Chapter 7 - The Basement Archive
Arthur led them through the east corridor.
Behind a row of bookshelves, he pressed a hidden switch. The shelves separated, revealing a narrow iron elevator.
A red light glowed above the door.
The car was moving upward.
“Who else has access?” Claire asked.
“Only family,” Arthur said.
Mason shook his head.
“I don’t have the code.”
Arthur looked at him.
“You asked Claire for the keys yesterday.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
Mason had no answer.
The elevator stopped.
The iron doors slid open.
No one stood inside.
Mud covered the floor.
A trail of wet footprints led from the elevator into the corridor.
Clara crouched beside them.
“These are fresh.”
Daniel looked toward the dark end of the hall.
“Someone came through the basement.”
Arthur stepped into the elevator.
Claire followed.
“No,” Daniel said. “We should wait for police.”
“The road is blocked,” Claire replied.
“We can call.”
“There’s no signal.”
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“You do not know what is down there.”
She looked at his hand until he released her.
“That is exactly why I’m going.”
Clara entered beside her.
Arthur joined them.
Margaret held the doors.
“I am coming too.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Stay with Rebecca.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“I don’t need protection.”
Arthur looked at Daniel and Mason.
“I was not protecting you.”
In the end, all of them descended together.
The elevator groaned beneath their weight.
The basement archive extended beneath the oldest section of the manor. Arthur had built it during the 1980s to protect company records from fire and theft.
The doors opened into a concrete corridor lit by weak emergency lamps.
Metal shelves filled several rooms. Boxes were labeled by year, vessel, and corporate division.
Claire followed the muddy footprints.
They led to a steel door at the far end.
The door stood open.
Arthur stopped.
“That room has been sealed for twenty years.”
Clara moved closer.
“What is inside?”
“Records from the Vale investigation.”
Daniel stepped back.
“We should not be here.”
Claire turned toward him.
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor’s death was investigated. Nothing was found.”
Arthur entered the room.
A single desk stood in the center.
Most shelves were empty.
Documents had been torn open and thrown across the floor.
Claire saw shipping manifests, photographs of damaged warehouses, police reports, and copies of bank transfers.
Someone had searched the room recently.
A metal cabinet near the wall had been forced open.
Arthur reached inside.
“Gone.”
“What?” Claire asked.
“A red evidence box.”
“What was in it?”
“The original second manifest.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Clara noticed.
“You know where it is.”
“No.”
“You knew it was kept here.”
“Everyone did.”
“I didn’t,” Mason said.
Daniel looked at him sharply.
Mason continued.
“You told me there were old records, but not what they were.”
Arthur turned toward his grandson.
“What did Daniel ask you to destroy?”
Mason’s mouth opened.
Daniel spoke first.
“Nothing.”
Arthur slammed his cane against the floor.
“I asked Mason.”
Mason looked at his father.
Then at Claire.
Fear and resentment battled across his face.
“He said there was a box of forged documents.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Do not.”
Mason laughed nervously.
“You told me they could destroy the family.”
“They can.”
“So you admit it?”
Daniel grabbed Mason by the collar.
Clara moved between them.
Claire searched the floor.
Near the desk, she noticed blood.
A small dark drop.
Then another.
The trail led behind a shelf.
“Someone is hurt.”
She moved the shelf.
A man lay on the floor.
He wore a black jacket and gloves. Blood covered the side of his head.
Margaret gasped.
Arthur knelt with difficulty.
Claire checked the man’s pulse.
“He’s alive.”
Clara removed the man’s hood.
Rebecca screamed.
Claire recognized him.
Elias Grant.
Arthur’s attorney.
“Elias?” Arthur said. “Can you hear me?”
The lawyer opened his eyes.
“Arthur.”
“What happened?”
Elias struggled to breathe.
“I came through the old tunnel.”
“What tunnel?” Daniel demanded.
Arthur ignored him.
“Why?”
“I received your message.”
“I sent no message.”
Elias looked confused.
“It came from Claire’s email.”
Claire shook her head.
“I didn’t send anything.”
Elias closed his eyes.
“The message said you were in danger. It told me to bring the original will and meet in the archive.”
Arthur looked around.
“Where is the will?”
Elias turned his head toward the empty cabinet.
“Taken.”
Claire felt cold.
“Who attacked you?”
“A woman.”
Clara stiffened.
“What did she look like?”
“Red hair.”
Everyone turned toward Clara.
Her wet hair was dark brown.
Elias continued.
“Older. Maybe sixty.”
Arthur’s face became pale.
“Did she say anything?”
Elias nodded weakly.
“She said Arthur stole her life.”
Claire looked at the photograph in her pocket.
Eleanor would have been fifty-nine.
Arthur whispered, “That is impossible.”
Elias gripped his sleeve.
“She had Eleanor’s ring.”
Rebecca opened her hand.
The green-stoned ring was gone.
She looked down in shock.
“I put it in my pocket.”
Daniel searched the floor around her.
Nothing.
Clara stared into the dark corridor.
“Someone took it upstairs.”
A noise came from the elevator.
The doors began to close.
Claire ran forward, but the elevator started rising before she reached it.
Someone had called it from above.
Arthur pressed the button repeatedly.
No response.
They were trapped in the basement.
Then the emergency lights shut off.
In the darkness, a woman’s voice came through the old intercom system.
“Arthur.”
He froze.
May you like
The voice was older, distorted by static, but filled with unmistakable hatred.
“You buried the wrong woman.”
