Chapter 6 - THE RECORDING HER FATHER LEFT BEHIND
The hidden room was larger than Skylar expected.
It extended beneath the eastern wing of the mansion, windowless and reinforced with concrete. Metal shelves lined the walls. Security monitors glowed above a long desk.
The room in Elise’s photograph had been orderly.
Now it had been searched.
Folders lay open. Boxes had been moved. A chair was overturned.
At the far end of the room, a woman stood beside an open safe.
Elise.
“You should not be here,” Skylar whispered.
“Neither should you.”
“How did you enter?”
“Your father built a second entrance through the old wine cellar.”
Elise held up a slim metal device.
“I disabled the interior alarm, but Derek may still receive an external alert.”
Skylar closed the door behind her.
“What are we looking for?”
“The true continuity order and the cockpit recorder.”
“The missing recorder is here?”
“I believe it was.”
Elise pointed toward an empty compartment in the safe.
“The dimensions match.”
Skylar moved to the shelves.
Each box contained records on a different person.
Martin Sloane.
Dr. Bellamy.
Charles Vane.
Patricia Halston.
Derek Halston.
The files had been gathered by her father before his death.
Skylar opened Derek’s box.
Inside were banking records, photographs, and a background report.
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Derek’s financial history showed large debts before he met Skylar. Those debts had vanished three weeks after their engagement.
The payment
