Chapter 9 - MESSAGES FROM THE CELL.txt
Graham stared down at the small object in his palm, his blood running cold despite the heavy summer heat.
"Graham? What is it?" Clara called out from the open doorway of the guest house, her voice laced with rising panic.
"Call Detective Miller right now," Graham said, his voice flat and tight. "Tell him to bring his tracking team."
Thirty minutes later, three unmarked police cruisers pulled into the driveway of Mercer House. Detective Miller stepped out, accompanied by a tech specialist carrying a portable forensics briefcase.
They set up the equipment in the guest house kitchen. Miller used gloves to handle the burner phone, plugging it directly into a data-extraction tablet.
"The phone is active," the tech specialist reported, fingers flying across his keyboard. "It’s connected to a local cell tower. But it’s encrypted with a single-use protocol."
"Who put it there?" Graham asked, pacing back and forth across the rug while Kane tracked his every turn. "Juliette is in a high-security federal holding facility in Columbia. How could she put a phone on my perimeter wall?"
"She didn't," Miller said grimly. "Which means the shadow network is larger than we thought. Someone outside is still operating on her behalf."
Suddenly, the burner phone’s screen lit up with an incoming text message. The tech specialist immediately hit the screen-mirroring button, projecting the message onto his tablet.
SENDER: UNKNOWN
MESSAGE: You think you're safe because she's behind bars, Graham? The contract was signed six months ago. The money is already in escrow. A Mercer always pays his debts.
Clara gasped, covering her mouth. Graham stared at the screen, his mind racing.
"Escrow?" Graham repeated. "What contract?"
Miller looked up, his jaw set hard. "When high-level con artists like Natalie Vale operate, they often take out secondary backup policies with third-party fixers or enforcement groups. If the target survives or the asset is seized, the secondary contract triggers automatically to clean up loose ends."
"Loose ends," Graham said bitterly. "You mean me."
"Or anyone who can testify against her at the upcoming trial," Miller corrected sharply. "Including your legal counsel, your sister, or the federal witnesses."
Graham felt a dark, cold anger burn away the last remnants of his fear. For weeks, he had been acting like a victim, hiding in his guest house, drowning in guilt and shame. But hearing his family threatened shattered the wall of paralysis surrounding him.
"So she’s trying to finish the job from inside a federal prison," Graham said, his voice dropping an octave into a tone of quiet, dangerous authority.
"She’s trying to pressure you into dropping your civil suits and refusing to testify as the primary witness in the Virginia murder trials," Miller explained. "If you don't testify, the prosecution’s physical evidence becomes much harder to tie directly to her intent."
"I am going to testify," Graham said, looking Miller dead in the eye. "I will stand on that witness stand and read every single word of her private logs into the public record."
"Then we need to increase your security detail immediately," Miller said. "Starting tonight, you’ll have 24/7 armed state police protection on this property."
"No," Graham said sharply.
Miller frowned. "What do you mean, no?"
"If you flood this estate with marked police cars and armed guards, whoever left that phone will go dark and wait six months, a year, five years until you leave," Graham said, stepping toward the table. "I won't live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. Use the phone. Track the ping. Find out who left it."
"Graham, you're placing a massive target on your back," Julian Vance urged, stepping into the room after rushing over from his own house. "Listen to Miller. Let the state police handle security."
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"I have security," Graham said quietly, looking down at the black Doberman standing beside him.
Kane looked up, letting out a single, confident bark that echoed through the small house.
