Chapter 59 - The Wall of Names
The grinding sound echoed through the chamber.
Dust drifted from the ceiling as part of the stone wall slowly slid aside.
Behind it appeared a massive room unlike anything Daniel had imagined.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves stretched into the darkness.
Thousands of numbered boxes filled the chamber.
Each box bore a family name.
Some familiar.
Some completely unknown.
Samuel whispered,
"My God..."
"It's an archive."
The elderly man shook his head gently.
"No."
"This..."
"...is only the index."
Daniel walked slowly along the shelves.
Every few feet another family name appeared.
Winters.
Bennett.
Harper.
Monroe.
Ashcroft.
Finally...
He reached one shelf where dozens of boxes carried a single label.
CARTER
Lily carefully touched the nearest one.
Before anyone opened it, Daniel noticed another detail.
Each box included a colored seal.
Most remained unbroken.
Several had been opened years earlier.
Only one Carter box displayed a seal that had been broken very recently.
The wax had not even fully hardened.
Samuel crouched beside it.
"Someone accessed this within the last few days."
Daniel looked toward the elderly man.
"You said you've been waiting for us."
"I have."
"Then who opened this box before we arrived?"
For the first time since meeting them, the old man appeared genuinely unsettled.
He slowly turned toward the dark end of the archive.
May you like
"I was hoping..."
"...you would be able to answer that."
