Chapter 4 - The Burning Archive
The server room exploded into darkness.
Kevin heard the sharp crack of electricity.
Then came the smell of burning plastic.
“Daniel!”
Emergency lights flashed on.
Smoke crawled across the ceiling.
Daniel dropped the metal tool and stepped backward.
“You could have killed us,” Kevin shouted.
Daniel coughed.
“The unit was overheating.”
“You stabbed it.”
“I was trying to disconnect the battery.”
Kevin grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall.
He sprayed the cabinet until the sparks disappeared.
The physical drive had turned black around the edges.
Daniel wiped soot from his sleeve.
“The evidence is gone.”
Kevin looked at him.
“You sound relieved.”
Daniel stared back.
“You are accusing your oldest friend of murdering your wife.”
“I did not use the word murder.”
“You were going to.”
Kevin glanced toward the damaged cabinet.
One small status light continued blinking beneath the melted panel.
The secondary drive was still operating.
Kevin stepped toward it.
Daniel moved first.
Kevin shoved him against the glass wall.
“Do not touch it.”
Daniel’s calm finally broke.
“You have no idea what Lauren was doing before she died.”
“Then tell me.”
“She was preparing to destroy everything you built.”
Kevin froze.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“She had documents.”
“Financial records.”
“Messages.”
“She believed Morrison Dynamics was hiding illegal transfers.”
“Was she right?”
Daniel said nothing.
Kevin’s hands curled into fists.
“Was she right?”
The basement door opened.
Annie stood there holding the brass key from the music box.
“You need this.”
Kevin looked behind her.
“Where are the boys?”
“With Mrs. Bell.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You left two traumatized children with a housekeeper to join another housekeeper in a server room.”
Annie ignored him.
“The key opens something inside Lauren’s bedroom.”
“How do you know?”
“There is a matching symbol beneath the drawer beside the bed.”
Kevin took the key.
Daniel watched them.
“You are trusting a woman who has worked here for six days.”
Kevin looked at the scorched server.
“She has destroyed less evidence than you have.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
Kevin removed the secondary drive and slipped it into his coat.
Then he locked the cabinet.
“Leave my house.”
“You are making a serious mistake.”
“My mistake was allowing you to enter it.”
Daniel walked toward the door.
He stopped beside Annie.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Annie’s face did not change.
Kevin heard every word.
“Get away from her.”
Daniel smiled.
“You still think this is about a car accident.”
Then he left.
Kevin and Annie returned upstairs.
Mrs. Bell was standing outside Lauren’s bedroom.
The household manager had worked for the Morrison family for twenty-two years.
Her face was pale.
“The boys are asleep again,” she said.
Kevin entered quietly.
Jordan and Justin lay together beneath the cream blanket.
A glass of warm milk rested on the bedside table.
Annie picked it up.
She smelled it.
Then she dipped the tip of her finger into the liquid.
“What are you doing?” Mrs. Bell asked.
Annie touched the milk to her tongue.
Her expression changed.
“Do not let them drink this.”
Kevin took the glass.
“Why?”
“It tastes bitter.”
Mrs. Bell reached for it.
“It is a vitamin supplement.”
Annie moved the glass out of her reach.
“No.”
She looked at Kevin.
“It tastes like the medicine my aunt was given before surgery.”
Kevin stared at Mrs. Bell.
“What did you put in their milk?”
Mrs. Bell’s eyes filled with tears.
“I only followed the doctor’s instructions.”
“What doctor?”
Her lips trembled.
“Dr. Wallace.”
Kevin’s stomach tightened.
Dr. Wallace had been the physician who declared Lauren too emotionally unstable to manage financial decisions two weeks before her death.
Annie looked toward the sleeping twins.
“How long have you been drugging them?”
Mrs. Bell began to cry.
May you like
Before she could answer, Jordan opened his eyes.
“Grandma says it helps us forget.”
