Chapter 5 - Unit 318)
Calder Storage stood near the river beneath a highway overpass where concrete pillars were covered in faded graffiti.
Nora wanted Mia to remain at the hospital.
Mia refused.
"My father's name is on the account."
"Which is exactly why this could be a trap."
"Then it's a trap with my name on it."
Elias, still confined to the hospital, called before they entered.
"Listen to Nora."
"No."
"That wasn't a suggestion."
Mia almost laughed.
"You have known me less than a day."
"And I've already watched you ignore a direct threat from Owen."
"You were unconscious."
"Not completely."
Mia looked at Nora.
"Does he always sound like this?"
"Worse."
Mia returned to the call.
"I'm going inside."
Elias sighed.
"If something feels wrong, leave."
"Fine."
"And Mia?"
"What?"
"Don't try to prove anything."
She knew what he meant.
Do not try to be your father.
"I won't."
Nora brought two private investigators.
One was a former detective named Lucas Grant.
The other was a quiet woman called Priya Shah.
Tessa remained under protection at Mia's apartment with Mia's mother.
At the storage facility, the clerk claimed Unit 318 belonged to Thomas Dawson.
Mia placed her father's old driver's license photograph on the counter.
"That's impossible."
The clerk looked nervous.
"Payments are automatic."
"From what account?"
"I can't give that information."
Nora placed a legal document on the desk.
"You can."
Ten minutes later they had the answer.
The payment account belonged to Calder Consulting.
Owen's private company.
Unit 318 was at the far end of the third floor.
The hallway smelled of dust and concrete.
Mia inserted the key card.
The light turned green.
Nora stopped her.
"Behind me."
Nora opened the door.
Nothing happened.
Inside were metal shelves, cardboard boxes, an old desk, and several file cabinets.
Mia stepped inside slowly.
At first, the unit looked ordinary.
Then she saw the wall.
Dozens of newspaper articles had been pinned across it.
Articles about the Harbor East fire.
Articles about Elias.
Articles about Mayor Price.
Articles about Thomas Dawson.
Mia approached.
Someone had circled names in red ink.
Lines connected people to companies.
Dates were underlined.
Her own photograph appeared near the bottom.
It had been taken outside Bellrose Cafe two months earlier.
Mia stepped back.
"Owen was watching me."
Nora looked grim.
Lucas began photographing everything.
Priya opened a file cabinet.
"Financial records."
Nora joined her.
"How old?"
"Some recent. Some more than a decade."
Mia noticed a small recorder on the desk.
She pressed play.
Static.
Then Owen's voice.
"Price is getting nervous."
Another man answered.
Mia recognized him instantly from television.
Mayor Jonathan Price.
"I'm not nervous. I'm careful."
"You said Vance stopped looking."
"He did. Until someone mailed him Dawson's bag."
Mia looked at Nora.
The recording continued.
Owen said, "The girl works for me. If Vance contacts her, I'll know."
Mayor Price responded.
"Then make sure he doesn't."
Owen laughed.
"I'm not killing a waitress."
"I didn't say kill her."
"You never say anything directly."
"That's why I'm still mayor."
The recording ended.
Mia's stomach twisted.
Nora took the device.
"This is enough to open a serious investigation."
"Not enough to prove what happened eleven years ago."
"No."
Mia searched the desk.
Inside the bottom drawer she found a map.
Dock 14.
Several old drainage tunnels were marked beneath the warehouse district.
One was circled.
Tunnel C.
Next to it, Owen had written:
Dawson backup?
Mia remembered the notebook.
D14 is not the evidence. It is the map.
"The warehouse wasn't the evidence."
Nora looked over her shoulder.
"What?"
"The location was telling us where to search."
Mia pointed at Tunnel C.
"My father hid something underground."
Lucas studied the map.
"Most of those tunnels were sealed after redevelopment."
"Most."
"One may still be accessible."
Priya called from the back of the unit.
"Found something."
They walked over.
A black duffel bag sat behind several boxes.
Inside were bundles of cash.
Three passports.
A handgun.
And a woman's wallet.
Nora opened it.
Elena Ortega.
Mia's heart jumped.
"She's here?"
Lucas drew his weapon.
They searched the entire unit.
No Elena.
But behind a cabinet, Priya found a broken fingernail with dried blood.
Nora's expression hardened.
"She was here."
Mia looked around.
"Then where did Owen take her?"
A sound came from the hallway.
A rolling cart.
Lucas moved toward the entrance.
The overhead lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Nora whispered, "Nobody move."
A second later, something heavy struck the outside of the storage door.
The metal panel slammed shut.
Lucas rushed forward.
Locked.
Then a smell reached Mia.
Smoke.
Priya swore.
"Fire."
Mia's chest tightened.
Eleven years disappeared.
For one terrible second, she was not in a storage facility.
She was imagining her father inside Warehouse 14.
Locked doors.
Smoke.
No escape.
Nora grabbed her shoulder.
"Mia. Stay with me."
Smoke began creeping beneath the door.
Lucas kicked the metal repeatedly.
"It won't move."
Mia looked at the map still in her hand.
The building's original service plan had been printed faintly beneath the dock diagram.
She saw a narrow square behind Unit 318.
"There's a maintenance shaft."
"Where?"
Mia pointed toward the back wall.
They moved shelves.
Behind them was a vent panel.
Priya pulled out a multitool.
Smoke thickened.
Outside the door, someone walked away.
Mia heard footsteps.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Whoever had locked them inside believed the fire would finish the job.
The panel came loose.
Behind it was a narrow service passage.
Nora pushed Mia through first.
They crawled one by one.
By the time firefighters reached the third floor, Unit 318 was burning.
Most records were destroyed.
But Nora had the recorder.
Lucas had photographs.
And Mia still had the map.
When they emerged outside, Mia coughed into the rain.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A woman's whisper came through.
"Is this Mia Dawson?"
"Yes."
"My name is Elena Ortega."
Mia stood straight.
Nora turned.
Elena continued.
"Owen thinks I'm dead."
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Are you safe?"
"No."
Mia looked at the smoke pouring from the storage building.
"What do you want?"
Elena began crying quietly.
"I want to finish what our fathers started."
May you like
Then she said something Mia had waited eleven years to hear.
"I know where Thomas Dawson hid the real ledger."
