Chapter 5 - THE FILE BENEATH THE DESK
The drawer contained a sealed envelope.
Cora opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of an old insurance report.
She read aloud.
Warehouse Seventeen.
Pier Seventeen.
Date of incident.
Fire origin.
Structural damage.
Then she reached the witness statements.
Her voice stopped.
Voss waited.
"Keep reading."
Cora swallowed.
The report listed Daniel Hayes as a witness.
Not a victim.
A witness.
He had reported seeing someone tampering with the warehouse's electrical control room shortly before the explosion.
The statement had been signed.
Then withdrawn.
Cora stared.
"My brother never withdrew anything."
Rourke shifted.
Voss heard it.
"Who changed the report?"
Rourke said nothing.
Voss leaned back.
"Get out."
"Boss—"
"Now."
Rourke looked at Cora.
Then left.
When the door closed, Voss spoke quietly.
"I trusted him."
Cora looked at him.
"For how long?"
"Fifteen years."
She nodded.
"Then this is going to hurt."
Voss smiled bitterly.
"It already does."
Cora looked down at the document.
There was a handwritten notation near the bottom.
A name.
EVELYN SHAW.
Cora recognized it.
Evelyn Shaw had been the emergency physician who treated Daniel after the fire.
She had disappeared from the hospital staff three weeks later.
May you like
Cora whispered:
"I know where to start."
