Chapter 5 - The Man in the Loading Bay
The email came from a disposable account.
It contained one sentence beneath the subject line: Ask for Luis Vega at the bus depot. Don't bring Ashcroft security.
Leah wanted to go immediately.
Price said no.
"A child is depending on you," she reminded her.
"Let us approach an unknown witness."
An hour later, Price called from an unmarked car outside the depot.
"We're speaking to him. He asked about you."
Luis Vega had worked nights at Harbor House.
He was forty-eight, broad-shouldered, and so nervous he couldn't keep his coffee still.
Leah met him later in a police interview room, with Price beside her.
"Why didn't you tell anyone about the chain?" Leah asked.
Luis looked down.
"Because I put it there."
For a moment she couldn't breathe.
"Mrs. Ashcroft said the west corridor wasn't safe for residents until renovation crews finished. She wanted the outside gate secured, and she wanted the blue stairwell door chained until a private inspection."
"With families sleeping upstairs?"
"I argued. Mr. Rusk told me I'd lose my job. My daughter needed treatments. I did it anyway."
"And the fire?"
"The chain was still there. I went back when the alarms started, but smoke had filled the hall. I couldn't reach it."
Price asked, "Do you have anything to support this?"
Luis slid his phone across the table.
On it was a photograph of the blue door taken just before the fire, its steel chain clearly visible.
"I sent this to my supervisor when I complained," he said.
"They told me to delete it."
Leah pressed her palms against her knees.
Rachel had died within yards of an exit someone had deliberately blocked.
"Who gave the order?" Price asked.
Luis opened a message thread.
The sender was Colin Rusk.
May you like
The words beneath the photograph were short enough to fit on one screen.
KEEP IT CHAINED. V.A. WANTS NO EXCEPTIONS.
