Chapter 3 - The Bethesda Registry

The heater in the stolen 2008 Ford Ranger Tobias had stashed behind a shipping depot on Frankfurst Avenue rattled like a tin can full of nails.

I sat in the passenger seat with my wet hair wrapped in a greasy shop towel, staring down at the glowing screen of the burner phone Tobias had handed me.

"Look at the Maryland corporate registry for 2011," Tobias said, steering the truck through the industrial back alleys of Curtis Bay without turning on the headlights.

I typed in the entity number.

Vance Maritime Holdings, LLC.

Listed under primary managing members were two names: Arthur Vance and Penelope Vance-Miller.

"Penelope," I whispered. "She took Mom's maiden name after Dad died. She told everyone she changed it because she didn't want the press connecting her to the shipyard accident."

"She didn't take Mom's maiden name," Tobias said, his jaw tightening as he shifted gears. "She took Arthur Vance's name because Arthur Vance is her legal guardian on her birth certificate. Our father wasn't her biological father, Rosalind. Mom took Penelope in when her sister died in '04, thinking she was raising her orphaned niece. But Penelope was Arthur Vance’s bastard child planted inside our house before the first contract bid on Drydock 4."

The truck hit a pothole, sending a sharp jolt through my spine.

I looked at the side mirror. Far behind us, the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles were just beginning to reflect against the low clouds over Savannah Creek.

"The police are at the river," I said, my voice shaking. "Garrett called it in."

"He didn't call it in," Tobias replied coldly. "A tugboat captain spotted the oil slick from the Navigator ten minutes ago. Garrett is currently at the district precinct in Locust Point, playing the hysterical, grieving husband."

Tobias tossed a small plastic access card into my lap.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To the shipyard's deep storage vault under Berth 12," Tobias said. "Before Garrett uses your power of attorney to authorize the demolition crew."

NEXT CHAPTER 👉 👉 👉

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