Chapter 7 - The Door Opened Twice
Sienna returned to the Mercer house nine days after the incident.
Not alone.
Her attorney had advised against it, so she brought Evelyn and one of Mark's office managers, Denise, who was there to collect company property Sienna still had and return a few personal files from Sienna's former desk.
Mark had agreed to be absent.
The house felt smaller without shouting in it.
Sienna packed two framed photographs, a ceramic mug, and the old adding machine she'd used during college summers.
Denise waited by the doorway.
“You know he changed every password the minute you quit.”
“I noticed.”
“He changed mine too.”
Sienna looked up.
“Why?”
Denise shrugged.
“He said he was tightening security.”
Sienna almost ignored it.
Then Denise added, “And he asked me whether we keep access records from the house jobs.”
“What house jobs?”
“The smart-lock systems. We install the same brand he has here.”
Sienna stared at her.
Mark had replaced his back-door lock the previous spring with a keypad model connected to an app because subcontractors occasionally needed access during renovations.
Sienna had helped enter the original vendor information into the company books.
“Does his keep records?”
“Most do.”
Sienna did not touch the lock.
She did not try to access Mark's account.
Instead, she told her attorney.
Her attorney told her to give the information to the investigators and let them request anything legally available.
Two days later, Evelyn received another interview call.
The investigator asked her something strange.
“Mrs. Mercer, are you certain Mark entered the house for the first time when Sienna saw him?”
Evelyn looked across Sienna's kitchen.
“I never said that.”
“Do you remember hearing the back door earlier?”
“Yes.”
“Approximately when?”
“Maybe a minute before Sienna arrived. Maybe less.”
The investigator did not explain why she was asking.
Later that evening, Laura called.
“They asked me about the back door too.”
Sienna sat upright.
“What did you say?”
“That I didn't know anything about it.”
“Did Dad ever tell you where he was that afternoon?”
“He said work.”
“But he came through the backyard.”
“I assumed he'd parked out front and walked around.”
Sienna remembered something.
Mark's truck hadn't been in the driveway when she arrived.
She'd parked beside Evelyn's Buick.
“Where was his truck?”
Laura was quiet.
“I don't know.”
The next morning, Sienna received a call from the investigator.
No confidential records were shared.
Only a question.
“Did your father ever mention going in and out of the house shortly before you arrived?”
“No.”
“Did you see him carrying keys, groceries, work materials?”
“No.”
“Did he appear winded?”
“No.”
Another pause.
“Thank you.”
Sienna hung up.
She looked at Evelyn.
“They know something.”
Evelyn nodded slowly.
Sienna thought again about Mark's sentence.
Only a second.
Then about the latch.
Then about the missing truck.
Three details that had seemed unrelated were beginning to point in the same direction.
May you like
Mark had not simply known what happened.
There was growing reason to believe he'd been close enough to stop it.
