Chapter 6 - The Friend Who Knew Too Much
David read the message until the words blurred.
“My father never mentioned City Hall.”
Elena studied him.
“Think carefully.”
“He inspected municipal buildings. That doesn’t mean he found anything.”
Mary touched the photograph.
“Sloane’s people were afraid of him.”
“He died of natural causes.”
“So did several people on the Nightglass list.”
David looked toward the dark window.
His father had collapsed at home after complaining of chest pain. There had been no investigation because there had been no reason for one.
Until now.
Leo slept on the couch while the adults searched the cabin.
David opened every cupboard, removed drawers, and examined loose floorboards. Mary checked his father’s old desk. Elena searched the attic.
They found nothing beneath City Hall.
At two in the morning, David remembered a sentence his father used whenever they repaired something together.
A building tells the truth from the bottom up.
He went outside.
The cabin stood on short concrete supports. David crawled beneath it with a flashlight and found a metal document tube attached to the underside of a floor beam.
Inside was an old inspection report.
The report described structural repairs beneath City Hall fourteen years earlier. A handwritten note on the final page referred to a sealed chamber behind the municipal archive.
Restricted installation. Independent power. No planning approval.
A second note had been added later.
V. Sloane present during inspection. Ordered crew to stop work. Report removed from official file.
Elena read the page.
“Your father found their original data facility.”
“Fourteen years ago?”
“Nightglass is older than Mary’s evidence.”
Mary examined the signature.
“Thomas may have kept a copy because he knew the report would disappear.”
David found a business card inside the tube.
The card belonged to a young police officer.
Elena Ruiz.
She stared at it.
“I met your father once.”
“You never told me.”
“I didn’t know he was your father. He reported an unauthorized room beneath City Hall. When I returned with a warrant request, the report was gone.”
“What happened to him?”
“Three weeks later, the department received notice that the complainant had died.”
Mary looked at Elena.
“And you accepted that?”
“I was twenty-seven. My supervisor told me the room contained emergency communications equipment.”
“Who was your supervisor?”
Elena’s face hardened.
“Paul Vance.”
They now knew why Sloane wanted the phone and why someone had sent David toward Mary.
The person had not created the reunion out of kindness.
They wanted the Bluebird evidence brought into the open.
Colin was the only person who had shown knowledge of the map.
At dawn, David called him.
Colin answered immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“The maintenance workshop.”
“Are you alone?”
“For now.”
Elena shook her head, warning David not to reveal their location.
David continued.
“Did you leave the map?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They made me.”
“Who?”
“Sloane.”
David tightened his grip on the phone.
“Why would Sloane lead me to Mary?”
“He didn’t know exactly where she was. They found security footage of her near East Mercer. They needed someone she might approach.”
“So you used Leo.”
“I was told they only wanted the evidence.”
“You knew she was alive.”
“Not until last week.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because they showed me photographs of my daughter leaving college.”
Colin’s voice collapsed.
“I thought I could lead you there, warn you afterward, and get everyone out.”
“You followed us to the church.”
“I was supposed to confirm you had the box.”
“Did you?”
“No. I told them you escaped before opening the locker.”
David heard a door close on Colin’s side.
Colin whispered, “They’re here.”
“Leave.”
“I can’t. Listen to me. Tomorrow night there’s an Armitage gala at City Hall. Harrow is announcing the final waterfront contracts.”
“Why does that matter?”
“The underground servers will be erased during the event. They’re moving everything after midnight.”
Elena wrote the words down.
Colin continued.
“I have a service badge in locker seventeen at the workshop. It opens the lower archive entrance.”
A man called his name in the background.
Colin raised his voice.
“I need to go.”
“Colin.”
“I’m sorry, David.”
The call ended.
They drove toward the city in Elena’s vehicle, leaving Leo with Rafi and Sister Agnes, the director of a church shelter Elena trusted.
Mary refused at first.
Leo solved the argument by placing the brass Bluebird key in her hand.
“You have to stop the bad men,” he said. “Then you come back.”
Mary kissed him.
“I promise.”
At the maintenance workshop, David found Colin’s locker open.
The service badge lay inside beside a small voice recorder.
David pressed play.
Colin’s voice filled the empty room.
“My name is Colin Mercer. Victor Sloane threatened my daughter and ordered me to monitor David Hale. I delivered the map to David’s house. The map was provided by Councilman Harrow’s assistant, not Sloane.”
Elena stopped the recording.
“Harrow wanted Mary found.”
“Why?”
“Perhaps he wanted the evidence to destroy Sloane.”
“Then Sloane and Harrow aren’t working together anymore.”
Mary looked toward the office window.
“People like them only work together while they are equally afraid.”
The workshop lights turned on.
Victor Sloane stood inside the main doorway.
Colin was beside him, his hands restrained behind his back.
“I told you they were here,” Colin said.
Sloane placed a hand on his shoulder.
“He has been extremely disappointing.”
David stepped toward them.
“Let him go.”
“Bring me the phone.”
Mary emerged from behind a repair van.
“You still need me to unlock Lantern.”
Sloane’s confidence flickered.
Only for a moment.
It was enough.
Elena triggered the workshop’s fire suppression system. Foam burst from pipes above them, covering the floor and blocking Sloane’s view.
David pulled Colin behind the van. Mary opened the rear garage door, and they escaped through the equipment yard.
Sloane shouted after them.
“You have no idea what Lantern contains!”
Mary looked at the phone as they ran.
For the first time, she realized the truth.
May you like
Sloane was not only trying to hide the files.
He was afraid of them.
