Chapter 16 - THE KEY WE MISUNDERSTOOD
Locker 447 was not at Pier 44.
It was at Union Station.
A private long-term storage service.
The account had been opened six years earlier.
By Ewan.
We obtained access through the estate and criminal investigation.
Inside was one metal box.
No money.
No weapons.
No jewels.
Documents.
Ewan’s originals.
Insurance correspondence.
Bank transfers.
A copy of his marriage certificate.
A handwritten ledger linking Vandermark companies to payments made before the fire.
And one cassette recorder.
Vincent found an old player.
Ewan’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, then something went wrong.”
I stopped breathing.
He sounded alive.
Young.
Annoyed.
My brother.
“Victor is buying people inside the harbor.”
The tape crackled.
“Roman is involved, though I don’t know how much he knows.”
Another pause.
“Celeste Vandermark came to Pier 44 herself. She asked me for the audit file. When I refused, she said my family would eventually give it to her anyway.”
Six years ago.
Celeste had confronted Ewan before she ever met me.
The tape continued.
“The important thing is not the money. It’s the trust. Mother changed it. If Delia and the baby are safe, the harbor can be separated from everything else.”
Then my brother laughed softly.
“And Gabriel, if you somehow end up listening to this—stop trying to win every room.”
My eyes closed.
“Build one worth staying in.”
That was the proof.
Not merely that Celeste knew about Ewan.
That she had been part of the fight before his death.
The key in her scarf proved she had found locker 447 at some point.
But why had she still been searching?
One envelope in the box was empty.
On it, Ewan had written:
ORIGINAL FIRE AUTHORIZATION.
The one document that could prove who ordered the destruction of Warehouse C was missing.
Celeste had the key.
But apparently not that document.
Someone else had taken it.
My mother.
The cellar compartment suddenly made sense.
May you like
The paper Celeste wanted had been hidden inside my house all along.
And only my mother knew where it had gone.
