Chapter 7 - The Blue Pipe
Sarah showed Vincent the message.
He read it twice.
“They know about the key.”
“They know enough to want it.”
Nora arrived before dawn with coffee, clean clothes, and no patience for Vincent’s explanations.
She examined Sarah’s photographs.
“These notices are designed to scare tenants into signing away claims.”
“Can you stop the sale?” Sarah asked.
“I can challenge it. First I need the records Daniel mentioned.”
Nora had contacted a state investigator, Elena Brooks.
Brooks wanted the documents before exposing an operation to a department that might contain Carlo’s people.
At nine, the fire captain cleared limited access.
Nora accompanied Sarah into the basement.
Vincent waited outside.
Sarah had insisted.
The basement smelled like wet concrete.
Pipes ran along the ceiling.
Most were gray.
One short section had been painted blue.
Beneath it stood an old metal maintenance cabinet.
Sarah tried the brass key.
The lock opened.
Inside were invoices, a folded floor plan, and a steel box.
Her stomach dropped.
The box needed another key.
Nora lifted it carefully.
“Look underneath.”
An envelope had been taped to the bottom.
SARAH.
She opened it.
The first page was a letter.
If you’re reading this, I failed to get home before they understood what I found.
Sarah gripped the paper.
Daniel had written that Eleanor Bell’s properties were held through a trust.
Reed Holdings managed them.
It did not own them.
Carlo had been creating loans against buildings he had no authority to pledge.
Daniel had hidden original agreements, signed ledgers, and copies of payment records.
The second key was taped inside the envelope.
Sarah opened the box.
Nora spread the documents across a dry shelf.
Then she pointed at a page.
“Here.”
A payment authorization.
Vincent Romano’s signature.
Sarah felt the basement tilt.
Nora read the next line.
“Your husband challenged this transaction the day before he disappeared.”
Above them, a floorboard creaked.
Sarah looked toward the stairs.
A man stood at the top.
Deputy Voss.
“Hand me the box.”
Nora raised her phone.
“I’m on a recorded call with a state investigator.”
May you like
Voss drew his weapon.
“Then tell her to send an ambulance.”
