Chapter 12 - THE TRAIN DEPOT
Roman did not let Marcus become bait without control.
Marcus hated him for it.
Good.
Hatred was survivable.
A bullet was not.
The train depot had been abandoned for years.
Roman’s team watched from distance.
State police assigned surveillance too because Ethan’s kidnapping and Isabella evidence now overlapped.
Roman did not control them.
That was intentional.
For once, he wanted people outside his organization witnessing what happened.
Marcus entered wearing an audio transmitter.
No gun.
He insisted.
Inside, one chair.
One lamp.
Cole.
Alone.
Marcus stopped.
“Where’s Ethan?”
Cole looked tired.
Older than he had three days earlier.
“Alive.”
“Show me.”
Cole lifted a tablet.
Live feed.
Ethan Shaw.
Bound to a chair.
Bruised.
Alive.
Marcus nearly collapsed.
“Where?”
“You give me the page copies and the key.”
“The key already opened the box.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because there was a second lock.”
Roman listened remotely.
Second lock.
What?
Marcus said:
“I don’t have anything.”
Cole smiled.
“Roman would not send you empty.”
Marcus looked around.
“Maybe he trusted me.”
Cole laughed.
“No. Roman trusts nobody now.”
Accurate.
Then Cole said:
“Tell Roman Michael is alive.”
Roman’s pulse changed.
Marcus froze.
“You know where?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Bring me the blue ledger.”
Cole wanted the original.
Why?
It implicated him but also Morrow.
Maybe something else hidden inside.
Marcus said:
“You killed Isabella.”
Cole’s face changed.
“No.”
“You hunted Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan stole what belonged to me.”
“The ledger?”
“The Harbor Trust key.”
Roman listened.
Financial key.
Not brass.
Digital or legal.
Cole continued.
“After Morrow died, I became successor trustee. Michael discovered the amendment was defective.”
There.
“Defective how?”
“Isabella never signed it.”
Forgery.
Cole’s authority over Eva’s twelve percent was invalid.
If exposed, years of transactions could unwind.
That was motive.
Ethan found original trust records proving Isabella’s signature forged.
Where?
Inside a hidden archive.
The second lock.
Michael’s box key opened first compartment at B17.
A second compartment existed beneath false bottom.
Roman had not noticed.
Cole needed the key because perhaps it also opened hidden section differently.
Marcus said:
“You’re chasing a kid over paperwork.”
Cole’s voice sharpened.
“Paperwork decides who owns companies, houses, judges, governments.”
Roman heard himself in that sentence more than he liked.
Cole continued.
“Morrow forged Isabella’s amendment. I discovered it after he died.”
“Then why not tell Roman?”
“Because by then I had used it.”
Exactly.
Stopping became more expensive with every step.
Cole kept the fraud alive because exposure would destroy him.
Then Marcus asked:
“Where’s Michael?”
Cole looked toward the ceiling.
“Closer than Roman thinks.”
A shot cracked.
Not from Marcus.
Cole dropped.
Roman’s team moved.
A second shot hit the wall.
Unknown shooter outside depot.
Cole crawled behind cover.
Roman ordered:
“Do not kill him.”
Guards moved.
Police converged.
The shooter escaped through rail yard.
Cole survived with shoulder wound.
Who shot him?
Someone else wanted him silent.
That mattered.
Cole was not the final layer.
At hospital under guard, he laughed when Roman entered.
“You finally understand.”
“Who shot you?”
“The people Morrow paid.”
“Morrow is dead.”
“His network is not.”
“Name.”
Cole looked at him.
“You think I kept Orchard alive for money.”
“You stole from Eva.”
“Yes.”
No denial.
“But if I shut it down, Morrow’s people would know I was cleaning records.”
“You monitored a child for seven years.”
“I monitored who approached her.”
“You terrorized her.”
Cole looked away.
That was guilt.
Then:
“I kept Michael alive.”
Roman stared.
“Where?”
“Not where you think.”
“Ethan?”
“Different location.”
“Give both.”
Cole smiled painfully.
“Open the false bottom in Michael’s box.”
Roman returned to the estate.
The lockbox contained a hidden plate.
The same brass key turned again after pressing a recessed latch.
Inside:
One memory stick.
One address.
One photograph.
Michael beside a hospital bed.
A woman in the bed.
Isabella.
Alive.
Date:
Two days after her supposed death.
May you like
Roman stopped breathing.
Continue to the next part: A hidden photograph suggests Isabella may have survived the crash long enough for Michael and Cole to conceal her from Roman.
