Chapter 16 - LOCKER D-17
Rain had begun falling by the time they left the apartment.
Police remained behind to finish processing the scene while Detective Bennett rode with Daniel and Alex back toward downtown.
No one seemed eager to end the conversation.
The small brass key rested inside an evidence pouch on the center console.
Alex kept looking at it.
“D-17.”
“It sounds like a locker.”
Daniel nodded.
“That was my first thought.”
“Where?”
“There are dozens of possibilities.”
Detective Bennett looked at him.
“You said you've seen similar numbering.”
“I have.”
Daniel leaned back in his seat.
“Years ago, Marlowe maintained secure document storage beneath its original headquarters.”
“Employee lockers?”
“No.”
“Evidence lockers.”
Alex turned toward him.
“Evidence?”
Daniel nodded.
“When Internal Security investigated fraud, theft, or corporate espionage, physical evidence wasn't stored in ordinary filing rooms.”
“It was placed in numbered security vaults.”
“And they were labeled exactly like this.”
He pointed toward the key.
“Letter first.”
“Number second.”
Alex frowned.
“You're saying this key could belong to Marlowe?”
“Possibly.”
“But those vaults were decommissioned years ago.”
Detective Bennett folded her arms.
“Can we access them?”
Daniel looked uncertain.
“I honestly don't know.”
His phone suddenly vibrated.
He answered immediately.
“Yes?”
The voice on the other end spoke rapidly.
Daniel's expression hardened.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Who authorized that?”
He listened for nearly thirty seconds before ending the call.
Alex already knew something had gone wrong.
“What happened?”
“My assistant checked Donovan's personnel records.”
“And?”
“They're gone.”
“All of them.”
Detective Bennett frowned.
“Deleted?”
“No.”
“Replaced.”
“With what?”
Daniel looked out through the rain-covered windshield.
“A completely different employee.”
Alex blinked.
“So Donovan never officially existed?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“It's worse than that.”
“Someone rewrote history.”
Before Alex could process those words, Detective Bennett's own phone rang.
She answered.
“Yes, Bennett.”
Her expression immediately shifted.
“Repeat that.”
She looked toward Alex.
“You're certain?”
The call ended.
“What now?” Daniel asked.
The detective took a slow breath.
“That brass key...”
She held up the evidence pouch.
“We finally identified the manufacturer.”
“And?”
“It wasn't made for Marlowe Global.”
Alex looked confused.
“Then where?”
Detective Bennett answered quietly.
“It belongs to a safety deposit box.”
Daniel frowned.
“At a bank?”
“Yes.”
“One that permanently closed…”
“…almost eight years ago.”
Alex looked at the key again.
“If the bank doesn't exist anymore…”
Detective Bennett nodded.
“That's exactly the question.”
May you like
She looked out at the rain as the city lights reflected across the windshield.
“So why,” she whispered, “is someone still trying so hard to make sure nobody ever opens Box D-17?”
