Chapter 5 - THE SAFE DEPOSIT BOX
Hannah didn't tell Vincent immediately.
She needed proof.
Her mother's words might have been confused memories.
Hope could be dangerous.
Especially when it involved a man buried eleven years earlier.
She examined the brass key.
A number was engraved on its side.
Beneath it were the initials L.B.
She remembered something her father once said.
When you can't trust a person, trust a place.
He had loved old libraries.
Especially the Lakeshore Historical Bank building, which had been converted into a private records archive.
Hannah searched its website.
The building still existed.
And its basement still contained the original safe deposit vault.
She called Vincent.
“I found something.”
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Stay there.”
“I'm not asking permission.”
Silence.
Then a low chuckle.
“I'm beginning to understand that.”
An hour later, Vincent arrived with Cole.
Hannah showed them the key.
Vincent studied the photograph.
His expression changed when he saw Edward Hale.
“My father.”
Hannah nodded.
Vincent touched the photograph carefully.
“I haven't seen this picture.”
She looked at him.
“You miss him.”
He didn't answer.
But his eyes did.
At the archive, the key opened a narrow steel compartment.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
A cassette tape.
And a notebook.
Hannah recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her father's.
The first page contained a warning.
If Hannah is reading this, the people who tried to bury the truth have failed.
She covered her mouth.
Vincent stood beside her.
Hannah turned the page.
A list of names appeared.
Raymond Pike.
Aleksander Voric.
Martin Keller.
And one more.
Vincent Hale.
Hannah stepped away from him.
“You're in the book.”
Vincent stared at the page.
“What?”
She held it up.
His name was there.
Written in red ink.
Beneath it, a single sentence.
The son must never learn what his father did.
May you like
Hannah looked at Vincent.
Suddenly, the man offering to help her find the truth seemed far more dangerous than before.
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