Chapter 69: The Third Name

The man in the photograph was neither Ramon Villareal nor Manuel Vera.

According to the employment record now displayed across the conference room screen, his name had been Martin Valdez.

At least, that was what he’d called himself by then.

Alexander stared at the photograph beside the two older images they’d already collected.

Ramon Villareal.

Manuel Vera.

Martín Valdez.

Three names.

Three employment histories.

One face that had aged naturally between photographs and one distinctive birthmark that refused to disappear no matter what name its owner happened to be using.

Yet strangely enough, that wasn’t the part Giovanni seemed most disturbed by.

It was the company printed beneath the photograph.

Mercer Logistics.

One of the subsidiaries his father built, and one Giovanni later expanded.

For several seconds, he simply stared.

Then he looked at the private investigator sitting across from him.

"What does that have to do with me?"

The question came out colder than intended.

The investigator didn’t appear bothered.

"The missing inspector was hiding in one of Mercer Group’s logistics subsidiaries."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir."

"How sure?"

The investigator enlarged all three photographs.

Age had changed the man’s face considerably.

His cheeks had grown leaner. His hairline had receded, while the later photograph showed him wearing glasses that hadn’t been present in either of the older images.

But several permanent facial characteristics matched.

More importantly, the birthmark matched.

Elias stepped closer to the screen.

"That’s him."

Alexander glanced at him.

"Still certain?"

"Yes."

"Even after all those years?"

"I told you before. I’d remember that birthmark."

Giovanni looked back at the photograph.

Apparently, a dead man hadn’t merely continued living under another name.

He’d eventually found his way into the company belonging to the son of the man whose death he’d helped make possible.

"Position?"

"Regional Maintenance and Compliance Supervisor."

That almost felt insulting.

The man who’d certified the boom lift involved in Matteo Mercer’s death had eventually obtained a position overseeing maintenance and compliance inside Matteo Mercer’s own company.

Giovanni’s face became frighteningly still.

"How long?"

"Two to three years."

Giovanni had spent years tightening Mercer Group’s internal controls precisely because he’d learned how dangerous misplaced trust could become.

Purchasing.

Accounting.

Treasury.

Compliance.

Positions involving money, approvals, equipment, or sensitive information eventually faced increasingly stringent background verification.

"How did he pass our screening?"

Alexander spoke before the investigator could.

"When did he join?"

The date appeared.

Giovanni stopped.

That explained part of it.

Martin Valdez had entered Mercer Logistics before Giovanni implemented most of the controls that existed today.

After Matteo’s death, no magical moment had happened when Giovanni walked through the doors and instantly transformed the company.

He’d still been learning.

Projects to complete, creditors to manage, clients to reassure, and employees watching closely to see whether Matteo Mercer’s son could keep the business alive.

Changes came gradually.

And apparently Martin Valdez had entered through one of the gaps.

Giovanni leaned back.

"Who hired him?"

"We’re still reconstructing the process. But he wasn’t hired through the normal process."

"Who approved him?"

"Several people."

"Background check?"

"Basic verification. His documentation was valid."

"Under a false identity."

"Apparently."

Alexander looked toward the investigator.

"Meaning somebody didn’t simply give Villareal another name."

"Correct."

They’d already reached the same conclusion with Manuel Vera.

A different name was easy.

A functional identity wasn’t.

Employment records.

Enough history to convince an actual company that Martin Valdez existed.

Someone had gone to considerable trouble.

Giovanni stared at the screen.

"Where was he assigned?"

The investigator brought up another file.

Logistics facilities, maintenance yards, equipment depots, and warehouses.

Martin had moved through precisely the parts of Mercer Group where somebody with his background would naturally belong.

Nothing about his employment would’ve appeared particularly suspicious.

Which was perhaps why it bothered Giovanni so much.

He hadn’t hidden in some distant corner.

He’d worked in plain sight.

"Did he ever work at headquarters?"

"No mention."

"Meetings?"

"Possibly."

"Would he have seen me?"

Alexander looked toward him.

The investigator hesitated.

"Almost certainly."

Silence.

Giovanni’s jaw tightened.

He had spent years wondering where the inspector connected to his father’s death had gone.

And at some point, he might’ve walked past the man in his own company.

Perhaps in a corridor.

At a project site.

Across a warehouse floor.

Maybe they’d even exchanged a polite nod without either man stopping.

One because he didn’t know.

The other because he knew exactly whom he was looking at.

"Why did he leave?" Giovanni asked.

The investigator pulled up the resignation record.

"Official reason was poor health."

"Officially."

Martin Valdez had resigned around the same time Giovanni began asking questions about his father’s death.

Perhaps it had been a coincidence.

By then, Giovanni finally had something he’d lacked when Matteo died: money.

He had the financial means to hire someone privately, request copies of old records, and track down people connected to the original investigation. For the first time, he could afford to look for answers without depending entirely on what the authorities had already done.

So he tried.

He hired a private investigator and obtained what records remained, but the inquiry never got very far.

The problem was that the same circumstances that had finally given Giovanni the means to investigate his father’s death had also left him with very little time to do it.

Matteo’s controlling interest in Mercer Group had passed to him, making Giovanni the company’s controlling shareholder. He formally assumed the position of CEO while completing his master’s degree and trying to keep the business his father had left behind from falling apart.

Projects were already underway, and employees’ livelihoods depended on the company continuing to function.

Eventually, the questions surrounding Matteo were pushed aside by problems Giovanni could actually solve, and the private inquiry quietly stalled.

Martin Valdez, however, had already left.

Giovanni stared at the resignation date.

"He knew."

Alexander remained cautious.

"He may have."

"He resigned when I started looking."

"Which makes it suspicious."

"You don’t think that’s enough?"

"Enough to investigate. Not enough to decide why he left."

Giovanni looked at him.

Alexander didn’t retreat.

"We’ve already seen what happens when everyone grabs the explanation they want first. I’m not doing that here."

A long silence followed.

Then Giovanni looked back at the photograph.

Martin Valdez.

A man who’d already died once.

Disappeared twice.

And somehow spent years working inside Mercer Group before vanishing again almost exactly when Matteo Mercer’s son began searching for him.

"Who brought him into Mercer?"

The investigator opened another document.

"We found the recommendation."

"Who?"

Alexander read the name aloud.

Giovanni didn’t need to.

Gerald Serrano.