Chapter 11 - THE WAREHOUSE
The warehouse stood beside the Calumet River, abandoned behind rusted fencing and dead security lights.
Federal agents wanted me to remain in the car.
I refused.
“She’ll respond to my voice.”
Catherine looked at the lead agent.
“She’s right.”
Daniel led us through a drainage channel David had marked on the old map.
Inside, the building smelled of oil, dust, and river water.
We found Hannah tied to a chair beneath a hanging work light.
Grant stood behind her.
He held no weapon.
He did not need one.
Metal barrels surrounded them.
Gasoline.
One spark would turn the warehouse into an oven.
“Come closer, Evelyn,” he said.
I stepped forward.
Hannah shook her head.
“Mom, don’t.”
Grant placed a hand on her shoulder.
“You took my company. My family. My name.”
“No,” Hannah said. “You did.”
His fingers tightened.
“You were nothing before me.”
“I was happy before you.”
The words hit him harder than my slaps had.
Grant looked at me.
“Give me the memory card and the original files from David’s investigation.”
“You burned the diner looking for them.”
“I know you moved them.”
“What happens after I give them to you?”
“You and Hannah walk away.”
“No.”
Grant blinked.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you’re exactly the man I saw sitting on that sofa.”
His face darkened.
“You think being loud makes you powerful?”
“I haven’t raised my voice once.”
Behind him, Hannah slowly moved her bound wrists against the broken edge of the chair.
Grant did not notice.
He was too focused on me.
Men like Grant rarely saw the people they believed they owned.
I took another step.
“You have spent your whole life hiding behind your mother, your money, and your last name.”
“Stop.”
“You couldn’t build a company, so you stole from one.”
“Stop talking.”
“You couldn’t earn your wife’s love, so you trapped her.”
His breathing changed.
“You couldn’t face me, so you burned an empty diner.”
Grant reached into his coat.
Hannah cut through the final strand binding her wrists.
She stood and shoved the work light sideways.
Darkness swallowed the warehouse.
May you like
Then a single gunshot exploded.
:::
