Chapter 6 - What Adam Hid in Box B-19
The key did not belong to a bank.
Finn discovered that at nine-fifteen in the morning.
B-19 belonged to Union Central Station.
Not the public lockers commuters used.
A private luggage-storage facility beneath the old terminal, rented by annual contract.
Adam had leased compartment B-19 eleven months before his death.
He had paid cash.
The account remained active because he had prepaid three years.
Norah stared at the information.
“Why would he pay three years?”
Ethan understood first.
“He expected you might not find it quickly.”
The thought hurt.
Adam had planned for the possibility that she would spend years unaware of what he had left.
Perhaps he had hoped she never needed it.
They entered Union Central through a service entrance.
Ethan refused to take Sam.
Norah agreed.
For the first time.
Claire stayed with him in the penthouse under heavy security.
“You trust her?” Norah asked.
“With my life.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Yes.”
It was the first uncomplicated answer he had given her.
B-19 was a narrow metal compartment in a private basement room.
The key turned smoothly.
Inside sat a black duffel bag.
Nothing else.
Ethan scanned it.
Finn checked for explosives.
Norah waited impatiently.
Finally, Ethan unzipped it.
Cash.
Stacks of cash.
Norah stared.
“Oh my God.”
Finn counted quickly.
“Probably two hundred thousand.”
Norah stepped backward.
“No.”
Ethan opened an envelope.
Adam’s handwriting.
FOR NORAH AND SAM.
Norah felt ill.
“No.”
She grabbed the letter.
Norah,
If you found this, you probably think I was lying about everything.
I wasn’t.
The money is not ours.
It is evidence.
Gregory asked me to move it through one of my accounts.
I refused.
He moved it anyway using credentials he had stolen.
I withdrew it before the transfer could be completed.
Every serial range is documented on the drive.
Do not spend it.
Give it to Hayes or federal authorities.
There is something else.
The compartment has a false bottom.
Norah lowered the paper.
Ethan removed the bag.
Finn found the panel.
Underneath were three passports.
Two belonged to young women.
One belonged to a teenage boy.
A notebook contained names, dates, shipping numbers, and amounts.
Human beings reduced to columns.
Norah sat down hard.
“Adam knew.”
“Yes,” Ethan said.
“He knew about the trafficking.”
“Near the end.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Ethan’s voice softened.
“Because he wanted you alive.”
Norah looked at him.
“That explanation does not hurt less.”
“I know.”
They photographed everything.
Finn contacted a federal prosecutor Ethan believed had never accepted money from organized crime.
Norah looked at him.
“You know honest prosecutors?”
“One or two.”
“Miraculous.”
He gave her a look.
She almost smiled.
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
Gregory.
Not an unknown number.
His personal phone.
Ethan answered on speaker.
Gregory’s breathing came fast.
“Ethan.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who has you?”
“I can’t—”
A blow sounded.
Gregory cried out.
Norah flinched.
A new voice came onto the line.
Smooth.
Male.
“Mr. Hayes.”
Ethan’s face changed.
“Victor.”
Victor Kane laughed softly.
Norah looked at Ethan.
So this was the rival.
The man Adam’s files connected to Dominic.
“You have caused me a great deal of inconvenience,” Victor said.
“You trafficked people on my ships.”
“Dominic’s ships, apparently.”
“They carried my name.”
“Names are sentimental things.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“You already know about B-19.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know the key is useless now.”
Silence.
Victor had not known they opened it.
That mattered.
Ethan continued.
“We have everything Adam stored.”
Victor’s voice changed.
“Then bring everything.”
“No.”
Gregory screamed in the background.
Norah closed her eyes.
Victor said, “Your widow friend seems to have developed an unfortunate habit of making powerful men protective.”
Ethan’s voice became lethal.
“Mention her again.”
Victor laughed.
“Touching.”
The line went dead.
Norah stared at Ethan.
“You can’t let Gregory die.”
Finn looked at her in disbelief.
“Mrs. Davis, Gregory helped kill your husband.”
“He’s also Sam’s uncle.”
“He threatened your child.”
“I know.”
Norah pressed both hands against her face.
“I hate him. But I don’t want Sam growing up knowing we had a chance to save his father’s brother and chose not to.”
Ethan watched her.
“You’re better than he deserves.”
“This isn’t about what he deserves.”
Ethan looked away.
The sentence affected him.
Because his entire life had been built around what people deserved.
Reward.
Punishment.
Debt.
Retribution.
Norah operated differently.
She kept choosing the person she wanted to remain afterward.
Ethan found that terrifying.
And increasingly difficult to resist.
They left Union Central with federal copies of the evidence arranged for delivery through Claire.
On the drive back, Norah asked, “If we give everything to the government, what happens to you?”
Finn glanced back.
Ethan did not.
“Depends what they find.”
“You’re giving them records connected to your company.”
“Yes.”
“You could implicate yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Adam died trying to stop this.”
Norah stared.
“That is not enough reason for a man like you.”
Ethan looked out the window.
“No.”
“What is the other reason?”
He turned.
“You.”
Norah stopped breathing.
Finn suddenly found the front windshield fascinating.
Ethan continued.
“And Sam.”
Her heartbeat became painfully loud.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Say things like that.”
“Why?”
“Because my husband has been dead eighteen months.”
“I know.”
“I am sleeping in your building because people want to kill me.”
“I know.”
“I have three hundred dollars, an eviction notice, and half my clothing is probably ash.”
“I know.”
“So whatever this is—”
She gestured between them.
“It isn’t real.”
Ethan’s expression became unreadable.
“Fear is real.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Neither is hunger less real because you’re distracted.”
“Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Talking like everything is strategy.”
“It usually is.”
“Well, I’m not.”
He looked at her.
“No.”
The word was quiet.
“You aren’t.”
They returned to the penthouse.
Sam was awake.
The moment Ethan entered, Sam lifted both arms.
“Eh!”
Everyone froze.
Norah stared.
Ethan stared.
Sam bounced impatiently.
“Eh!”
Finn grinned.
“He named you.”
Ethan looked offended.
Norah laughed for the first time in days.
A real laugh.
It startled everyone.
Especially her.
Ethan reluctantly took Sam.
The toddler immediately grabbed his watch.
“Predictable,” Ethan muttered.
Norah watched them.
A dangerous thought entered her mind.
Home.
Not this penthouse.
Not Ethan’s money.
The sight of Sam safe in someone’s arms while Norah did not have to carry every burden alone.
That felt like home.
She crushed the thought immediately.
Then Claire entered.
Her face destroyed the moment.
“We have a problem.”
Ethan shifted Sam against his chest.
“What?”
“The prosecutor received Adam’s evidence.”
“And?”
“Before he could secure a warrant, someone leaked the investigation.”
Finn swore.
Claire continued.
“Dominic knows federal authorities have the files.”
Norah felt cold.
“Then why is that bad? He already knew Ethan had them.”
“Knowing Ethan has evidence is different from knowing federal authorities do.”
Ethan handed Sam back to Norah.
Claire placed a tablet on the counter.
A news alert appeared.
Prominent Chicago Businessman Dominic Vale Found Dead in Downtown Hotel.
Norah stared.
“No.”
Ethan read the article.
Apparent suicide.
Single gunshot.
Letter discovered.
Finn shook his head.
“He’d never kill himself.”
Ethan agreed.
Norah looked at him.
“Victor?”
“Possibly.”
Claire scrolled.
“There’s more.”
Police had discovered documents in Dominic’s hotel room.
Records tying trafficking proceeds to Hayes Continental Freight.
And to Ethan personally.
Ethan’s face became still.
Finn read the screen.
“This is fabricated.”
Claire nodded.
“But convincing.”
Norah understood.
Dominic was dead.
Gregory was captive.
The evidence now made Ethan appear to be the mastermind.
Victor Kane was erasing partners and constructing a story.
Then someone knocked on the penthouse door.
Three slow knocks.
Security called immediately.
May you like
Federal agents had arrived downstairs.
With a warrant for Ethan Hayes.
