Chapter 17 - The Cannery
The abandoned cannery stood on the northern inlet, a brick shell where fishermen once brought their catch. Broken windows stared over the water. The building's lower floor flooded whenever the lake rose, and the storm had already pushed water into the old loading bay.
State police were fifteen minutes away. Evelyn looked at Daniel on Owen's phone. Water had reached his ankles. He was conscious but leaning heavily to one side.
"No one goes in blind," Maya said. "We watch the exits."
"He's my husband," Evelyn replied.
"And that's exactly why Grant wants you there."
Emily came forward. "They want the files I have. Let me help."
They worked out a plan with the time they had. Owen would position himself on a hill overlooking the dock and stream everything. Emily would call Grant and offer the original trust for Daniel. Maya would approach the loading door with two trusted officers once the state team arrived.
Evelyn refused to stay behind. She rolled her wheelchair down a gravel path to the waterside entrance, where a sloped service ramp led into the building. Her legs hurt; her hands were raw. Neither mattered.
Grant's voice echoed from within. "Stop there."
He stood above the flooded floor on an iron catwalk, Daniel tied to a metal chair below. Drips fell from the ceiling into dark water. Another figure waited beside Grant: Sheriff Bell.
"You brought an audience," Grant said, noticing Emily.
"I'm your aunt's daughter," she told Bell. "Did you know that?"
The sheriff flinched. "Lucy didn't know what she was doing."
"She knew enough to be afraid of you."
Bell drew a pistol and aimed it at Emily. "That family caused enough trouble."
Evelyn moved forward. "The drive is with me. Let Daniel go."
Grant looked down at his father. For one second he seemed twelve again, aching for a word of approval. "Tell her what you did, Dad. Tell her about the night Lucy died."
Daniel lifted his head. "I tried to save her."
May you like
Bell laughed. "You always leave out the part where you were too late."
A motor coughed to life. The old flood pump shuddered, then reversed. Water surged through the loading bay, and Daniel's chair tipped toward the channel.
