Chapter 9 - Rachel's Voice
They evacuated to the high school shelter before the water swallowed Willow Street.
Lily found an old media cart in a classroom and borrowed a cassette adapter from a teacher who still used one for language lessons.
Ethan, Claire, Ruth, and Mia gathered around.
Lily pressed Play.
Static.
Then her mother's voice.
"My name is Rachel Monroe. If Lily is hearing this, something happened to me."
Lily covered her mouth.
Rachel described the night of the original flood.
She had treated a county engineer named Samuel Pierce who arrived at the shelter with a fractured wrist and panic in his eyes.
He claimed the north levee hadn't failed.
It had been opened.
Manually.
By order of Thomas Cole and County Commissioner Wade Mercer.
Ethan swore under his breath.
Rachel continued.
"They wanted the riverfront condemned. Cole Development already had purchase options on twelve blocks through hidden companies."
Claire opened the blue ledger.
The names matched.
Then Rachel's voice changed.
"Thomas's wife, Ruth, knows. She gave me the maintenance log. If she denies this later, it's because she's afraid."
Ruth began sobbing.
The tape clicked.
A second voice appeared.
Male.
Samuel Pierce.
"I copied the control code. The override key is at Pump Station Four. If they use it again, they'll finish what they started."
Lily looked up.
"Again?"
Ethan ran to the emergency map on the wall.
The current flood wasn't only rainwater.
Pump Station Four controlled a relief gate upstream.
If opened at the wrong time, it would send another surge through Willow Street and erase the abandoned house, its basement, and any remaining evidence.
Claire grabbed the ledger.
"Thomas isn't running."
Ethan nodded.
"He's going to destroy the crime scene."
A police radio crackled near the gym entrance.
May you like
Then an officer shouted for the shelter manager.
Pump Station Four had just gone offline.
