Chapter 6
“Everybody out!” Ortiz shouted.
Officers ran toward the exits.
Daniel grabbed Ruth’s arm.
She stumbled beside him.
They were twenty feet from the loading door when steel shutters dropped over every exit.
The warehouse became a cage.
An officer fired at the lock.
The bullet barely marked it.
The timer showed eight minutes.
Smoke began pouring from vents near the ceiling.
“This isn’t gasoline,” Ortiz said. “It’s an accelerant mist.”
Ruth looked toward the rear wall.
“There’s a freight tunnel.”
“Where?”
“Behind the old archive shelves.”
They ran.
Metal shelves covered the wall from floor to ceiling. Daniel and two officers pushed against them.
They did not move.
The shelves had been bolted down.
The timer reached six minutes.
Ortiz ordered everyone to search for another exit.
Daniel examined the shelf.
Ruth pointed at a small control box.
“Claire designed this storage system. There should be a release.”
The control box required a key.
Daniel looked at the lock.
A bird was carved beneath it.
Claire’s symbol.
He reached into his pocket.
The brass key was still there.
He had carried it since the attic.
It fit.
The lock opened.
Daniel pressed the release.
The shelves moved apart, revealing a narrow passage.
Everyone rushed inside.
The timer reached three minutes as Ortiz pulled the passage door shut behind them.
An explosion shook the building.
Heat blasted through the metal.
The tunnel filled with dust.
Daniel helped Ruth forward.
They emerged near the river as flames consumed the warehouse behind them.
Firefighters arrived moments later.
Ortiz stared at the burning roof.
“Grant expected us to find that laptop.”
“He expected my mother to be here,” Daniel said.
Ruth sat on the ground.
“He wanted all of us dead.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Now will you tell us everything?”
At the police station, Ruth gave a full statement.
Grant had approached her six months before Claire’s death. He knew about illegal accounts Daniel’s father had created decades earlier.
Ruth had believed the company would collapse if those accounts became public.
Grant promised silence in exchange for access to foundation contracts.
“I told myself it was temporary,” she said.
“It never is,” Ortiz replied.
When Claire discovered the theft, Ruth begged her to stay silent.
Claire refused.
On the night of the crash, Vanessa confronted Claire at the house. Grant arrived later with Caleb.
Maya had wandered downstairs and seen them.
Claire escaped with the ledger.
Caleb followed her.
“I didn’t order him to damage the car,” Ruth said. “But I gave Grant the route Claire planned to take.”
Daniel listened from across the table.
“You helped them find her.”
“Yes.”
“Did Claire call you?”
Ruth began to shake.
“Three minutes before the crash.”
Daniel’s eyes burned.
“What did she say?”
“She said the brakes weren’t working.”
“And what did you do?”
“I called Grant.”
“You called Grant instead of emergency services?”
“He said Caleb would help her.”
Daniel stood.
“You let my wife die.”
“I was afraid.”
“She was afraid too.”
Ruth lowered her head.
Daniel left the room.
In the hallway, Ethan and Maya waited with Julia.
Maya ran to him.
“Daddy!”
He lifted her.
Ethan studied the soot on Daniel’s shirt.
“Were you in a fire?”
“I’m okay.”
“Did Grandma do it?”
Daniel glanced through the interview-room window.
“No. But she made choices that hurt people.”
“Is she going to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan considered this.
“Grown-ups always say they don’t know when the answer is bad.”
Daniel had no response.
Rebecca arrived with news from the board.
Howard Mills had called another emergency meeting. He intended to remove Daniel as foundation chairman.
“He says the warehouse fire proves you’re destroying evidence,” Rebecca said.
“Howard is working with Grant.”
“We need proof.”
Ortiz emerged from the interview room.
“We may have it.”
The warehouse laptop had transmitted data before the explosion. Investigators traced the connection to a server inside the Carter Foundation.
Howard’s office had accessed that server.
The board meeting began at nine the next morning.
Howard sat at the head of the table.
“You are suspended immediately,” he told Daniel.
“On whose authority?”
“The board’s.”
“Have they voted?”
“They will.”
Daniel looked around the room.
Some members avoided his eyes.
Others appeared uncertain.
Howard continued.
“You concealed your wife’s criminal activities. You allowed millions to disappear. A company warehouse burned while you were inside.”
“You forgot one detail.”
Daniel opened the conference-room doors.
Ortiz entered with two cybercrime investigators.
“The fire was triggered remotely from this building,” Daniel said.
Howard’s face changed.
“That’s absurd.”
“The signal came from your office.”
“Someone used my computer.”
“Then you won’t mind if they search it.”
Howard stood.
“No one touches foundation property without a warrant.”
Ortiz held one up.
Howard moved toward the side door.
Two officers blocked him.
His briefcase dropped.
Papers spilled across the floor.
Among them was a recent photograph of Ethan and Maya outside Julia’s building.
Daniel picked it up.
“Why were you watching my children?”
Howard’s composure disappeared.
“I was protecting them.”
“From whom?”
“You.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You sent the man dressed like me to North Star Bank.”
Howard said nothing.
“You helped Grant steal the money.”
Still nothing.
Ortiz opened the briefcase.
Inside was a second phone.
Its message history included conversations with Caleb.
One message had been sent after the kidnapping.
If Grant fails, take the boy.
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“Take Ethan where?”
Howard smiled without warmth.
“You’re too late.”
Daniel turned toward the glass lobby.
Julia was there with Maya.
Ethan was gone.
Julia ran into the conference room.
“He went to the restroom. Someone locked me in a storage closet.”
Daniel grabbed Howard.
“Where is my son?”
Howard’s smile widened.
“Grant wanted the girl because she remembers the past.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“What do you want with Ethan?”
“Your son knows where Claire’s missing pages are.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“Then why did he ask a librarian about invisible ink?”
Daniel released Howard.
A memory returned.
At Julia’s apartment, Ethan had spent hours staring at Claire’s notebook. He had held some pages near a lamp.
The visible account records were not the only evidence.
Claire had hidden information inside them.
Ortiz ordered the building locked down.
Security footage showed a janitor pushing a laundry cart into an elevator.
A small hand appeared between the towels.
The elevator went to the parking garage.
Daniel and Ortiz ran downstairs.
The cart stood abandoned beside an open service door.
Beyond it, a black car sped away.
Howard’s second phone rang.
Daniel answered.
Grant spoke.
“Bring the notebook to the old courthouse at midnight.”
“Let me speak to Ethan.”
“He’s listening.”
“Ethan?”
His son’s voice came through faintly.
“Dad, don’t bring the book.”
Grant struck something.
Ethan gasped.
Daniel’s hand clenched around the phone.
“I’m coming for you.”
“Bring the notebook,” Grant repeated. “Come alone.”
The call ended.
Ortiz studied Howard’s messages.
“The old courthouse is scheduled for demolition tomorrow.”
Daniel understood immediately.
May you like
Grant did not intend to trade Ethan.
He intended to bury him beneath the building.
