Chapter 45 - The Burned Records
Samuel traced the reference to "the fire" through old newspaper archives.
Most searches returned nothing useful.
Until one forgotten article surfaced from twenty-three years earlier.
Historic County Records Building Destroyed Overnight
Official cause:
Electrical malfunction.
No injuries.
Complete loss of archived documents.
Samuel read the report twice.
Something felt wrong.
The building had supposedly contained property deeds dating back more than a century.
Yet insurance investigators had closed the case within forty-eight hours.
Daniel stared at the accompanying photograph.
The building had burned almost completely.
Except...
One section remained untouched.
The underground vault.
Samuel enlarged another image.
Heavy steel doors stood wide open before the fire reached them.
Someone had emptied the vault first.
"They weren't destroying records," Daniel whispered.
"They were choosing which records disappeared."
Later that afternoon they visited the empty lot where the building had once stood.
Only a stone foundation remained.
While walking across the site, Lily suddenly stopped.
"There."
She pointed toward a cracked marble marker partly hidden beneath weeds.
Someone had carved the familiar symbol into its surface.
The same symbol from the photograph.
The measuring tapes.
The hidden map.
Samuel brushed away years of dirt.
Another inscription appeared below it.
Archive transferred.
But transferred...
May you like
To where?
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