Chapter 12 - The Man Behind the Net Shed
At dawn, fog hung low over Pier 6. Claire wore dark jeans and a borrowed coat. Alvarez's team watched from unmarked vehicles, while Mara and Sophie stayed at the station under protection.
The old net shed leaned toward the water, its doors rusted and crooked. Claire walked to the entrance and stopped.
"Dad?"
A man emerged from the shadows. He was thinner, his hair nearly white, and one side of his face bore a long scar. But he had Thomas Bennett's gray eyes and the old habit of rubbing his thumb against his ring finger when nervous.
"Pumpkin," he whispered.
Claire couldn't move. Then she ran to him and held on so hard he staggered.
"You were alive," she said into his coat. "You were alive the whole time."
"I know. I know what I did to you."
She pushed him away. "No, you don't. Sophie cried every birthday. I stood beside your grave. I thought I was alone."
"I tried to come back. They showed me photographs of both of you leaving school and work. Every time I got close, someone knew."
Claire wanted to hit him and hug him again. Instead, she asked, "Why now?"
"Because Eleanor is moving the money today. Once the harbor deal closes, the evidence disappears."
He pulled a battered notebook from inside his coat. Names, dates, coded transfers, and industrial test results filled its pages.
"This is what Hannah died trying to give the authorities."
A sharp crack sounded near the pier. A wooden post splintered beside Thomas.
Alvarez shouted from behind a truck, "Down! Everybody down!"
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Thomas grabbed Claire and dragged her behind stacked crab traps.
Across the water, a figure lowered a rifle from the roof of a fishing warehouse.
