Chapter 8 - Beneath the City
Warehouse Seventeen stood in a fenced industrial park thirty minutes from downtown. Vale Meridian still leased it, though Marcus had told Adrian it was empty. Naomi obtained a court order preserving its records. Price coordinated a lawful search with state investigators, who discovered a basement level missing from the commercial floor plans.
“B3,” I said when Price showed me the diagram.
“Don't go near the site,” he warned. “You are a witness.”
I hated that word. Witness sounded passive. My father might be behind those walls.
Adrian returned to his office and requested the original purchase documents for the warehouse. Someone had altered the ownership paperwork so a shell company controlled the underground levels. Its director was registered under a name neither of us recognized: Evelyn Mercer.
“That was my wife's maiden name,” Adrian said.
“You think she owned it?”
“She never mentioned it.”
An hour later, Naomi found a signature certificate created after Evelyn's funeral. Someone had used her identity to purchase the property long after she could have authorized anything.
The search team entered at dusk. By then Marcus had arrived at Adrian's office with the calm smile of a man who believed money could smooth over any question.
“You're embarrassing the family,” Marcus said. “Investigators crawling through our properties? Investors will destroy us.”
“Good,” Adrian replied. “Maybe they'll finally ask the right questions.”
Marcus's smile faded. “You're going to lose everything Evelyn built.”
“Don't speak for her.”
A call came from Price. The basement was empty except for discarded medical packaging and an old restraint chair. They found blood on the fabric, but no patients. Someone had cleaned the facility that afternoon.
May you like
Then Price said something that made Adrian sit down.
“We recovered an employee badge from the drain. It's your brother's photograph, but the name is Owen Reed.”
