Chapter 6 - THE BLACK ANCHOR|
Camille read the message again, then placed her phone facedown on the table.
Her father's phrase had been unmistakable. Little bird. He had used it when she was a child, usually when she became distracted while he was explaining a difficult passage. It was not a nickname anyone else knew.
She called the number back.
It was disconnected.
The photograph offered no useful location. The wooden table could have been anywhere, and the newspaper was folded so that only the date and a strip of a headline were visible. But the leather case was unmistakably her father's. One brass corner had been bent years earlier when Camille dropped it while helping him carry his books.
She enlarged the image.
A small detail caught her attention.
The case's clasp was open, and beneath the leather lining she could see a narrow strip of blue paper. Her father had always hidden important notes in the lining. He used to say that a secret was safest when it looked like part of something ordinary.
Camille immediately called Gideon.
He answered on the second ring.
“Did you send me a photograph?”
“No.”
“Someone has my father's case.”
“Send it to me.”
She did.
Less than a minute later, he called back.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Stay there.”
“I'm not a child.”
“No. You're the daughter of a man who disappeared after uncovering a criminal network. That makes you a target.”
“Then tell me what the photograph means.”
Gideon was quiet for a moment.
“The black anchor belonged to a group of men who controlled the old shipping routes. They called themselves the Harbor Circle. They weren't an official organization. They were businessmen, lawyers, port officials, and a few men who preferred to settle disputes without courts.”
“And the man who called me?”
“I don't know.”
“You recognized the symbol.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know more than you're telling me.”
“I know enough to be concerned.”
Camille looked at the photograph on her laptop.
“The blue paper under the lining. My father used to hide notes there. Could the case still contain something?”
“It could.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
“Then we find it.”
Gideon exhaled.
“I'll send Tobias.”
“No. I want to come with you.”
“Camille—”
“I am the only person who knows how my father hid things. You can bring ten men if you like, but none of them will know what to look for.”
A long silence followed.
Finally, Gideon said, “Be ready in twenty minutes.”
The case had last been seen in a photograph taken in Mobile. Tobias traced the image to a small antiques dealer near the old waterfront. The shop had closed years ago, but the property was now used as a storage office by a shipping broker.
They arrived just before sunset.
Gideon remained in the car while Tobias checked the building. Camille insisted on going inside. The door was unlocked, and the office smelled of dust, old wood, and the faint chemical scent of packing materials.
There was no case on the shelves.
Camille studied the room.
“Your men searched this place?”
“Two days ago,” Tobias said.
“Then they searched for objects.”
She moved toward the desk.
Her father had taught her that people often hid what they valued in places they believed no one would think to examine. She looked beneath the desk, then behind the drawers. Nothing.
Then she noticed a framed nautical map hanging crookedly on the wall.
The map showed the Gulf Coast, but several ports were marked with tiny pencil circles. Camille lifted the frame.
A narrow compartment had been cut into the wall behind it.
Inside lay a folded strip of blue paper.
She opened it.
There were six words in her father's handwriting:
The first witness is still alive.
Beneath them was an address.
Camille read it aloud.
Tobias's face changed.
“That's the old St. Agnes residence.”
“What is that?”
“A care home that closed fifteen years ago.”
Gideon entered the office.
He took the paper from Camille and studied the address.
“Who lived there?” she asked.
Gideon looked at her.
“My brother's widow.”
Before anyone could speak, the office lights went out.
A heavy impact shook the front door.
Then a voice came through the darkness.
“Miss Tibido. Step away from the man beside you.”
Camille turned toward Tobias.
He had drawn a weapon.
May you like
But it was not pointed at the door.
It was pointed at Gideon.
