Chapter 15 - Dock 6
Grant read the sentence three times.
"My father knew Daniel thought he was in danger."
Vivian sank into a chair.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Robert never told me about that picture."
Maya watched her carefully. "But you knew about Dock 6."
Vivian looked up.
There it was again. That half-second delay.
Claire said, "What happened at Dock 6?"
Vivian rubbed her palms together. "A fire. Years ago. Storage warehouse. Records were destroyed."
"Before or after Daniel died?"
"Two days after."
Maya's stomach turned.
Claire raised her radio. "Bridge, contact Coast Guard. Tell them we may have evidence connected to an old suspicious death and current corporate fraud."
Grant stepped away and called his father.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
On the fourth try, someone picked up.
Not Robert.
Martin Kessler.
Grant put the call on speaker.
"Where's my father?"
Kessler's voice sounded almost bored. "Safe. For now."
Vivian went white.
"Martin, what have you done?"
"You were supposed to deliver the trust. Instead, you turned a simple transaction into a federal problem."
Maya stepped closer to the phone.
"You burned the server."
"Maya Cole. Finally joining the conversation."
Her skin crawled hearing him say her name.
"Where is Robert Hawthorne?"
"Somewhere he can think about loyalty."
Grant slammed a hand on the table. "If you hurt him—"
"Your father has spent twenty years hurting himself, Grant. I simply stopped protecting him."
Maya said, "What happened to Daniel Cole?"
Silence.
Then Kessler laughed softly.
"You want the truth? Ask your captain why she was at Dock 6 the night it burned."
Everyone turned toward Claire.
Maya felt the blood leave her face.
"Claire?"
The captain did not deny it.
"I was there."
Maya's voice barely worked. "You told me you didn't know what happened."
"I didn't know everything."
"What did you know?"
Claire looked at her with an expression Maya had never seen before.
May you like
Guilt.
"Enough that I should have told you a long time ago."
