Chapter 5 - The Warehouse Fire"There was a fire," Dad said. "Fourteen years ago. At our original distribution center."

"I know," I answered. "You told me an electrical panel failed."

"That was the official cause."

Mom shut her eyes. Whatever he was about to say, she had heard pieces of it before.

"A worker named Curtis Bell died that night," Dad continued. "The fire report said he entered a restricted aisle against orders. I accepted it because the investigator said the evidence was clear."

"And it wasn't?"

"Curtis had reported missing inventory. After he died, that report vanished."

Tessa leaned forward. "Who managed that warehouse?"

"Marcus Vale."

My phone buzzed. An unknown number had sent me a photograph of the old facility, fenced off and overgrown. Below it: YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY TO SIGN.

"Sign what?" I whispered.

Tessa photographed the message and told me not to respond. Dad paced toward the kitchen window.

"I thought this was about board control," he said. "Now I think they're threatening anybody who remembers."

Mom looked straight at him. "Tell her the part about Curtis's wife."

Dad stopped moving. "Her name is Denise. We paid a settlement."

"You gave her money and asked her to sign a silence agreement," Mom said. "That's not the same as finding out what happened."

"I didn't know what else to do."

"You could have listened."

The words landed harder than any shout. I'd spent years thinking our family fracture started with work and missed birthdays. Now I wondered how much of it came from a choice my father refused to revisit.

I pushed back my chair. "Where is Denise Bell?"

Tessa shook her head. "We should find her carefully."

"Find her," I said. "If someone is using my signature to erase a dead man's story, I need to know why."

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At eleven that night, Lena sent me an image from the employee scheduling system. An emergency corporate directive had ordered all security footage from lane six overwritten during routine maintenance.

The overwrite was scheduled for midnight.