Chapter 4 - THE BOY WITH THE RED NOTEBOOK
Victor spent the next three days investigating Harborline.
The project had been proposed years earlier under a different name.
Its financial structure had been designed by a consulting firm that Daniel Mercer had once audited.
The firm had since dissolved.
Its records were incomplete.
And the man who had approved the original contracts was Victor's longtime business partner, Raymond Sloane.
Victor stared at the documents.
"Find everything on Sloane."
Marco nodded.
"Everything?"
"Everything."
Meanwhile, Alice continued selling food outside the construction site.
Victor returned each morning.
He waited in line now.
The first time he did, the workers stared.
Alice handed him a bowl of stew.
"You're learning."
"Apparently."
"Next week we'll work on saying please."
Victor looked at her.
"Please."
She blinked.
Then laughed.
It was the first time she'd laughed around him without suspicion.
Ben began speaking to Victor too.
The boy was eight years old and obsessed with engineering.
He carried a red notebook filled with drawings of bridges, cranes, and buildings.
One morning, Victor found him studying the Harborline scaffolding.
"What are you drawing?"
Ben showed him a sketch.
"The support beams."
Victor examined it.
The proportions were surprisingly accurate.
"Who taught you?"
"My dad."
Victor's chest tightened.
"Your father was an accountant."
Ben nodded.
"He liked buildings too."
Victor turned the page.
There was a drawing of a warehouse.
Beside it, Ben had written a date.
The date of Daniel's death.
Victor stared.
"Why did you draw this?"
Ben looked down.
"Mom says Daddy died there."
Victor swallowed.
Ben continued.
"But Daddy drew it first."
Victor's eyes sharpened.
"What?"
Ben pointed toward the bottom of the page.
"I copied it from his notebook."
Victor looked at the drawing again.
It showed a warehouse floor plan.
A storage room.
A hidden corridor.
And a small square marked with the letter X.
"Ben," Victor said carefully, "does your mother still have your father's notebook?"
The boy nodded.
"Under her bed."
May you like
Victor looked toward Alice.
And realized Daniel Mercer might have left behind far more than anyone knew.
