Chapter 20 - The Man Beside the Lake
Emma returned to Ireland without warning Liam.
She arrived at Glendalough shortly before dawn.
Thomas wanted to bring security.
Emma refused.
“If Liam is Crow, surrounding the house tells him we know.”
Arthur was asleep in her parents’ cottage.
Safe.
That was all that mattered.
Liam lived in a restored gatehouse on the western edge of the property.
Emma knocked once.
He answered wearing sweatpants and a faded Trinity College shirt.
His surprise was genuine.
Or very well performed.
“Emma?”
“We need to talk.”
He immediately stepped aside.
She entered but remained standing.
“Were you inside the medical wing at 4:22 the morning Arthur was born?”
Liam frowned.
“Yes.”
“What were you doing?”
“Checking neonatal equipment.”
“Did you send an encrypted message?”
His expression changed.
Emma saw it.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
“Where did you get that timestamp?”
“Answer me.”
Liam closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The word hurt more than Emma expected.
“To Gideon Mercer?”
“No.”
“To someone using the name Crow?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Liam walked slowly toward a cabinet.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Emma had a small defensive weapon beneath her coat.
Liam saw the movement.
Pain crossed his face.
“You think I would hurt you?”
“I have a two-year-old son. I don’t get to gamble on people anymore.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
Then he raised both hands.
“The message was sent to Thomas.”
Emma stared.
“What?”
“Ask him.”
She immediately called.
Thomas answered.
“Yes.”
Emma’s voice was ice.
“Did Liam send you an encrypted communication at 4:22 AM the night Arthur was born?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
Emma nearly threw the phone.
“Why?”
Thomas exhaled.
“Because there was a security incident.”
“What incident?”
“A man tried to access the estate pretending to be a pharmaceutical courier.”
Liam continued from across the room.
“He carried photographs of you.”
Emma looked at him.
“And a document bearing Mercer Capital’s old emblem.”
Thomas said through the phone, “We intercepted him.”
“You never told me.”
“You had just given birth.”
“That wasn’t your decision.”
“No.”
Thomas sounded tired.
“It was Arthur Vance’s protocol. During the first seventy-two hours after birth, no threat intelligence was to reach you unless there was immediate danger.”
Emma laughed once.
“My dead grandfather was still controlling my life.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does the Crow message trace to Liam?”
Liam finally approached the cabinet.
“May I?”
Emma nodded.
He removed an old laptop.
“Because I cloned the device that the courier carried.”
Thomas said, “Liam had cybersecurity training before medicine.”
Emma stared at Liam.
“You never mentioned that.”
“You never asked whether your pediatrician could reverse-engineer encrypted messaging platforms.”
“That usually doesn’t come up during vaccinations.”
Despite herself, Emma almost smiled.
Liam opened the laptop.
The original message appeared.
COURIER INTERCEPTED. MATERNAL PATIENT UNAWARE. INFANT SECURE.
Sent to Thomas.
Seconds later, malware from the captured device had mirrored Liam’s network identity.
Mercer’s people had used his credentials later.
Liam was not Crow.
He had been framed as Crow.
Emma lowered her hand.
The relief she felt was dangerously personal.
Liam noticed.
“So I’m not being arrested?”
“Not today.”
“Encouraging.”
She looked at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this during the last two years?”
“Because Thomas asked me not to.”
“That’s not a great defense right now.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I also knew what your life had become. Everyone around you wanted something.”
“And you?”
Liam’s gaze held hers.
“I wanted you to have at least one person who didn’t bring you another war.”
Emma’s breathing slowed.
For a dangerous second, neither moved.
Then Liam’s laptop beeped.
An incoming connection.
They both turned.
The old cloned device had awakened remotely.
Someone was attempting to access it.
Liam began typing.
“Don’t disconnect.”
Emma watched code scroll.
“Can you trace it?”
“If they stay connected.”
Seconds passed.
Then a location appeared.
Not London.
Not New York.
Not Zurich.
Glendalough Estate.
Emma stared.
“The signal is coming from the manor.”
Liam looked at her.
“Crow is here.”
Emma called Thomas.
“Lock every gate.”
Then she ran.
By the time she reached the main house, alarms were sounding.
Staff gathered in the great hall.
Security teams searched rooms.
Thomas appeared on the staircase.
“We found the device.”
“Where?”
His expression hardened.
“Moira’s office.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
They entered together.
The room was empty.
A laptop sat open on the desk.
On the screen was one sentence.
YOU ALWAYS TRUST THE WOMAN WHO ACTS LIKE FAMILY.
May you like
Moira MacCarthy was gone.
So was Arthur.
