Chapter 3 - The Building Walter Had Not Entered In Eight Years)
The location was called Halcyon Archive Center.
Amelia learned that the following morning, though not from Walter.
She searched county property records while drinking coffee in her bedroom.
The industrial building stood twenty-three miles from the Hart house, on land owned by a holding company connected to Hart Development.
It had once been used to store project records, contracts, old architectural plans, insurance documents, employee files, and accounting books.
Eight years ago, after Thomas Hart died, most records had been digitized.
Halcyon was largely abandoned.
Except, apparently, at 2:13 in the morning.
Amelia found an old photograph of the building in a local business article.
Gray concrete.
Three loading bays.
A narrow administrative wing.
Tall fencing.
A main gate controlled by keypad.
She removed the parking receipt from her phone case.
DO NOT USE MAIN GATE.
Her pulse accelerated.
At breakfast, Diane behaved normally.
Ava complained about coffee.
Walter read the newspaper.
Nobody mentioned the SUV.
It was parked outside, freshly washed.
Amelia waited until Diane left for a charity committee meeting.
Then she confronted Walter in his study.
"Halcyon."
He looked up.
"I told you not to investigate."
"You also raised my father."
"That explains your stubbornness, not your judgment."
"What is still stored there?"
Walter removed his glasses.
"Old company records."
"What records?"
"Many kinds."
"What was Mom carrying last night?"
"I don't know."
"You knew the location."
"Yes."
"Why did you look scared?"
Walter stared at her.
"I wasn't scared."
"Fine. Why did you look like you wanted to break your phone?"
That earned a reluctant breath of amusement.
Then it vanished.
Walter stood.
"Your father kept private files at Halcyon."
Amelia's stomach tightened.
"What files?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I knew they existed. I did not know what was in all of them."
"Why?"
"Because Thomas was preparing to restructure part of the company before he died."
"What kind of restructuring?"
Walter looked toward the doorway.
Then he closed the study door.
"Your father believed money was disappearing."
Amelia sat down.
"From Hart Development?"
"From several related entities."
"How much?"
"At the time, he estimated a little over eight hundred thousand dollars."
Amelia stared.
"Who was taking it?"
"He hadn't determined that."
"You think Mom knows."
"I think Thomas became secretive during the last six months of his life. He started storing documents away from the house. After he died, I asked Daniel Price to help locate everything."
"Did he?"
"So I believed."
Amelia felt the pieces shifting.
"Halcyon."
Walter nodded.
"Thomas rented a secure archive room inside the building. Daniel told me it had been emptied before the accident."
"By Dad?"
"Supposedly."
"Who told Daniel?"
"Your mother."
The room became very quiet.
Amelia remembered the dark rectangular object Diane and Ava had placed in the SUV.
"What if it wasn't empty?"
Walter's gaze moved toward his desk.
"That is exactly what I have been asking myself since 2:13 this morning."
They drove separately.
Walter refused to use the SUV.
"If someone notices the tracker, they may already be checking whether it moves."
Amelia took his Lincoln.
Walter rode beside her.
The main gate at Halcyon was chained shut.
A weathered sign announced that the property was under electronic surveillance.
Amelia drove around the perimeter.
On the eastern side they found a narrow service lane behind overgrown trees.
At the end stood a second gate.
No chain.
A keypad.
Amelia removed the receipt.
Six digits.
She entered them.
The gate opened.
Walter said nothing.
Inside, weeds pushed through cracks in the asphalt.
They parked near the administrative wing.
The front door was locked.
Walter walked toward the loading docks.
Beside the third bay was a personnel entrance.
Its electronic lock had been broken.
Not violently.
The faceplate had been carefully unscrewed.
Inside, the building smelled of dust, paper, and old concrete.
Amelia used her phone flashlight.
Rows of metal shelving stretched into darkness.
Walter led her toward the rear.
"You remember exactly where you're going."
"I built the damn place."
They reached a corridor lined with numbered doors.
Archive Room 12.
Walter stopped.
The lock had been replaced.
Bright new steel against faded paint.
Amelia touched it.
"Someone has been here."
Walter looked down.
On the floor was a small strip of black fabric.
Amelia recognized it.
The blanket Diane had carried.
She picked it up.
Walter's jaw tightened.
Near the wall, Amelia noticed something else.
A torn piece of cardboard.
Printed on it were the words:
HART FAMILY TRUST
Walter took it from her.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Then footsteps echoed somewhere beyond the corridor.
Amelia turned off her flashlight.
Walter gripped his cane.
Another footstep.
Closer.
A beam of light swept across the far wall.
Someone was inside the building with them.
Walter whispered, "Don't move."
The beam disappeared.
A door closed.
Then silence.
Amelia waited ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Walter moved first.
They followed the corridor toward a side exit.
Outside, a car engine started.
Amelia ran around the building in time to see a dark sedan speeding through the service gate.
She could not see the driver.
Walter was breathing hard when he joined her.
"Did you recognize it?"
"No."
He looked toward the gate.
"I did."
"Whose car?"
Walter tightened his grip on his cane.
May you like
"Daniel Price."
Their family attorney.
