Chapter 17 - The Man Who Escaped the Fire|
Michael Avery was living in a small house outside Burlington, Vermont.
He answered the door with a baseball bat in his hands and refused to let them enter until Rachel showed him her credentials and explained that investigators were seeking information about a decades-old arson.
When Anna mentioned Catherine's name, he lowered the bat.
“Is she alive?”
“We believe so,” Lily replied. “We're trying to find her.”
Michael looked at Lily for a long moment.
“You have her eyes.”
He let them inside.
The house was cluttered with books, newspapers, and old computer equipment. Michael appeared to be in his late fifties, with gray hair and a scar running from his temple to his jaw.
He explained that he had worked as a courier for a company connected to the Calloways when he was young. He had discovered that the company was moving stolen records through a warehouse on the Chicago River.
When he tried to report the activity, Victor's men threatened him.
“Catherine helped me escape,” he said. “She knew I had seen the original ledger. She wanted me to give it to a lawyer.”
“Did you?” Rachel asked.
“No. The warehouse burned before I could.”
Anna leaned forward.
“Who started the fire?”
Michael looked toward the window.
“Victor ordered it. But someone else opened the loading doors.”
“Who?”
“I never saw his face. I heard him talking to Victor. He said the records had to disappear before Edward arrived.”
Edward, listening by secure video call, looked shaken.
“I arrived after the fire began,” he said. “I thought the warehouse was empty.”
Michael shook his head.
“It wasn't.”
He went to a cabinet and removed a small box. Inside were charred fragments of paper, a damaged key, and an old photograph of three men standing outside the warehouse.
One was Victor.
Another was Edward.
The third man had been partially burned from the photograph, leaving only the lower half of his face and one hand visible.
Michael pointed to the man's wrist.
“He wore a watch with a black face and a silver rim. I remember because he kept checking it.”
Daniel stared at the image.
“My father had a watch like that.”
Edward looked at his son.
“I did. But so did several people in the organization.”
Michael continued.
“The fire killed one man. I never learned his identity. Catherine believed it was someone who had evidence against Victor. She spent years trying to find the body.”
Lily gripped the edge of the table.
“Could the man have survived?”
“It's possible. The remains were never conclusively identified.”
Anna looked at Elena.
“Could it have been your mother?”
Elena shook her head, horrified.
“No. I was already gone by then.”
Rachel examined the damaged key.
“Do you know what this opens?”
Michael shook his head.
“I kept it because Catherine said it might matter someday.”
The key bore a small engraved number: 9-14.
Daniel recognized the marking.
“The old Calloway shipping archive. The vault numbers used to follow that format.”
Edward looked at him sharply.
“That archive was sealed after the fire.”
“Then perhaps someone sealed it because they knew something survived.”
Rachel insisted they notify investigators before attempting to access any property. The archive had been part of a criminal investigation, and the key might be evidence.
Within days, a warrant was obtained.
The vault contained several boxes of records, including invoices, photographs, and a list of payments made to individuals connected to the warehouse fire.
One name appeared at the top of the final page.
Daniel Calloway.
Beside it was a payment dated three weeks after Thomas's death.
Daniel stared at the document.
“I never received this money.”
Rachel looked at the records.
“It may have been entered under your name without your knowledge. We'll need to verify the account.”
Edward stood behind his son, his face unreadable.
Then Michael pointed toward a separate envelope hidden beneath the bottom of the box.
It was addressed to Elena.
Inside was a note written in Catherine's hand.
Edward did not order the fire. He was trying to stop it. The man who gave Victor the key was someone we all trusted.
Anna looked at Daniel.
“Who had access to the archive?”
Daniel's answer came slowly.
“Only three people.”
He named Victor Hale.
May you like
Edward Calloway.
And Daniel himself.
