Chapter 13 - The Girl in the Photograph
Robert swore he knew nothing.
Claire believed he was terrified enough to be telling the truth.
The letter contained only two more useful sentences.
Gerald knows where the original documents are.
Never allow Claire to see File 17.
File 17.
Federal investigators searched Morgan archives.
Nothing.
Samuel searched legal storage.
Nothing.
Ethan searched decades of digitized records.
Nothing.
Then Diane remembered something.
"When you were little, your grandfather kept numbered storage boxes at the old factory."
Morgan Industrial's first factory had closed in 2004.
The property remained company-owned.
Claire, Robert, Sloan, and investigators entered the abandoned building Wednesday morning.
Dust covered everything.
Old offices.
Rusting equipment.
Empty cabinets.
In the founder's office, they found a hidden storage room.
Boxes numbered 1 through 43.
Box 17 was missing.
Claire stared at the empty space.
"Someone got here first."
Sloan examined the dust.
"Recently."
A clean rectangle marked where the box had been.
Then Robert noticed something.
A photograph taped beneath the shelf.
Claire removed it.
The picture showed Charles Morgan standing outside the factory in 1998.
Thomas Vale stood beside him.
Gerald Cross.
Martin Morgan.
And a little girl.
Claire.
She remembered the day.
Barely.
She had visited the factory with her grandfather.
But there was another child in the photograph.
A boy.
About nine.
He stood beside Thomas.
Daniel Vale.
Claire stared at their younger faces.
"Daniel and I met."
Robert nodded.
"You probably did."
On the back of the photograph was handwriting.
C.M. and D.V.
SUBJECTS.
Claire's skin prickled.
"Subjects?"
Nobody understood.
Then Sloan's phone rang.
She listened.
"We found Daniel."
"Where?"
"Hospital."
"What happened?"
"Someone attacked him."
Claire arrived an hour later.
Daniel Vale looked nothing like the controlled restaurant manager she'd met days earlier.
Bruises covered his face.
His left arm was bandaged.
Two federal agents guarded the door.
He opened his eyes when Claire entered.
"You found the factory."
"Yes."
"Box 17?"
"Gone."
Daniel smiled weakly.
"Of course."
"Who took it?"
"I don't know."
"Who attacked you?"
"Gerald."
Claire stared.
"Gerald Cross?"
Daniel nodded.
"He's alive?"
"Very."
"Where?"
"Gone."
Claire stepped closer.
"What is File 17?"
Daniel's smile disappeared.
"Your grandfather's greatest sin."
"What did he do?"
Daniel looked toward the agents.
Then back at Claire.
"My father wasn't killed because he discovered stolen money."
"Why was he killed?"
"Because he discovered what the money was funding."
Claire's heart hammered.
"What?"
Daniel whispered, "Us."
May you like
"Us?"
"You and me."
