Chapter 9 - The Workshop Wall
Daniel ran across the backyard with Emily behind him.
"Stay by the door," he told her.
"Not a chance."
The workshop smelled like sawdust and old gasoline. Sunlight cut through dirty windows and landed on Thomas Walker's workbench, still scarred by decades of tools.
Nothing moved.
Daniel checked behind the door, then the storage alcove.
Empty.
Emily read the letter again.
"West wall."
A row of pegboards covered that side of the workshop. Wrenches hung in faded outlines. Daniel pulled the boards one by one.
Behind the third panel was a narrow rectangular cavity.
It was empty.
"Someone beat us here," Emily whispered.
Daniel shined his flashlight inside.
Fresh scrape marks lined the wood.
At the bottom lay one torn corner of a manila envelope.
Stamped across it in blue ink were the words MERCER COUNTY RECORDS.
Emily picked it up.
"Property records?"
"Maybe."
A floorboard creaked overhead.
They both froze.
The workshop had a small storage loft.
Daniel looked up.
Another creak.
Then a shadow moved behind the railing.
"Who's there?" Daniel shouted.
A man jumped from the loft ladder, hit the floor hard, and shoved past Daniel.
Emily stepped back as he ran for the door.
Daniel grabbed the man's jacket.
The fabric tore.
The stranger twisted free and sprinted across the yard.
"Stop!"
He cleared the side gate and disappeared between two houses.
Daniel came back breathing hard.
Emily held up something that had fallen from the torn jacket.
A brass key on a white plastic tag.
B-214.
"Storage unit," she said.
Daniel nodded.
Police arrived and collected the key as evidence, but Ramirez let them photograph it.
"Do you recognize the man?" he asked.
Daniel replayed the moment in his head.
"Maybe. Marcus used to work with a guy named Shane Keller. Same build."
Ruth, watching from the porch with Noah, suddenly went pale.
"Shane?"
Daniel looked at her.
"You know him?"
She swallowed.
"He came to my house last month with Marcus. They thought I was asleep."
"What did you hear?"
Ruth's hands began to shake.
"Marcus said, 'Once we get the ledger, Daniel won't have a choice.'"
Daniel stared at the empty workshop cavity.
Emily whispered, "Then whatever was hidden here was bigger than a will."
That evening Ramirez called.
They had traced B-214.
The storage unit was rented to Shane Keller.
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And inside it, officers had found six boxes labeled in Thomas Walker's handwriting.
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