Chapter 5 - The Basement Without Windows
Evelyn awakened in a wooden chair beneath a single hanging light.
Her wrists were tied behind her.
The room smelled of damp stone and old paper.
She recognized the courthouse basement immediately.
Forty years earlier, she had volunteered here during a flood, organizing property records before they were moved to the new municipal building.
Now the shelves were gone.
Only hooks, chains, and a steel drain remained.
Chief Harper stood near the door.
Travis Kane leaned against the wall, eating an apple.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Your mother never taught you not to eat while an elderly woman is tied to a chair?”
Travis bit into the apple.
“My mother taught me never to leave witnesses.”
Harper frowned. “Enough.”
“What?” Travis asked. “She already knows.”
“She knows pieces.”
Evelyn studied Harper.
“You were Daniel’s friend.”
Harper’s face showed no emotion.
“I was.”
“He trusted you.”
“That was his weakness.”
“Trusting people?”
“Believing friendship mattered more than survival.”
Evelyn looked around.
“Is that what you call this? Survival?”
Harper stepped closer.
“Your husband discovered an operation far larger than Bellhaven. He had two choices. Join it or disappear.”
“And you chose to join.”
“I chose to keep my family alive.”
“Your wife left you.”
His eyes hardened.
“You know nothing about my family.”
“I know she packed her belongings and drove away in the middle of the night. I know you told everyone she wanted a new life. I know she never contacted her sister again.”
Travis stopped chewing.
Harper lowered his voice.
“Do not speak about her.”
“Did Nathaniel kill her too?”
Harper struck Evelyn across the face.
The chair nearly tipped.
Travis laughed.
Harper grabbed the backrest and steadied it.
“You have Daniel’s ledger,” he said.
“Perhaps.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere you’ll never find it.”
Travis tossed the apple core into the drain.
“We don’t need the book. We need the key.”
“I don’t have a key.”
“Your daughter does.”
“Then ask her.”
“We did.”
“And she laughed?”
Travis stepped forward.
“She’ll come.”
“Of course she will.”
“You sound pleased.”
Evelyn smiled through the pain.
“You have no idea what you invited into this town.”
Travis grabbed her hair.
“She’s one soldier.”
“She is the soldier other soldiers call when plans fail.”
Harper pulled him back.
A phone rang.
Harper answered.
He listened, then looked at Evelyn.
“Her aircraft just entered United States airspace.”
Travis’s confidence faltered.
“That fast?”
“She used military transport.”
“Can she do that?”
“She already did.”
Harper ended the call.
Evelyn said, “You should start running.”
Travis slapped her.
This time, she laughed.
His face reddened.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you hit exactly like your father.”
He froze.
Evelyn had struck the right nerve.
Victor Kane had built his public reputation on discipline and family loyalty. In private, he had beaten Travis throughout childhood. Everyone in Bellhaven knew. Nobody spoke of it.
“You know nothing about him,” Travis said.
“I know he made you cruel because cruelty was the only power he allowed you.”
Travis drew back his hand.
Harper caught his wrist.
“We need her conscious.”
The basement door opened.
Victor Kane entered.
At sixty-eight, he remained tall and broad-shouldered. His white hair was neatly combed. He wore a dark overcoat and carried a polished cane he did not need.
Travis immediately stepped away from Evelyn.
Victor’s eyes moved from his son to the blood on Evelyn’s face.
“I told you not to damage her.”
“She insulted me.”
“She is seventy-five.”
“She knows about the ledger.”
Victor faced Evelyn.
“You always were stubborn.”
“You always were a coward.”
His expression remained composed.
“Daniel said the same thing.”
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
“When did you last see him?”
Victor placed both hands on his cane.
“The night he disappeared.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you deliver him to Nathaniel?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“You are asking the wrong question.”
“What should I ask?”
“Why did Daniel agree to go?”
Evelyn stared at him.
“He didn’t agree.”
“He entered the vehicle willingly.”
“You threatened Nicole.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Victor leaned closer.
“Because Daniel learned you were involved.”
For one terrible second, the words entered Evelyn’s mind before reason rejected them.
“Involved in what?”
“The first shipment.”
“You’re lying.”
“Daniel found your signature on a transport authorization.”
“I never signed one.”
“Your name appeared on it.”
“Forged.”
“He did not know that.”
Evelyn remembered the months before Daniel vanished. He had grown distant, sleeping in the guest room, leaving without explanation.
She had believed he was protecting her.
Had he suspected her instead?
Victor continued.
“Nathaniel offered him proof that you were innocent. Daniel went to obtain it.”
“And never came back.”
“Not that night.”
Evelyn’s breath caught.
Victor saw the change in her expression.
“Yes,” he said softly. “Daniel returned to Bellhaven many times.”
“Where?”
“Closer than you imagine.”
The light above them flickered.
Harper checked his phone.
“No signal.”
A dull thud sounded upstairs.
Then another.
Travis reached beneath his jacket.
Victor looked toward the door.
“Who is on security?”
“Danner and four men,” Harper answered.
A third thud shook dust from the ceiling.
The basement door opened.
Officer Danner stumbled down the steps and collapsed.
Blood stained his uniform, but no wound was visible.
Behind him stood Nicole Turner.
She wore black tactical clothing.
She held no firearm.
Her eyes fixed on her mother.
“Mom.”
Evelyn smiled.
“You’re late.”
May you like
Nicole looked at the three men.
“No,” she said. “They were early.”
