PART 2
Mercer didn’t open the door. He motioned Keller toward the hallway and hissed, “Find out who it is.” Bell moved to the window. Shaw stood frozen in my office, staring at the bulge in Mercer’s vest where he had hidden the phone. Through my laptop speakers, the voice outside came again. “Lieutenant Daniel Price. Brookhaven Professional Standards. Open the door.” Mercer’s expression changed. Not fear exactly. Calculation. “Everybody calm down,” he said. “We have a lawful warrant.” Shaw snapped, “Then why is evidence in your pocket?” Mercer spun toward her. “Watch yourself.” She stepped closer instead. “Take it out and log it.” Mercer grabbed her upper arm. “I said watch yourself.” Shaw jerked free. A chair toppled behind her. “Don’t touch me.”
From three hundred miles away, I shouted at a screen like I could somehow stop them. Detective Park was still on the phone. “I’m forwarding the live stream to Price,” she told me. Seconds later, Price shouted from outside, “Wade, I can see you. Remove your hand from Officer Shaw and open the door.” Mercer went pale. Bell looked toward the ceiling. “Another camera?” Keller muttered, “You said we killed them.” Mercer slammed his fist against my desk. “Open the damn door.”
Price entered with two county investigators. He was in his early fifties, broad-shouldered, gray at the temples, and furious. “Nobody moves.” Mercer stepped forward. “Lieutenant, we’re conducting an authorized search.” “I know what you’re conducting.” Price pointed at Mercer’s vest. “Empty your pockets.” Mercer laughed once. “You don’t have authority to search me.” “Take the phone out, Wade.” The room went silent. Mercer slowly reached inside his vest, but instead of producing the phone, he pulled out his personal cell. “This?” Price stepped closer. “The other one.”
Mercer suddenly shoved past him.
Price caught Mercer’s jacket. Keller instinctively grabbed Price’s arm. One of the county investigators tackled Keller against the wall. Bell raised both hands. Shaw yelled, “Stop! Everybody stop!” Mercer twisted free and sprinted toward my kitchen. Price chased him. I watched Mercer reach my sink, pull the old smartphone from his vest, and raise it over the garbage disposal.
Shaw hit him from the side.
The phone flew from Mercer’s hand, bounced across the counter, and landed on the floor.
Price drove Mercer against the refrigerator and cuffed him. “You just tried to destroy potential evidence.” Mercer snarled, “You have no idea what’s on that thing.”
“That,” Park whispered into my ear, “is probably the first truthful thing he’s said.”
The county investigator sealed the phone in an evidence bag. Then Price separated all four officers and ordered them into different rooms. That should have been the end of it. It wasn’t. Two hours later, while I was driving home, Park called again.
“We powered on the phone.”
“And?”
“There’s an audio recording.”
My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Javier Ramirez recorded part of the vehicle search last year. Mercer’s voice is on it. Keller’s too. They’re discussing cash found under the passenger seat.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-two thousand dollars.”
I nearly missed my exit.
Park continued, “But Marcus, there’s something else. The recording includes a third voice giving Mercer instructions.”
“Whose voice?”
She hesitated.
“Claire?”
“The voice appears to belong to Lieutenant Price.”
I stopped breathing.
The man who had just stormed into my house and arrested Mercer might have been involved from the beginning.
Then Park said, “Marcus, do not go home.”
Too late.
I was already turning onto my street.
A dark SUV was parked in my driveway, and someone was standing inside my damaged front doorway.
Waiting for me.
PART 3
I slammed on the brakes twenty yards from my driveway. Detective Park shouted through the phone, “Do not get out.” The figure stepped from my doorway. Lieutenant Price. He raised both hands. “Marcus! Stay in the truck!” I almost reversed over my neighbor’s mailbox. “Why are you here?” I yelled through the cracked window. “Because Park called me.” “She just told me your voice is on the recording.” Price stopped. His face hardened. “Then she needs to play the entire recording.” Park said sharply through my speaker, “Daniel, step away from Marcus.” Price obeyed. “Claire, the voice isn’t mine.” “Forensics says it matches.” “Because it’s my brother.”
That stopped all of us.
Price explained that his younger brother, Captain Aaron Price, had commanded Brookhaven’s property unit the previous year. Their voices were nearly identical. Aaron had retired six months after Javier Ramirez accused officers of stealing his cash. Park immediately ordered a second forensic comparison. While we stood outside my wrecked house, she sent a county unit to Aaron Price’s home.
Mercer, meanwhile, started talking.
