Chapter 6 - The Housekeeper's Key
Arthur demanded a lawyer.
Dominic told Vincent to give him the landline.
Instead of calling counsel, Arthur dialed a number from memory.
It rang once.
Then disconnected.
Vincent checked the call record.
The number belonged to a prepaid device last active near Joliet.
Near the road where Caleb Rowan had died.
Clare began shaking.
"I need to show you something," she said.
She led Dominic to the servants' quarters and opened a small lockbox beneath her bed.
Inside was the key she had mentioned.
Brass. Old. Stamped V-17.
Dominic recognized the numbering system immediately.
Locker 17 had been sealed after his father's death.
"Why didn't you try it?" Dominic asked.
"I did. The door to the old archive was always alarmed. I have a child. I couldn't risk being fired or arrested."
Dominic nodded once. "Tonight you don't have to."
Vincent joined them.
They crossed through a service tunnel beneath the east wing to a storage room Dominic had not entered in years.
Behind shelving, they found the old steel lockers.
V-17 opened with Caleb's key.
Inside sat a weathered ledger, three photographs, and a small digital recorder sealed in plastic.
The first photograph showed Caleb Rowan standing beside a shipping container.
The second showed Arthur Voss with two men Dominic did not recognize.
The third made Dominic's stomach tighten.
It showed the wreckage from Caleb's fatal crash.
On the back, Caleb had written:
BRAKE LINE CUT. IF THIS IS FOUND, CHECK BLACK HARBOR TRANSFERS.
Clare covered her mouth.
Dominic picked up the recorder.
The battery was dead.
Vincent found a compatible charger in the security office.
When the recorder finally powered on, it contained one file.
Caleb's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, they already know I copied the ledger. Arthur isn't the top of it. He answers to someone inside the Vale family."
Dominic's eyes lifted.
Inside the Vale family.
Then Caleb said the name.
"Marcus Vale."
Dominic went completely still.
May you like
Marcus was his younger brother.
And Marcus had been dead for eight years.
