I could hear the rain starting to tap against the windowpanes again.

Lydia listened to the caller for a long moment, her eyebrows drawing together.

“I understand,” Lydia said. “Has he signed the preliminary statement?”

She looked over her shoulder directly at Marcus.

“We will be there in twenty minutes,” Lydia said, then hung up.

She turned to face the room, her face pale but determined.

“That was the district attorney,” Lydia said.

“And?” Blake asked.

“Warren Bellamy has agreed to cooperate,” Lydia said.

Marcus flinched as if he had been struck.

“He is testifying against you, Marcus, in exchange for a plea deal regarding the forged deeds,” Lydia said.

“He’s lying to save his own skin,” Marcus said, his voice cracking.

“He has the ledger, Marcus,” Lydia said. “The one showing every payment from the dummy corporation.”

Marcus looked toward the back door, but the deputy was still blocking the hallway.

Suddenly, the headlights of a car swept across the wet glass of the front door.

A heavy vehicle was coming up the gravel drive of Mercer House, moving fast.