Chapter 10 - THE LOCKED ROOM
Police rushed into Gregory’s hospital room.
He was alive but unconscious.
Someone had injected a sedative into his IV line.
The security officer outside the room remembered a nurse wearing a surgical mask.
The hospital employed no nurse matching her description.
Gregory had hidden something before losing consciousness.
Detective Bennett found a room key taped beneath his bed.
The key belonged to a private club in Washington.
Daniel recognized the name.
His father had used the club for confidential meetings.
The corresponding room had remained locked for sixteen years.
Richard paid the membership in advance through a legal trust.
The trust had never been canceled.
Daniel, Eleanor, Mark, and Detective Bennett entered the room the following evening.
Dust covered the furniture.
A portrait of George Washington hung crookedly above the fireplace.
Behind it was a wall safe.
Daniel tried his father’s birthday.
Nothing happened.
Eleanor entered the date Daniel was born.
The lock opened.
Inside were three ledgers, a cassette recorder, and a letter addressed to Eleanor.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Richard wrote that he had discovered a network stealing money through construction and aviation vendors.
He believed someone inside Whitmore Development Group was protecting them.
He identified Adrian Mercer as a courier.
He suspected Gregory’s supervisor, not Gregory himself.
Richard planned to contact federal authorities after one final meeting.
The meeting was scheduled for the day his plane crashed.
The cassette contained Richard’s voice.
“If anything happens to me, protect Daniel from the board.”
“Do not trust the man who offers help too quickly.”
The recording ended with another voice entering the room.
Eleanor replayed the final seconds.
The second voice was older.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
It belonged to Walter Kane, chairman of Whitmore Development Group.
Walter had served beside Richard for twenty-five years.
After Richard’s death, Walter mentored Daniel.
He had encouraged Daniel to propose to Vanessa.
He had also arranged their first meeting at a charity gala.
Daniel sank into a chair.
“Walter introduced us.”
Eleanor closed the ledger.
“Then Vanessa was never the beginning.”
“She was the final piece.”
The door behind them clicked shut.
The lights went out.
May you like
A recorded voice filled the dark room.
Vanessa whispered, “You should have left the past buried.”
