Chapter 11 - The Woman From Richmond
The woman from Richmond introduced herself as Naomi Price.
She was fifty-four, wore a navy coat despite the warm afternoon, and looked at me as though we had met before.
We hadn’t.
At least, I didn’t think we had.
Rebecca had insisted the meeting happen inside her law office.
Detective Reed joined by video.
Naomi placed a faded photograph on the table.
Dad stood beside a younger woman outside Bennett Equipment Supply.
The year printed in the corner was 2008.
The woman was Naomi.
“You worked for my father?”
“For seven years.”
“What did you do?”
“Sales administration.”
I waited.
Naomi folded her hands.
“Robert used my identity too.”
My stomach sank.
Jenna’s binder.
Twelve victims.
“You’re one of the files.”
“I assume so.”
“How much?”
“Seventy-six thousand dollars that I know about.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“I did.”
That surprised me.
“When?”
“2011.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
Detective Reed leaned closer to his camera.
“Which agency?”
“Local police first. Then the lender.”
“Do you have reports?”
Naomi produced copies.
Her complaint had been closed after Dad provided documents showing Naomi was a business partner.
“Were you?”
“No.”
“Signature?”
“Forged.”
“Why didn’t you fight?”
Naomi looked at me.
“My husband was sick.”
Her eyes lowered.
“Cancer.”
I understood before she finished.
She had no energy.
No money for attorneys.
Dad offered a settlement.
He paid enough to clear the debt and threatened to sue her for theft if she continued accusing him publicly.
“He had records showing you stole?”
“Fake records.”
“But convincing ones.”
“Yes.”
That was Dad’s talent.
Not merely lying.
Building paperwork around the lie until truth became expensive to defend.
Naomi looked at me.
“I saw your wedding video.”
“My sister’s wedding.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“When I saw your father, I recognized the look on his face.”
“What look?”
“The one he gets when someone says no.”
I thought about Dad after my refusal.
The transformation.
Pride into rage.
Charm into threat.
Naomi continued.
“I searched your name. Saw the investigation. Then I called the detective.”
“Why now?”
“Because I spent fifteen years wishing someone else would stop him.”
She opened another folder.
“I kept everything.”
Emails.
Voicemails transcribed.
Bank notices.
A copy of the forged partnership agreement.
And one photograph that mattered more than the rest.
Dad standing beside Tony Mercer.
The same employee caught behind my warehouse with gasoline.
Naomi pointed.
“That was taken after Robert threatened me.”
“What happened?”
“Tony came to my apartment.”
My skin went cold.
“What did he do?”
“He told me I should accept Robert’s settlement.”
“Threatened you?”
“He said accidents happen to people who keep fighting.”
Detective Reed immediately asked for details.
Naomi provided them.
Then I asked the question I couldn’t avoid.
“Do you think Tony hurt Walter?”
She looked at me sadly.
“Yes.”
Silence filled the room.
Walter had carried Dad’s hidden books into my office.
Forty-eight hours later, he vanished.
I felt responsible even though I knew logically I wasn’t.
Naomi seemed to read my expression.
“This didn’t start with you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I looked at her.
She leaned forward.
“People like Robert survive because every victim thinks they are the reason he became dangerous.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Later that afternoon, Reed called.
They had located Walter.
Alive.
A truck driver spotted him walking along Route 250 near an abandoned service station.
He had a deep cut on his scalp, two cracked ribs, and signs of dehydration.
I drove to the hospital but was not allowed to speak with him immediately.
Police were taking his statement.
Three hours later, Reed came into the waiting room.
“What happened?”
“Walter says Tony Mercer forced him off the road.”
“Alone?”
“Another man was involved.”
“Dad?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“He didn’t recognize him.”
Walter said Tony pulled him from the car and demanded the accounting records.
Walter lied.
Said they were hidden in a storage facility.
When Tony left to search it, the second man guarded Walter inside an abandoned garage.
Walter escaped through a bathroom window.
He fell down an embankment, causing the rib injuries.
“Did Tony say why he wanted the records?”
“Yes.”
Reed looked directly at me.
“He said Robert needed them before Claire could find the Richmond file.”
Naomi.
“What is the Richmond file?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Naomi had already left Rebecca’s office.
I called her.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then she finally picked up.
“Claire?”
“Where are you?”
“Driving home.”
“Did my father ever call anything the Richmond file?”
Silence.
“Naomi?”
“Yes.”
My heart pounded.
“What was it?”
She exhaled.
“Not what. Who.”
“What do you mean?”
“There was a man named Samuel Pierce.”
“Who was he?”
“A contractor.”
“What happened?”
“He discovered Robert was reselling stolen equipment.”
I gripped the phone.
“When?”
“2010.”
“What happened to him?”
Another silence.
“Naomi.”
“He disappeared.”
My blood turned cold.
“Was he ever found?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In his truck.”
I closed my eyes.
“How did he die?”
“The official report said suicide.”
“And you don’t believe it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because two days before he died, Samuel gave me a flash drive.”
“What was on it?”
“Invoices. Serial numbers. Photographs.”
Evidence.
“Where is the drive?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
Naomi started to answer.
Then I heard a horn.
Tires.
A scream.
The line exploded with noise.
Metal.
Glass.
Then silence.
“Naomi!”
No response.
“Naomi!”
I could hear traffic.
Someone shouting in the distance.
Then a man picked up her phone.
“Hello?”
“Who is this?”
“There’s been an accident.”
My stomach dropped.
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know.”
In the background, someone yelled for an ambulance.
And just before the call disconnected, I heard another voice.
A voice I recognized.
May you like
Tony Mercer.
He was supposed to be in custody.
