Chapter 16 - THE WOMAN ABOVE NATHAN
Her name was Evelyn Price.
Former Deputy Attorney General.
Former Senate counsel.
Current chair of the American Judicial Education Foundation.
The same nonprofit receiving money connected to Wexler.
Price had supported my judicial nomination publicly.
Privately, investigators discovered she had tried to stop it.
Why?
Because I wasn't supposed to get the seat.
Another candidate was.
A judge already inside the network.
When that candidate withdrew after a scandal, my nomination became politically convenient.
Price assumed Wexler could control me.
He couldn't.
Then I signed the Cole order.
The network panicked.
Nathan handled threats.
Wexler handled courts.
Price handled Washington.
Mercer was reinstated after investigators identified the tactical leak.
A Justice Department attorney connected to Price.
Arrests began.
Dr. Pierce.
Two adoption attorneys.
A State Department contractor.
Three hospital administrators.
Martin remained in custody.
Wexler cooperated fully.
Nathan became increasingly isolated.
And isolated criminals become dangerous.
We returned to the first evidence.
Vivian’s gold fountain pen.
The adoption documents.
Ryan’s copied signature.
Ink analysis showed that the notarization had been completed using ink from Vivian’s pen.
She hadn't merely carried the forged document.
She had signed portions of it.
Knowingly.
When confronted, she finally confessed everything.
Nathan told her to sign as a witness.
She knew Ryan wasn't present.
She knew the notary wasn't present.
She did it anyway.
“I thought Claire would sign once she saw Ryan’s name.”
Mercer asked,
“And if she didn't?”
Vivian looked down.
“Nathan said the hospital would take care of the rest.”
She knew.
Maybe not about kidnapping.
But she knew something would happen to me.
That confession ended any possibility of Vivian portraying herself as another victim.
She had been manipulated.
She had also chosen cruelty.
Both could be true.
Then she gave us Nathan’s emergency contact phrase.
“When things failed, he said to call and say, ‘The garden is frozen.’”
Mercer arranged a controlled call.
Vivian spoke.
Nathan answered.
She told him the ledger had not been recovered by investigators.
She claimed she had hidden a second copy.
Nathan took the bait.
He demanded a meeting.
This time we did not bring Claire Bennett.
We brought Vivian Caldwell.
Wearing a wire.
Nathan chose an abandoned greenhouse outside Frederick.
Federal teams surrounded it from miles away.
Vivian entered alone.
Nathan appeared after twenty minutes.
Thinner.
Unshaven.
Still arrogant.
“You ruined everything,” he told her.
“You lied to me.”
“I gave Melissa a chance.”
“You were going to steal both babies.”
Nathan laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Your family was never important.”
That sentence destroyed something inside Vivian.
I watched from the command vehicle.
Nathan continued.
“Claire was the target.”
“You used me.”
“Of course.”
Vivian’s voice shook.
“My son could have lost his children.”
“He already lost his wife.”
Nathan smiled.
“Thanks to you.”
Vivian slapped him.
Agents tensed.
Mercer didn't move.
Nathan grabbed her wrist.
“Careful.”
She looked directly at him.
“You're afraid of Claire.”
His expression changed.
“That woman is nothing without her robe.”
Vivian smiled bitterly.
“That is exactly what I thought.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
Then she said,
“And I was wrong.”
Nathan reached inside his jacket.
Agents moved.
Glass shattered.
Commands erupted.
Nathan ran.
He escaped through an irrigation tunnel investigators had not identified.
But he left his phone.
On it was one unread message.
FROM: E.P.
END THIS TONIGHT.
Nathan was no longer trying to escape.
Evelyn Price had ordered him to finish the war.
May you like
And everyone knew exactly who “this” meant.
Me.
