Chapter 12 - Beneath the Warehouse
The original Mercer-Bell warehouse had not been completely demolished.
Its offices were gone.
Its loading structures were gone.
But municipal records revealed a basement that had been sealed rather than removed.
Reed obtained access Saturday night.
Claire insisted on going.
“You stay behind me,” Reed said.
They descended a concrete staircase.
Dust covered everything.
A steel door stood at the bottom.
Claire stopped.
A memory surfaced.
She was eight.
Her father holding her hand.
Her mother arguing with Peter.
A door.
This door.
“I’ve been here.”
Reed looked at her.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
The lock had rusted.
Police forced it open.
Inside were shelves.
Hundreds of boxes.
Most had been destroyed by moisture.
Some remained sealed in plastic.
The labels were strange.
Properties.
Dates.
Initials.
One box said WB.
William Bell.
Another:
PB.
Peter Bell.
Then Claire saw one marked CM.
Claire Mercer.
Her own initials.
Reed opened it.
Photographs.
School records.
Medical reports.
Bank statements.
Copies of passports.
A complete history of Claire’s life.
“What is this?”
Nobody answered.
Another officer called from the back.
“Detective.”
They followed him.
Behind a false wall was a smaller room.
Inside stood a desk.
A filing cabinet.
And an old computer.
The computer had no internet connection.
A technician powered it on.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Mercer-Bell had not begun as a real-estate company.
Not entirely.
Claire’s grandfather, Samuel Bell, had spent decades acquiring distressed properties from vulnerable owners.
But the files showed something darker.
Bribery.
Blackmail.
Fraud.
Judges.
Bank officers.
City officials.
Peter had inherited the system.
William had tried to dismantle it.
Claire’s mother had discovered it first.
That discovery happened three weeks before her fatal car accident.
Claire stared at the screen.
“Peter killed my mother.”
Reed did not answer.
There wasn’t enough evidence yet.
Then the technician opened a newer folder.
D.M.
Daniel Mercer.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Daniel had been documenting Peter.
Payments.
Recordings.
Photographs.
Claire frowned.
“Why?”
Reed understood before she did.
“Insurance.”
Daniel had not merely been Peter’s partner.
He had been preparing to destroy Peter if necessary.
Then they found the final file.
WILLIAM BELL LOCATION.
Claire’s heartbeat thundered.
The most recent entry was dated eleven days earlier.
Coordinates.
Northern Wisconsin.
Claire stared at Reed.
May you like
“My father is alive.”
Before Reed could answer, the lights went out.
