Chapter 9 - What Thomas Did
Ryan told Naomi only after a physician confirmed he could handle interview.
No marathon interrogation.
Short sessions.
Memory gaps acknowledged.
After crash, Ryan regained consciousness briefly.
Thomas’s SUV lay nearby.
Evan Cole approached.
Ryan heard him calling someone.
“Both alive—no, one’s worse.”
Thomas was conscious.
He recognized Summit logo.
He had investigated them.
He understood danger immediately.
When Evan asked names, Thomas said:
“I’m Ryan Mercer.”
Then pointed toward Ryan.
“Thomas Reed.”
Why?
Thomas believed Ryan was target.
If they thought Thomas was Ryan, they might take Ryan to ordinary hospital as less valuable witness.
It did not work exactly.
But created confusion.
Thomas died before emergency chain stabilized.
Evan told Shaw identities as Thomas gave them.
Shaw arrived and recognized actual Ryan from company meetings.
He realized swap.
Instead of correcting, he saw opportunity.
Ryan Mercer could be declared dead using Thomas’s body.
Ryan himself could remain as Thomas.
This solved Patrick’s desire to remove Ryan from board vote while hiding fraud witness.
Thomas had improvised protection.
Shaw turned it into conspiracy.
Ryan remembered St. Catherine briefly.
A nurse asked his name.
He said “Ryan.”
Someone outside said:
“Patient is confused.”
Then sedation.
At Hawthorne he woke more.
Patrick visited.
Ryan told him:
“Thomas is dead because of you.”
Patrick insisted he did not cause crash.
Ryan said:
“You gave them our location.”
Patrick went pale.
That confirmed.
Ryan demanded Helen.
Patrick refused.
“I need until Friday.”
Ryan understood.
“The sale.”
Patrick said:
“Once it closes, I’ll fix this.”
Same worldview as Grant from prior story? Different but common.
Fix later.
Ryan told him:
“You’re letting Mom bury another man.”
Patrick said hospital would correct.
Ryan didn't believe.
He remembered emergency messages.
He had scheduled them.
Hope shifted to Helen.
At lodge Ryan tried to leave.
Security said medical restriction.
He wrote under cot.
At storage facility later, he heard staff discussing crematorium problem.
They moved him to Carter Mill.
Why keep alive?
Shaw wanted Ryan to sign a statement saying he voluntarily withdrew from board due mental-health crisis.
Then after sale, Ryan could reappear.
Ryan refused.
Eric Danner suggested they could forge.
Shaw said too risky.
Ryan’s actual signature might be needed for certain insurance corrections later.
Thus alive.
Ryan stalled.
Asked for lawyers.
Doctors.
Time.
At Carter Mill, he found an old office phone? Could he call? The line disconnected. He tried fire alarm? Keep simple. He waited.
Then police arrived.
Naomi asked:
“Did anyone threaten your life?”
“Not directly.”
Important.
“They kept saying everything would be fixed after Friday.”
“Did you believe?”
“No.”
“What do you think would have happened?”
Ryan looked at Helen.
“I don’t know.”
No speculation.
Prosecutors later charged Shaw and Danner with conspiracy to commit fraud, unlawful confinement-related offenses, medical record falsification, obstruction, and offenses related to crash cover-up. Evan Cole faced charges related to causing collision and evidence tampering, with cooperation considered.
Patrick faced separate corporate-fraud and obstruction charges after admitting concealment and attempted manipulation.
Thomas’s death led to additional serious charges because unlawful conduct precipitated collision.
Exact verdict later.
Rachel met Ryan three days after recovery.
He cried before she entered.
“I’m sorry.”
She shook head.
“Don’t.”
“He was helping me.”
“He chose.”
“I should've gone to police earlier.”
“You tried.”
“I kept gathering.”
“Like Dad would.”
They laughed through tears.
Ryan gave Rachel Thomas’s notebook.
Not all; police retained evidence copies.
The original eventually returned.
On first page Thomas wrote:
If Ryan’s right, this is the dumbest fraud I’ve seen because too many people touch the same lie.
Rachel smiled.
“That sounds like him.”
Helen asked about Thomas claiming Ryan’s name after crash.
Rachel closed eyes.
“He knew what he was doing.”
“Do you think he thought he'd survive?”
“I hope.”
No one could know.
They did not romanticize his death as sacrifice.
He was caught in danger he had tried to document.
His final choice may have protected Ryan.
It also gave Shaw tool.
Complex.
The funeral home released Thomas’s body properly to Rachel after examination.
She chose burial.
No cremation.
Not because fire now taboo.
Because Thomas had purchased a cemetery plot beside his parents years earlier.
Helen attended funeral only if Rachel wanted.
Rachel did.
At graveside Helen stood behind.
No speech.
Afterward Rachel handed her the metal crematorium tag.
THOMAS REED — 61
Investigators had released it after documentation.
Helen immediately shook head.
“No.”
“It stopped the cremation.”
“It belongs to your father.”
Rachel looked.
“It belonged under a platform.”
Then:
“I don't want it.”
Helen understood.
Neither did she.
They gave it to case archive.
Evidence.
Not relic.
Thomas was more than tag.
Ryan returned home under medical supervision.
First stop after hospital:
Helen’s kitchen.
He stood before smart speaker.
“Please tell me you didn’t throw it away.”
Helen laughed.
“I almost did.”
He touched top.
“Those messages were awful.”
“They saved us.”
“They terrified you.”
“Both.”
Ryan opened app.
Emergency sequence still active.
He canceled.
The speaker chimed.
Helen flinched.
Ryan noticed.
“Mom.”
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“Both can be true.”
They sat.
Then Helen asked what she had avoided.
“Did you know Patrick might do this?”
Ryan shook head.
“I knew he might try to declare me incapacitated.”
“Not dead?”
“No.”
“Then your cremation message?”
“Thomas told me identity fraud cases sometimes end with fast cremation because it destroys correction evidence.”
Ryan looked ashamed.
“I thought I was being paranoid.”
Helen took his hand.
“So did I.”
Not anymore.
But they would need to learn the difference between vigilance and living afraid.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
That would take longer than finding him.
---
