Chapter 7 - Forty-Three Minutes
Ethan called the archive director immediately.
No answer.
He called security.
No answer.
Nathan grabbed his coat.
“We’re going there.”
Vanessa stepped in front of him.
“You can’t.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Move.”
“If Adrian has the box, you do not understand what he might do.”
“Then you’re coming with us.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked at Nathan.
“She could warn him.”
Nathan held out his hand.
“Phone.”
Vanessa glared at him.
“You don’t get to confiscate my property.”
Nathan did not blink.
“Then stay here with security.”
For several seconds, no one moved.
Finally Vanessa pulled her phone from her purse.
She dropped it into Nathan’s palm.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the Cole family archive.
The building sat beneath an old banking tower Nathan’s grandfather had purchased decades earlier.
The night guard was missing.
The reception desk had been abandoned.
A side door stood open.
Ethan entered first.
“Nathan, stay behind me.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“This is my building.”
“And someone has already broken into it.”
They descended one level.
Vanessa followed silently.
At the end of the corridor, the steel archive door stood open.
Inside, cabinet C was unlocked.
Drawer seventeen was empty.
Nathan stared at the dark rectangular space.
“That box has been here for twenty-seven years.”
Vanessa whispered,
“Not anymore.”
Ethan examined the electronic lock.
“No damage.”
Nathan looked toward her.
“Meaning someone had authorization.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“I told you.”
Ethan walked to the terminal.
He checked the access log.
Then he stopped.
“Interesting.”
Nathan approached.
“What?”
Ethan pointed at the screen.
The box had been opened using Nathan’s authorization.
But the person who physically collected it had signed a different name.
Adrian Mercer.
Nathan turned toward Vanessa.
“Where would he take it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with him for two years.”
“I said I don’t know.”
Ethan looked around.
“There are cameras.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
They entered the security office.
The archive camera system had been erased.
All footage from the previous six hours was gone.
Except one exterior camera.
Ethan rewound it.
At 8:31 p.m., a black sedan had entered the underground garage.
At 8:47, Adrian Mercer emerged carrying a metal document box.
Then someone else stepped out of the passenger side.
Nathan leaned closer to the monitor.
Ethan became completely still.
Vanessa whispered,
“No.”
Nathan looked at the woman on the screen.
He knew her.
Everyone in the Cole family knew her.
She had attended birthdays.
Funerals.
Christmas dinners.
She had worked beside Nathan’s father for almost thirty years.
Margaret Hale.
Charles Cole’s former personal attorney.
Nathan slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“You never mentioned Margaret.”
Vanessa’s face showed genuine shock.
“Because I didn’t know she was involved.”
Ethan stared at the frozen image.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted voice said only seven words.
May you like
“If you want the ledger, stop trusting Vanessa.”
The call disconnected.
