Chapter 60 - The Safe Deposit Room
The storage facility stood inside an aging commercial building downtown.
Unlike previous locations, security remained surprisingly modern.
Retinal scanners.
Digital logs.
Twenty-four-hour surveillance.
The manager welcomed Detective Morris with visible confusion.
"I assumed Mr. Hale would come personally."
Elena exchanged a glance with Harold.
"No one named Hale has visited?"
The manager checked the records.
"Not in six years."
"But the account has remained active."
He escorted them into the underground vault.
Locker D-42 waited behind reinforced steel.
The key recovered from Benjamin's desk fit perfectly.
Inside rested only three objects.
A leather document tube.
A sealed envelope.
A brass stopwatch.
Harold immediately recognized the watch.
"It belonged to Daniel."
Samuel looked at him.
"You're certain?"
Harold nodded.
"He carried it everywhere."
The envelope contained no letter.
Only a receipt.
Storage Locker E-17.
Another facility.
Another city.
Another date.
Marcus sighed.
"It never ends."
Harold smiled faintly.
"It wasn't meant to."
Meanwhile, Catherine carefully opened the document tube.
A city map slid onto the table.
Unlike every previous map, this one contained dozens of handwritten circles connected by thin blue lines.
Across the top appeared a title.
Witness Network.
Elena slowly traced one line.
Every archive they had discovered...
May you like
...formed only a small section of something much larger.
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