. “Go to the old ferry terminal at four. Come alone.”

The call ended.

Alexander shook his head as Isabella lowered the phone. “He said alone because he doesn’t trust either of us.”

“He might not trust anyone.”

“You’re not going by yourself.”

“He may disappear if he sees you.”

“Then I’ll stay close enough to help without being seen.” Alexander met her gaze. “You can argue with me all the way there, but I’m not letting someone use your father’s death to put you in danger.”

“I don’t need you to protect me.”

“I know.” His voice softened, but he did not look away. “I need you alive long enough to get the truth.”

At 4:12, an older man approached from the far end of the terminal. He wore a dark coat despite the warmth and carried no bag. His hair had turned silver, but his careful eyes matched the photograph attached to an old legal document Isabella had found in her father’s files.

“Robert Mercer?” she asked.

“Keep your voice down.”

“You’re alive.”

“Unfortunately for some people.”

He looked across the road. Isabella followed his gaze and saw the car. Mercer’s face hardened.

“You brought Sterling.”

“He isn’t coming over.”

“That’s what his father said about the last meeting.”

The words struck her with unexpected force. “You were there the night my father died?”

Mercer looked toward the river. “I was supposed to meet Daniel at nine. He called me at eight-thirty and said the meeting had changed. He sounded frightened, but not of Richard.”

“Who was he frightened of?”

“I never learned the name. He told me someone had replaced the final page of the agreement and that the original could prove it. He wanted me to verify the signatures before he confronted them.”

“Did you?”

“I saw the original page. It contained a clause requiring written approval from both Daniel and Richard before control of Hartwell could be transferred. The copy used in the takeover removed that protection. But the signatures at the bottom were genuine.”

“Then someone changed the page after they signed.”

“Possibly. Or someone arranged for them to sign different versions. I refused to certify anything until I could compare every copy.”

“Who had access to the documents?”

Mercer’s jaw tightened. “Your mother. Richard. Victor Hale. And one other person who was never listed as part of the legal team.”

“Who?”

Before he could answer, Mercer’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and the colour drained from his face.

“They know I’m here.”

“Who knows?”

He shoved the phone into his coat. “Your mother came to see me the day after Daniel died. She asked me to keep a statement hidden until you were old enough to understand what it meant. I thought she was protecting you from a scandal. Now I think she was protecting you from the person who arranged it.”

“Where is the statement?”

“I gave it to someone I believed I could trust.”

“Who?”

Mercer stepped back. “I can’t tell you here. If I give you that name, they’ll know I’ve broken the promise.”

A dark vehicle turned into the terminal entrance. Mercer flinched and seized Isabella’s wrist, not roughly, but with enough urgency to make her listen.

“Find the witness copy, not the company copy. Your father signed it in front of three people. One was Richard. One was me. The third person’s name was removed from every record.”

The vehicle stopped. Its rear door opened.

Mercer released her. “If you want the truth, ask your mother’s solicitor who paid for the sealed estate file.”

Then he moved quickly toward the far exit.

Isabella backed toward the road and called Alexander. “Someone’s here. Don’t come toward me. Follow Mercer if you can.”

“I’m already moving.”

The man beside the vehicle started walking toward her. Isabella crossed the road, keeping her eyes on him until Alexander’s car pulled alongside the curb. She got in, and he accelerated before the stranger reached the door.

“Did you get the name?” Alexander asked.

“No. But Mercer confirmed there were three witnesses, and my mother had a statement hidden after Dad died. He told me to ask her solicitor who paid for the sealed estate file.”

Alexander’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Your mother’s solicitor was Elaine Porter.”

“You know her?”

“My father paid her firm to manage a confidential estate matter shortly after Daniel’s death.”

Isabella turned to him. “You knew that and never told me?”

“I didn’t know she had a statement. I only saw the firm’s name in my father’s papers.”

“Then we find Elaine Porter.”

Her phone vibrated once more. This time the message included a photograph taken moments earlier: Isabella standing beside Mercer at the terminal. Across the image, someone had typed a final warning.

MERCER HAS GIVEN YOU ENOUGH. NEXT TIME, WE WON’T LET YOU LEAVE.

Isabella stared at the photograph, then looked at Alexander.

The witness had confirmed the agreement was changed. He had revealed a hidden statement and a third signer whose name had been erased. But someone had followed them to the terminal, and the person behind the threat knew exactly what they had learned.

For the first time, Isabella wondered whether her mother had hidden the truth to protect her—or because she had helped create the secret.

She folded the phone into her palm. “Take me to Elaine Porter.”

Alexander turned the car toward the city.

Outside, traffic blurred past the windows, but Isabella kept watching the mirror, searching every passing car for the stranger again.

Neither of them noticed the second vehicle following at a careful distance.