Chapter 6 - The Man Who Came Back From the Water
Elias refused to say more until Grace arranged protection for his granddaughter. Once he knew she was safe, he told us what happened after the explosion.
He had been on the far side of the harbor when the boat blew apart. He saw a man surface near the rocks, barely moving. Elias pulled him into his fishing skiff and took him to an abandoned coast clinic.
"It was Nicholas," he said. "Burned, broken, but alive."
My knees nearly gave out.
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know. He left the clinic after a week. Said people were watching the roads. He made me swear not to tell you until he had enough proof to clear his name. He said the men who wanted him gone had friends in law enforcement, at the port, and inside the company. If he surfaced too soon, they would finish what they started. I asked why he didn't send one message to his brother. He said he had tried, and someone had answered using your private family code. That was when he stopped trusting the phones."
"Why didn't he contact me?"
Elias's face softened. "He tried once. A letter came back opened. After that, he said anyone close to him was in danger."
Omar asked about the woman in the photograph.
Elias looked down. "Camila came to the clinic the morning after the explosion. She asked if the body had been found. When I said no, she told me to keep my mouth shut."
He handed me a small envelope. Inside was a photograph of Nicholas taken outside the clinic, his face bruised, one arm in a sling. On the back, he had written: IF ALEX EVER COMES, GIVE HIM THE KEY.
I stared at the handwriting.
The brass key in my pocket suddenly felt heavy.
"Where does it go?" I asked.
May you like
Elias pointed toward the coast.
"A storage locker at Dock Seventeen. But be careful. The last person who went looking for it never came back."
