Chapter 12 - DAVID MERCER
David Mercer died two years earlier in what police called a single-car accident.
He had been an accountant.
For Northstar Youth Recovery Services.
The shell nonprofit.
He knew money was missing.
He told Owen.
Owen told him to stop asking questions.
Not because Owen wanted him dead.
Because Owen already worked for Margaret and understood the danger.
David did not stop.
Three days before his death, he emailed Lydia.
I found duplicate grant numbers. We need to talk.
The email had been deleted from Foundation servers.
Lydia preserved a copy accidentally through an archive.
David’s crash happened on a wet road.
No witnesses.
Blood alcohol slightly above legal limit.
Case closed quickly by Sheriff Grady’s department.
Now investigators reopened it.
Jonathan hated where the story seemed to be going.
But evidence mattered more than suspicion.
Autopsy.
Vehicle records.
Road data.
Phone location.
Nothing proved murder.
Then an old body-camera file surfaced.
The deputy first at the crash scene had recorded the vehicle.
The brake line was damaged.
At the time, technicians blamed impact.
A new forensic review disagreed.
The damage may have predated the crash.
May.
Not certainty.
Owen broke during questioning.
Margaret had told him:
“Your brother is becoming a problem.”
He insisted he never hurt David.
But he had followed him.
Photographed meetings.
Reported movements.
Then, the night David died, Owen told Margaret which bar his brother was leaving.
“Who was waiting?”
Ortiz asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Who had access?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who did Margaret call?”
Owen started crying.
“Grady.”
Sheriff Grady denied involvement.
Phone records showed he spoke to Margaret nine minutes after Owen’s message.
Then Grady called a deputy.
Then nothing.
No proof he sabotaged the car.
But enough to investigate obstruction around the crash.
The case remained unresolved for months.
That was important.
Not every mystery becomes a clean conviction.
Eventually, prosecutors charged no one with David’s death.
They could not prove homicide beyond a reasonable doubt.
But they did prove the investigation had been improperly curtailed.
Reports altered.
Follow-up testing canceled.
A witness statement omitted.
Grady faced additional obstruction counts.
Emily struggled with that.
“What if they killed him?”
Jonathan answered:
“Then I hope evidence proves it someday.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then we don’t invent certainty because we hate uncertainty.”
She hated that answer.
He hated giving it.
But truth had to mean something even when truth was incomplete.
David’s family later won a civil settlement over investigative misconduct.
The death remained officially suspicious but unresolved.
Project Orchard, however, was collapsing.
Ward negotiated a plea.
Martin Holloway began cooperating.
Grady refused.
Margaret refused.
Grant pleaded separately on the domestic-violence case and certain conspiracy-related financial counts.
His plea shocked everyone.
He admitted assaulting Emily.
He admitted participating in efforts to hide evidence.
He admitted knowing Foundation money was used to influence Grady.
He did not claim ignorance anymore.
Why plead?
His lawyers showed him the evidence.
And Richard visited him.
Father and son met for the first time in years.
Nobody knew exactly what they said.
Grant later told Emily’s attorney only one sentence.
“My father finally stopped running, so I couldn’t keep blaming him for teaching me how.”
Then Margaret learned her son planned to testify.
Against her.
That was when she finally became dangerous.
May you like
Not toward Emily.
Toward the evidence.
