Chapter 85 - The Grave Without a Name
The cemetery rested on a quiet hillside overlooking the river. Unlike the city's modern memorial parks, this one had been established more than a century earlier. Narrow stone paths wound between weathered monuments, many so old that the names had faded into the granite.
Margaret arrived before sunrise with Arthur, Samuel, Judge Eleanor Walsh, Olivia Chen, and a small forensic team.
No police vehicles.
No marked equipment.
Arthur had insisted the visit remain confidential.
The ultraviolet coordinates led them toward the oldest section of the cemetery, where a single granite marker stood beneath a large oak tree.
There was no name.
No birth date.
No family inscription.
Only the now-familiar compass emblem carved into the stone.
Samuel stopped walking.
"I've seen this before."
Margaret looked at him.
"Here?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"In a notebook Harold carried during the conference."
Arthur knelt beside the marker.
"No burial records?"
The cemetery administrator searched the original ledger.
"There is a record."
Everyone leaned closer.
"But the purchaser requested permanent anonymity."
Margaret examined the ledger.
The grave had been purchased twenty-three years earlier.
The payment had been made in cash.
The signature line contained only two letters.
E.K.
Before anyone could speak, Olivia noticed something unusual.
"There are fresh flowers."
The petals were still wet with morning dew.
Someone had visited the grave within the last twenty-four hours.
The investigation had uncovered its first location that was not simply forgotten...
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It was still being maintained.
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