Chapter 11 - The Fire At Halcyon)
Smoke was visible from the highway.
Amelia saw it first.
A gray column rising above the industrial district.
"No."
Walter leaned forward.
Nathan called emergency services even though sirens could already be heard.
Halcyon Archive Center was burning.
Flames pushed from the rear administrative windows when they arrived.
Firefighters blocked the entrance.
Amelia stepped from the car.
An officer stopped her.
"You can't go closer."
"My family owns the building."
"Then you definitely can't go closer."
Walter stood beside her, shaking with rage.
"Room Twelve."
"What?" Amelia asked.
"The recordings."
They watched helplessly.
The fire burned for nearly three hours.
Most of the archive wing survived.
Room Twelve did not.
The section containing Thomas's records was heavily damaged.
Investigators immediately found signs the fire had not begun accidentally.
A side door had been forced.
An accelerant had been used.
Security cameras had been disabled.
Daniel Price's phone went directly to voicemail.
His office claimed he was unavailable.
By afternoon, Nathan had obtained an emergency preservation order for Daniel's electronic records.
By evening, Daniel had hired a criminal defense attorney.
That told them more than any phone call could have.
The fire seemed to have destroyed Thomas's recordings.
Then Ava remembered the photograph.
"Mom took it Saturday."
Diane stared at her.
"What photograph?"
"The one of Dad."
Amelia turned.
"You still have it."
Diane shook her head.
"No."
"You put it in your purse."
"I destroyed it."
Walter looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because of what was written on the back."
Amelia stepped closer.
"What did it say?"
Diane's eyes filled.
"It was a message to you."
Amelia stopped.
"To me?"
"Thomas wrote your name."
"What did he write?"
Diane looked away.
Amelia's voice rose.
"What did my father write?"
Diane whispered:
"Millstone remembers."
Amelia frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Walter looked shocked.
Nathan noticed.
"You know."
Walter walked toward the window.
"Millstone."
Amelia waited.
Walter slowly turned.
"It was your father's nickname for an old company server."
"A server?"
"An offline backup system."
"Where?"
"We had a small data center at the Millstone project office."
"Still there?"
"The project closed nine years ago."
Nathan asked, "Was the hardware removed?"
Walter thought.
"I don't know."
Amelia grabbed her coat.
The Millstone development sat forty minutes away.
A planned luxury community that had collapsed during permitting disputes.
Hart Development eventually sold most of the land.
One small maintenance building remained company property.
Walter still had keys.
Inside they found dust.
Broken office chairs.
Old cable.
Empty server racks.
Amelia felt hope collapse.
"Nothing."
Walter walked toward the rear wall.
He tapped his cane against a panel.
"Thomas designed this room."
"So?"
"He hated visible equipment."
Walter found a recessed latch.
A narrow door opened.
Behind it was a second rack.
One small black server remained.
Amelia stared.
"Millstone."
Nathan photographed everything before touching it.
They called an independent digital forensic technician.
By midnight, the technician had powered the system through protected equipment.
The storage array contained thousands of archived company files.
Most were ordinary.
Contracts.
Payroll.
Plans.
Then the technician found a hidden encrypted directory.
Folder name:
T.H. PRIVATE.
Amelia's hands trembled.
The password hint read:
FIRST THING SHE EVER STOLE.
Walter looked at Amelia.
"Any idea?"
She almost laughed.
"My dad used to tell a story."
"What story?"
"When I was five, I stole his red tie before a business trip because I didn't want him to leave."
She entered:
REDTIE.
Wrong.
She tried:
RED TIE.
Wrong.
She tried the date of the trip.
Wrong.
Ava, standing behind her, whispered, "Maybe it wasn't you."
Amelia turned.
Ava shrugged.
"Dad had two daughters."
Amelia looked at her.
"What did you steal?"
Ava frowned.
"I don't know."
Diane, who had remained silent in the corner, suddenly said:
"His watch."
Everyone turned.
She looked at Ava.
"When you were three, you hid Thomas's watch in your toy kitchen."
Ava whispered, "I don't remember."
"He did."
Amelia entered:
WATCH.
Wrong.
Diane closed her eyes.
"He called it his lucky watch."
Amelia typed:
LUCKYWATCH.
The folder opened.
Nobody spoke.
Inside were audio files.
Scanned documents.
Emails.
Photographs.
And one video file recorded eleven hours before Thomas Hart died.
Amelia clicked it.
Her father appeared on screen.
Eight years younger than the face she remembered from photographs.
Tired.
Nervous.
Alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If Walter is watching this, I failed."
Amelia covered her mouth.
Thomas continued.
"If Amelia or Ava is watching, I'm sorry."
Ava began crying.
Diane closed her eyes.
Thomas looked away from the camera for a second.
Then back.
"Daniel has been stealing from the company for years. I signed documents I should have read more carefully. By the time I understood, he had enough of my signatures to make me look involved."
Walter sat down.
"I've copied everything."
Thomas continued.
"Diane knows some of this. Not all."
Diane whispered, "Thomas."
"He believes he can frighten me into silence."
Thomas leaned closer to the camera.
"If something happens to me, do not trust the first explanation."
Amelia felt every hair on her arms rise.
Thomas looked directly into the lens.
"And do not let Daniel Price near my daughters."
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
Then the forensic technician spoke quietly.
"There are more."
Nathan looked at the file list.
May you like
Dozens more.
Including one created the night Thomas died.
