“That isn't what I asked.”
Daniel took a breath.
“Because your father came to me once.”
Caleb froze.
“When?”
“The week before he died.”
Jonathan stepped closer.
“What did he want?”
Daniel ignored him.
“He came into the bakery late at night.”
Daniel's voice became distant, as though he were remembering a dream.
“He looked frightened.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me that if anything happened to him, I had to protect your mother.”
Caleb's hands tightened.
“What else?”
“He gave me an envelope.”
“Where is it?”
“I thought I destroyed it.”
“You thought?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“I burned the papers.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“Everyone was afraid.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
He walked toward the office.
“Wait here.”
He returned several minutes later carrying an old metal box.
He placed it on the counter.
Inside were ashes.
Old papers.
And a small brass key.
Caleb stared.
“This was all that survived.”
“What does the key open?”
Daniel looked at it.
“I don't know.”
Jonathan stepped forward.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
Jonathan pointed toward the bakery floor.
“Your father used to rent a storage unit beneath the old train station.”
Daniel frowned.
“That place was demolished.”
“The station was.”
Jonathan looked at the key.
“The storage vaults weren't.”
Caleb took the key.
“Why do you know this?”
“Because I searched them.”
“Did you find anything?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the key wasn't with the documents.”
Caleb looked at Daniel.
“Until now.”
Daniel nodded.
They left the bakery together.
For the first time, Jonathan walked beside them without pretending to be in control.
The old station was almost completely abandoned.
They found the basement entrance behind a collapsed wall.
Daniel inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Inside was a narrow room.
There were no boxes.
No money.
No documents.
Only a wooden chair and a small tape recorder.
Caleb stared at it.
His mother's voice came from behind the door.
Not a recording.
A memory.
He remembered being ten.
Sitting at the kitchen table.
His mother telling him never to answer questions from strangers.
Never to tell anyone where they lived.
Never to talk about the bakery.
At the time, he had thought she was simply being cautious.
Now he understood.
Daniel found another cassette.
He inserted it.
Teresa spoke.
“If you've reached this room, then you have found the key.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“The person who betrayed us is someone who knew exactly where the evidence was.”
A pause.
“He wasn't working for Holloway.”
Another pause.
“He was working with him.”
Daniel looked at Jonathan.
Jonathan shook his head.
“It wasn't me.”
Teresa continued.
“He was someone Samuel trusted more than anyone.”
Caleb's breathing stopped.
“Someone who had access to the bakery.”
Daniel slowly looked around the room.
Then Teresa said the name.
“Samuel's younger brother, Thomas.”
Daniel's face changed.
“My uncle.”
Caleb looked at him.
“Where is he?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He died.”
“When?”
“Twenty-five years ago.”
Jonathan spoke.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does,” Daniel said.
“What?”
“My uncle disappeared before his death was confirmed.”
Caleb frowned.
“You said he died.”
“My father told me he did.”
“Did you see the body?”
“No.”
Silence.
Daniel suddenly remembered something.
A funeral.
A closed coffin.
His father's refusal to let anyone open it.
He had been nineteen.
He had never questioned it.
Until now.
“My uncle may still be alive.”
Jonathan looked toward the doorway.
“Then we have a problem.”
Caleb stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas Mercer owns the company that bought the properties.”
Daniel went completely still.
“No.”
Jonathan nodded.
“His name isn't Thomas Mercer anymore.”
“What name?”
Jonathan answered quietly.
“Thomas Gray.”
Daniel felt his knees weaken.
The man who had been buying the neighborhood.
The man who had been searching for the ledger.
The man who had been watching the bakery.
His own uncle.
Alive.
And closer than they had ever imagined.
Chapter 14
The Last Door
Thomas Gray lived in a house overlooking the river.
It was an enormous property surrounded by iron gates.
Caleb watched from the car.
Daniel sat beside him.
Neither man spoke.
Jonathan sat in the back seat.
“You're sure?” Caleb asked.
Jonathan nodded.
“I've seen him.”
Daniel stared at the house.
“I haven't seen my uncle in twenty-five years.”
“You're going to see him tonight,” Caleb said.
They entered through the front door.
No guards stopped them.
No alarms sounded.
That frightened Daniel more than security would have.
A long hallway led toward a study.
The door was open.
A man stood beside the window.
He was older than Daniel remembered.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A dark suit.
He turned.
“Daniel.”
Daniel froze.
His voice was exactly the same.
“You're alive.”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“Obviously.”
“My father said you died.”
“Your father had to.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
Daniel stepped forward.