Chapter 8 - THE SECURITY OFFICER
The leak came from Officer Daniel Mercer—the same man who helped Luke escape.
He entered the hospital using a stolen badge and tried to access my floor.
Michael recognized him from the first Caroline’s case.
Mercer had been the responding officer the night she died.
He accepted Margaret’s money and wrote “domestic accident” without investigating.
For seven years, he protected the story.
This time, cameras captured him.
He was arrested before reaching me.
His phone contained a live location for Luke.
A motel near the state border.
Police found the room empty.
On the bed lay my wedding photograph, burned through the center.
A message was written across it:
SHE CHOSE THE CHILD OVER ME.
Luke had turned every act of self-protection into betrayal.
Then Mercer offered a deal.
He said Luke was heading to Dr. Hart’s clinic.
The original embryo records remained there.
If Luke destroyed them, paternity and trust claims would become harder to prove.
Police secured the clinic.
But the fire started from inside.
Someone had already planted accelerants.
The records burned.
Dr. Hart watched years of evidence disappear.
Then Michael remembered the first Caroline had hidden duplicate records in a place Margaret would never search.
May you like
Her own grave.
Read Chapter 9 to discover what investigators found beneath the first Caroline’s headstone.
