Chapter 4 - The Last Man to See Thomas Dawson)
Mia did not shout.
That made Elias more uncomfortable.
She simply stood beside the hospital window and waited.
Finally she said, "Tell me."
Elias looked at Nora.
Nora said nothing.
This part belonged to him.
"The fire started at 11:42 p.m.," Elias said.
Mia remained facing the window.
"I arrived at 11:47."
"Why?"
"Your father called me."
"You already said that."
"I didn't tell you what happened next."
Mia turned.
Elias's jaw tightened.
"When I reached Warehouse 14, the eastern loading bay was burning. Thomas had escaped through a maintenance door."
Mia's knees weakened.
"He got out?"
"For a moment."
She gripped the windowsill.
"He was injured. Smoke inhalation. Burns on his left arm. But he was walking."
"Then why did he die?"
Elias looked at her.
"Because he went back inside."
Mia stared at him as if the sentence made no sense.
"No."
"He heard someone calling."
"Who?"
"A night custodian named Samuel Ortega."
Mia remembered that name from old articles.
Samuel Ortega had also died in the fire.
"My father went back for him."
"Yes."
Mia closed her eyes.
Of course he did.
Thomas Dawson had once stopped his car in a thunderstorm to rescue a dog from a drainage ditch.
He had run into a burning apartment before firefighters arrived because a neighbor said a baby was inside.
Going back into a warehouse for another person was exactly what he would have done.
"And you let him?"
Elias flinched slightly.
"I tried to stop him."
"Did you go with him?"
"No."
The answer landed hard.
"Why?"
"An explosion hit the loading bay."
"You were afraid."
"Yes."
Mia looked at him with disgust.
"My father wasn't."
"No."
"You could have helped him."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
Elias's voice lowered.
"I have asked myself that question every day for eleven years."
Mia wanted to hate him.
Part of her did.
Yet there was no excuse in his voice.
Only guilt.
"What happened after he went back?"
"He reached Samuel. Firefighters later found them near the west stairwell."
Mia wiped her eyes angrily.
"Why was your presence erased?"
"Because I was carrying the copied ledger."
Mia turned sharply.
"What?"
"Thomas handed it to me before going back."
The room fell silent.
"He told me to protect it."
"Where is it?"
"I gave it to my father."
Mia stared at him.
Nora closed her eyes.
Elias continued before Mia could speak.
"I was twenty six. I was loyal to the wrong man. I convinced myself I needed to understand what Thomas had found before going to police."
"So you gave evidence to one of the people involved."
"Yes."
"What did your father do?"
"Burned it."
Mia walked across the room and slapped Elias.
The sound cracked through the silence.
Nora did not move.
Neither did Elias.
Mia's hand shook.
"You let them destroy my father's proof."
"Yes."
"He died for that."
"Yes."
"And then the city called him corrupt."
Elias met her eyes.
"Yes."
Mia wanted him to argue.
To defend himself.
To become the monster everyone said he was.
Instead he sat there and accepted everything.
That made her angrier.
"You don't get to feel guilty and call that justice."
"I know."
"You don't get forgiveness because you finally decided to tell me."
"I know."
"Then what do you want?"
Elias reached toward the bedside table.
He opened the medical bag and removed the brass key.
"I want to finish what Thomas started."
Mia laughed bitterly.
"Eleven years late."
"Yes."
"Why now?"
"Because someone sent me his bag."
"Who?"
"I think Samuel Ortega's daughter."
Mia stopped.
"The custodian?"
"Samuel had a daughter named Elena. She was nine when he died. Two weeks ago she contacted one of Nora's investigators."
"What did she say?"
"Her father had hidden something before the fire."
Mia looked at the burned notebook.
"D14 is not the evidence. It is the map."
Elias nodded.
"Samuel and Thomas were working together."
Nora opened a file on her tablet.
"Samuel maintained the warehouse. Thomas inspected safety systems. They discovered the financial scheme independently, then started documenting it together."
"Why did Elena wait eleven years?"
"She didn't know what she had."
Nora displayed a photograph.
A small metal box.
"Samuel's widow died recently. Elena found this inside an old wall safe."
"What's inside?"
"We don't know."
"The key."
"Probably."
Mia looked at the brass key.
"Where is the box?"
Nora hesitated.
"Missing."
Mia's frustration returned.
"Of course."
"Elena was supposed to deliver it to Elias four days ago."
"She didn't?"
"She disappeared."
Mia's anger vanished.
"What?"
"Her apartment was empty. Phone disconnected. No sign of forced entry."
"Do police know?"
"They consider her voluntarily missing."
Mia looked toward Elias.
"You think Owen found her."
"I think someone did."
Mia's phone vibrated.
Another message.
This time from Tessa.
I'M AT YOUR APARTMENT.
Mia frowned.
She typed.
WHY?
Tessa replied immediately.
BECAUSE SOMEONE BROKE INTO MINE.
A photograph followed.
Tessa's bedroom had been torn apart.
Drawers emptied.
Mattress cut open.
Mia called her.
"Tessa?"
"I'm okay."
"What happened?"
"I came home and found everything like this."
"What were they looking for?"
Tessa's voice trembled.
"The photo I sent you."
"But you sent it."
"I also took something else from Owen's office."
Mia closed her eyes.
"What?"
"A key card."
"What key card?"
"It says Calder Storage, Unit 318."
Elias heard.
He looked at Nora.
Nora was already reaching for her coat.
Mia said, "Don't touch anything. Lock the door."
Tessa whispered, "Mia, there's something else."
"What?"
"When I took the card, I saw a receipt under it."
"For what?"
"Monthly storage."
"That's not strange."
"No. But the account name was."
Mia waited.
Tessa spoke slowly.
"Thomas Dawson."
Mia's blood went cold.
May you like
Her father had been dead eleven years.
Yet someone had been paying for a storage unit in his name every month.
