Chapter 6 - THE CABIN ON STERLING RIDGE
A winter storm closed the upper road.
Sheriff’s deputies reached the patrol station on snowmobiles.
The cabin was empty.
A fire still burned inside the stove.
Maps covered the table.
One marked the helicopter crash location.
Another showed an old service tunnel beneath the ridge.
My grandfather had constructed the tunnel during the lodge’s first expansion.
It connected a maintenance bunker near the crash site to the resort’s lower wine cellar.
Most employees believed it had collapsed decades earlier.
Thomas knew it remained accessible.
The patrol cabin contained Harrison’s blood on the floor.
There was no body.
Sloane identified his watch near the doorway.
Julian denied knowing anything about the trip.
His phone records showed twelve calls to Thomas during the night.
He was arrested for financial fraud and evidence tampering before he could leave the resort.
From custody, Julian requested to speak with me.
He sat behind glass wearing an expensive shirt without a jacket.
For the first time since I promoted him, he looked like the insecure young manager I had once defended.
“Thomas took my father’s ring.”
“It was never your father’s.”
“You know what I mean.”
“What is inside the ledger?”
“I do not know.”
“Why search the mountain?”
“Daniel created another copy.”
My father knew the red ledger could be stolen.
He stored digital evidence inside a weatherproof flight recorder before boarding the helicopter.
The recorder may have survived the crash.
Thomas and Harrison believed Peter Cross hid it inside the service bunker.
“Why would Harrison go with Thomas?”
“He wanted leverage.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
Julian looked toward the guard.
“Harrison discovered Thomas planned to keep full control after the resort transfer.”
“He threatened to expose him.”
“Thomas does not respond well to threats.”
“Where is Harrison now?”
“I do not know.”
“Did Thomas kill him?”
Julian’s silence became an answer.
I asked why he wore my father’s ring publicly.
His eyes filled with anger.
“Thomas told me it proved I was a Sterling.”
“He said Arthur would have accepted me if Daniel had not turned the family against my mother.”
“My father protected Claire.”
“Thomas imprisoned her.”
Julian stared at me.
“He said she chose the facility.”
“He lied.”
The truth struck slowly.
Julian had spent his life trying to earn the approval of the man who destroyed both his parents.
That history explained his hunger.
It did not excuse the fraud, intimidation, or stolen pensions.
“Help us find Thomas.”
“What do I receive?”
“There it is.”
I stood.
“You still believe every truth needs a price.”
Julian pressed his hands against the table.
“He will kill me.”
“Then cooperate because living matters.”
“Not because you expect a reward.”
He finally provided the service-tunnel access code.
Security entered through the wine cellar.
Halfway beneath the mountain, they found Harrison Harcourt alive.
His hands were tied.
His shoulder had been wounded.
Beside him was the missing red ledger.
May you like
Both signet-ring locks had been opened.
The most important pages had been removed.
