Chapter 7 - Bluebird Terminal
Emergency lights turned the conference room red.
“Stay together,” Adrian said.
Genevieve heard Richard moving.
Then glass shattered.
Someone shouted.
When backup power returned, Richard was gone.
The side office window stood open onto a maintenance balcony.
Harrison sank into a chair.
“He'll go to Bluebird.”
Genevieve looked at him.
“Then so will we.”
Federal investigators took Harrison into custody for questioning before dawn.
He did not resist.
Neither did Caleb.
Caleb voluntarily surrendered his phone, financial records, and access credentials.
Before leaving, he looked at Genevieve.
“I don't expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
“But Thomas deserved better from me.”
“Yes.”
Caleb nodded.
“So did you.”
Then he walked away with investigators.
Preston remained.
Genevieve found him near the elevators.
“What happens now?” he asked.
“To us?”
He nodded.
“There is no us.”
His face tightened, but he accepted it.
“I know.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You were willing to manipulate my company because you convinced yourself you had a good reason.”
“Yes.”
“You don't get to call that love.”
“No.”
Genevieve expected him to argue.
He didn't.
That almost made it harder.
“I did love you,” he said. “I just wasn't brave enough to love you honestly.”
Genevieve looked at the man she had almost married.
“Then learn from it.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
Bluebird Terminal stood near the river on industrial property Hayes Logistics had abandoned years earlier.
Genevieve remembered visiting it as a child.
Thomas had once parked his first blue delivery truck inside.
The truck had given the warehouse its nickname.
Investigators secured the perimeter.
Genevieve insisted on entering because the brass key apparently required her.
Adrian stayed beside her.
“You don't have to prove anything,” he said.
“I'm not.”
“Then why are you going inside?”
“Because my father spent eight months dead while everyone else decided what his story meant.”
She looked at the warehouse.
“I want to hear what he left.”
Inside, dust covered abandoned loading equipment.
The brass key opened an old office.
Nothing.
Genevieve searched the desk.
Adrian examined the walls.
Then Genevieve noticed three scratches beneath an electrical panel.
III.
One-four.
She pressed the panel.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside were binders, hard drives, notarized documents, and a small video camera.
Genevieve touched the camera.
A label read:
FOR JENNY.
She pressed play.
Thomas appeared.
“My girl.”
Genevieve covered her mouth.
“If you're seeing this, then I didn't get the chance to tell you myself.”
Adrian quietly moved away, giving her privacy.
Thomas continued.
“Richard Sloan has been stealing from Hayes Logistics for years. Harrison Witmore helped conceal transactions because he benefited from them. Caleb Merrick gave them information. But Caleb came to me before I died and confessed.”
Genevieve closed her eyes.
Caleb had told the truth.
“I decided not to expose Caleb immediately because I needed him to feed Richard false information.”
Thomas leaned toward the camera.
“Richard believes the most valuable thing I possess is proof of his crimes.”
He smiled sadly.
“He's wrong.”
Genevieve whispered, “What was it?”
“The most valuable thing I possess is you.”
Her tears finally came.
Not the frantic tears of the wedding.
Quiet ones.
“I know you think you're supposed to inherit my battles. You're not. The company is yours only if you want it. Your life is yours whether you keep Hayes Logistics or sell every truck tomorrow.”
Genevieve laughed through tears.
That sounded like him.
Thomas's expression became serious.
“There is one more thing you need to know about my accident.”
Genevieve leaned closer.
“The person who altered my car was identified.”
Her heart stopped.
Thomas lifted a document.
“The mechanic's name is Samuel Pierce. He agreed to testify. His statement is stored with these records.”
Genevieve looked at the binders.
“We have him.”
Adrian returned.
“What?”
“We have the mechanic.”
Then a slow clap came from the warehouse floor.
Richard Sloan stood below.
Two private security contractors were with him.
No weapons were visible.
Police surrounded the property outside.
Richard knew violence would accomplish nothing.
So why had he come?
“Congratulations,” he called.
Genevieve stepped to the railing.
“It’s over, Richard.”
“Not quite.”
“The evidence is already being copied.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because your father lied to you one last time.”
Genevieve stiffened.
Richard held up a document.
“The mechanic didn't cause Thomas's crash.”
Adrian looked at Genevieve.
Richard continued.
“Samuel Pierce tampered with the first car. Thomas discovered it.”
“We know.”
“But Thomas wasn't driving that car when he died.”
Genevieve gripped the railing.
Richard smiled faintly.
“Ask yourself why.”
Genevieve remembered the recording.
Thomas had replaced the vehicle.
“Then what happened?”
Richard looked toward the old blue truck.
“Your father wasn't murdered.”
Genevieve stared at him.
“Don't.”
“He was following me.”
“What?”
“The night he died, Thomas followed my car from the warehouse. The roads were wet. He was angry. He was driving too fast.”
“No.”
“He lost control.”
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Richard held up a memory card.
“The dash camera from my car.”
Genevieve stopped breathing.
“Police never saw it because I removed it.”
“Why?”
“Because it also recorded our conversation before he followed me.”
“What conversation?”
Richard's smile vanished.
“The one where your father told me exactly who he planned to expose.”
Genevieve descended the stairs.
“Give it to me.”
Richard held the card tighter.
“I'll trade.”
“For what?”
“The ring and the original files.”
“No.”
“Then you'll never know whether your father died because of me—or because of himself.”
Genevieve stared at the memory card.
Adrian whispered, “Don't.”
She knew he was right.
Evidence first.
Not emotion.
Then Genevieve noticed something behind Richard.
A tiny red light.
An old warehouse security camera.
Still operating.
Richard followed her gaze.
His face changed.
Genevieve smiled for the first time.
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
“My father never trusted one camera.”
A voice came through the warehouse speakers.
Federal agents.
“Richard Sloan, place the memory card on the floor.”
Richard turned toward the exits.
Every door opened.
Agents entered.
Richard slowly lowered the card.
Then he looked at Genevieve.
“You still don't know everything.”
An agent took his arm.
Richard called back as they led him away.
“Ask Adrian why his father really left Hayes Logistics!”
May you like
Genevieve turned.
Adrian's face had gone completely still.
