Chapter 26 - Beneath Sterling Tower
The address didn't lead across Seattle.
It led beneath us.
Sterling Tower had been constructed over the original headquarters of Sterling & Vale Development.
Most of the old structure had been demolished.
One section remained.
A basement archive sealed behind concrete walls during the tower's construction.
My father stared at the key.
“I didn't know this still existed.”
Richard laughed quietly.
“I did.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What’s down there?” I asked.
“The reason Sterling survived 1994.”
We descended through the service levels accompanied by six security officers.
At the lowest parking level, Richard directed us toward an unmarked concrete wall.
Behind a maintenance panel was an old steel door.
The key fit perfectly.
My father turned it.
The lock opened.
Cold air escaped.
Inside were shelves.
Hundreds of boxes.
Accounting ledgers.
Contracts.
Videotapes.
Photographs.
Records deliberately excluded from Sterling's digital archives.
Adrian immediately began searching for his father's name.
I walked deeper.
Then I saw something strange.
A hospital file.
CATHERINE CRAWFORD.
My mother's maiden name.
I opened it.
Pregnancy records.
My heart began pounding.
I had been born years later.
“Mom?”
Catherine looked at the file.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
“What is this?”
She grabbed the shelf for support.
My father rushed toward her.
“Catherine?”
She began crying.
“I thought they destroyed those.”
I slowly opened the next folder.
There was a birth certificate.
A baby boy.
Born to Catherine Crawford.
Father unspecified.
The child's name:
Parker James Crawford.
I couldn't breathe.
Parker wasn't my cousin.
I looked at my mother.
“He's your son?”
May you like
Her tears answered me.
Parker was my brother.
