Chapter 3 - The Storm Shelter
I did not wait for permission.
I ran through the side corridor and crossed the rear lawn.
Thomas followed with two security officers who still answered to him.
The stables stood nearly two hundred yards from the house.
One door swung open in the hot wind.
A man in a gray suit emerged carrying a metal box.
He saw us and ran.
Thomas shouted for him to stop.
The man reached a waiting motorcycle behind the feed shed.
I cut across the paddock.
My boots sank into the soft ground, but I gained on him before he could start the engine.
He swung the metal box at my head.
I ducked.
The edge struck my shoulder.
Pain exploded down my arm.
I drove him into the side of the motorcycle.
The box fell.
He reached beneath his jacket.
I pinned his hand before he could draw his weapon.
Thomas arrived and secured him.
The man refused to give his name.
His phone contained no contacts.
Only one recent message remained.
GET THE STERLING FILE BEFORE THE SOLDIER FINDS IT.
The sender was listed as C.V.
Conrad Vale.
The metal box was empty.
We entered the oldest stable.
Grandma had told me the shelter lay beneath the third stall.
The stall looked untouched.
Dust covered the floorboards.
A rusted iron ring protruded beside the wall.
Thomas pulled it.
A trapdoor rose.
Stone steps descended into darkness.
I used my phone light.
The air below smelled of earth, old paper, and engine oil.
The brass key fit a lock at the bottom.
Inside was a narrow concrete room built during hurricane season decades earlier.
Metal shelves lined the walls.
Most were empty.
A steel cabinet stood at the far end.
The cabinet door was open.
Someone had reached it before us.
A portable drill lay on the floor.
The shelves inside had been cleared.
I felt anger rise.
Then Thomas pointed toward the cabinet’s inner wall.
A small green light blinked behind a ventilation grille.
I removed the screws.
A digital recorder had been taped inside.
My father’s voice filled the shelter when I pressed play.
“Harper, if you are hearing this, Victoria has already moved against me.”
My lungs forgot how to work.
His voice was weaker than I remembered.
Still precise.
Still unmistakably his.
“I discovered that she and Conrad Vale have been transferring land from the Sterling estate into shell companies controlled by Mason.”
“They believe I do not know.”
“They are wrong.”
Thomas lowered his head.
Dad continued.
“I also discovered that the medication Dr. Raymond prescribed for my heart was changed after it entered this house.”
“The new tablets contain something that could kill me slowly and make the death appear natural.”
I gripped the recorder.
“I have sent samples to an independent laboratory.”
“The report is hidden with the original will.”
“If I die before Harper returns, Margaret knows where to find the key.”
A sound came through the recording.
A door opening.
My father’s breathing changed.
Then Victoria’s voice entered faintly.
“Samuel?”
The recording ended.
Thomas looked at me.
“There may be more files stored in the recorder.”
May you like
Before I could inspect it, smoke rolled beneath the shelter door.
Someone had set the stable on fire.
