Chapter 15 - THE SECURITY CHIEF WHO VANISHED
Detective Bennett closed the weathered lease file with deliberate care.
The apartment suddenly felt much smaller.
“You're absolutely certain?” Daniel asked the landlord.
The older man nodded. “I remember him because he paid six months' rent in advance. Quiet fellow. Never caused trouble. Then one day he disappeared. Left almost everything behind.”
“What was his name?” Alex asked.
The detective looked down at the file.
“Michael Donovan.”
Daniel closed his eyes for a brief moment.
“I worked with him.”
Alex looked surprised.
“You knew him personally?”
“Not well,” Daniel admitted. “But everyone at Marlowe Global knew Donovan. He served in military intelligence before joining the company. Eventually he became Director of Internal Security.”
“What happened to him?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Officially?”
“Yes.”
“He resigned for personal reasons.”
Alex immediately noticed the way Daniel emphasized the word officially.
“And unofficially?”
Daniel gave a slow, humorless smile.
“No one ever believed the official story.”
Detective Bennett motioned toward the living room.
“Let's sit.”
She spread several photographs across the coffee table. The forensics team had already documented the hidden compartment from every angle.
“The compartment wasn't forced open recently,” she explained. “Dust patterns suggest it hasn't been touched in years.”
Alex stared at the envelope again.
“So Donovan hid this?”
“Possibly.”
“Or someone wanted us to believe he did.”
Daniel reached for the lease agreement.
“When exactly did he disappear?”
The detective checked the date.
“October 14th.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“That can't be right.”
“Why?”
“October 15th was the day Project Orion officially disappeared from every corporate archive.”
Alex leaned forward.
“You mean the day after Donovan vanished?”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
Nobody spoke.
The timing was too precise.
Before anyone could continue, one of the forensic officers entered carrying a small evidence bag.
“We found something else.”
Inside the transparent bag lay a tiny brass key.
Alex frowned.
“That isn't mine.”
“It wasn't inside the compartment,” the officer explained.
“It was taped underneath the wooden bed frame.”
Detective Bennett examined it carefully.
“No markings.”
Daniel turned it over.
“Actually... there is.”
He pointed toward the base.
A tiny engraving.
D-17.
The detective looked at Alex.
“Does that mean anything to you?”
Alex slowly shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel stared at the engraving much longer than anyone else.
“I've seen codes like this before.”
“Where?”
May you like
“In Marlowe Global.”
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