Chapter 18 - The Warehouse Lights Go Out
The blue file was not in my box anymore.
I tore through everything twice.
Clothes. Books. Photos. Tax papers.
Nothing.
Then I remembered carrying the box upstairs. A corner of blue cardboard had been sticking out beneath an old cookbook.
Someone had taken it after Daniel left.
Maya checked the hallway camera.
At 2:11 a.m., a man in a maintenance jacket entered the building.
At 2:18, he left holding a blue folder.
Ortiz identified him as Marcus Venn, a warehouse supervisor who worked for Victor for twelve years.
Police tracked his work truck to an industrial warehouse near the river.
This time, I followed instructions.
Mostly.
I stayed in Ortiz's car while officers entered.
Then the warehouse lights went out.
Gunshots cracked inside.
My entire body locked.
Ortiz's radio exploded with voices.
Officer down? No. Shots into the ceiling. Suspect running east.
A side door burst open.
Marcus ran into the lot with the blue file under his arm.
He saw me through the windshield.
And changed direction.
Straight toward the car.
I locked the doors.
He slammed both hands on the hood.
"Tell Ortiz to back off!"
I grabbed the radio mic.
"He's at the car."
Marcus lifted a tire iron and smashed the passenger window.
Glass flew across the seat.
I climbed out the driver's side and ran.
He chased me between parked trucks.
I heard Ortiz shouting behind him.
Marcus grabbed my coat.
I twisted free, leaving the coat in his hand, and ducked around a loading ramp.
He slipped on wet pavement and crashed into a pallet.
The blue file skidded under a truck.
Ortiz reached him seconds later.
I crawled under the truck and grabbed the file.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Page seven was a photocopy of my marriage license.
Behind it was a private investigator's report dated two months before my wedding.
Victor had investigated me before I officially joined the family.
Addresses. Jobs. Friends. Debt. Family members.
Then one sentence, underlined twice:
SUBJECT'S FATHER, MICHAEL JAMES MORROW, WORKED FOR COLE INDUSTRIES 1998-2001.
I stared at the name.
My father had died when I was twelve.
He had never told me he worked for Richard.
Ortiz looked over my shoulder.
"Claire, keep reading."
The next line made my knees weak.
TERMINATED AFTER ACCUSING VICTOR HALE OF FRAUD.
And the final note said:
MORROW DEATH - VEHICLE ACCIDENT - FILE CLOSED.
I looked at Ortiz.
"Victor knew my father?"
She took the folder from my hands.
"Apparently he knew exactly who you were before Evelyn ever did."
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