Chapter 6 - The Woman Behind the Rail

Noah drove straight to his apartment. The front door was shut, but the lock had fresh scratches. Inside, drawers hung open and his computer was gone.

"They left the TV," he said. "Guess the thieves were picky."

The joke failed. Evelyn checked the rooms while Rosa called the police. A photograph of their father lay face-down on the kitchen floor.

Vivian followed them in, despite Noah's objections. "My mother sent a man named Pierce. He handles the jobs no one puts in an email."

"Why tell us?" Evelyn asked.

"Because I didn't know Daniel was going to destroy you."

"You knew he was sleeping with you."

"Yes." Vivian looked at her. "I knew that. I'm not asking you to forgive me."

Evelyn waited.

"He told me your engagement was a business arrangement. That you were planning to walk away after the merger. I wanted to believe him."

"So you dressed for my wedding."

"I was supposed to appear after you signed the papers. My mother wanted a public announcement that Daniel and I were together. I thought humiliating you was the worst of it."

"And now?"

Vivian stared at the ruined apartment. "Now I think my mother is willing to kill for the warehouse."

Rosa connected the rescued drive to an old laptop Noah kept in his car. One file opened: HARBOR_2019. A grainy nighttime video showed workers unloading barrels from an unmarked truck into the warehouse next door, a property owned by Cole Holdings.

Thomas Hart appeared in frame, holding up his phone and confronting a man in a safety vest. The man turned, revealing a familiar face.

Daniel.

Evelyn felt the floor tilt.

Then the camera's audio caught Thomas saying, "If another kid gets sick, I'm taking this to the state."

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Noah picked up a chipped blue coffee mug from the kitchen floor. It had been his father's, carried from house to house until the handle broke. He held it awkwardly, as if the mug might break in his hands, and then set it back on the counter. 'I thought the worst thing that could happen to us already happened,' he said. Evelyn wanted to tell him it had. She couldn't. Instead she asked whether he had eaten anything.

Daniel replied, "Then you won't make it to the state."