Chapter 4 - Beneath the Diner
Nicole didn't look at Wade.
She looked at Evelyn.
Her mother had gone pale.
That was enough.
"There is something," Nicole said.
Evelyn lowered her eyes.
Wade smiled.
"Finally."
Major General Hayes stepped aside.
"This appears to be a family matter."
"No," Nicole said. "Not anymore."
She turned to Wade.
"If you know about something beneath this building, explain how."
Wade's smile disappeared.
"Your father told me."
"Why?"
"Because once upon a time, Tom and I were partners."
Evelyn whispered, "Don't."
Nicole heard it.
"Partners in what?"
Wade looked toward the customers.
Nicole locked the diner and asked everyone to leave.
Nobody complained.
Soon only Nicole, Evelyn, Hayes, Wade, Travis, and Sheriff Harper remained.
Evelyn sat.
"Your father and Wade bought the diner together."
Nicole stared.
"What?"
"Before you were born."
Wade nodded.
"Tom couldn't afford it alone."
"But Dad owned it."
"Eventually."
Evelyn explained.
Thomas and Wade had been childhood friends.
They purchased the building as an investment.
Thomas wanted a diner.
Wade wanted the land.
Their partnership ended when Wade began making deals Thomas considered dishonest.
Thomas bought Wade out.
Or believed he had.
Years later, Wade discovered an old survey indicating a buried utility access tunnel beneath the rear storage room.
The tunnel had once connected several downtown buildings.
Most entrances had been sealed.
But Thomas's remained.
"Why does that matter?" Nicole asked.
Wade smiled.
"Records."
Evelyn's eyes filled.
Thomas had hidden documents beneath the diner.
Not only property records.
Copies of letters.
Inspection reports.
Payments.
Photographs.
Evidence he had collected against Wade.
Nicole turned to her mother.
"You knew?"
"I knew there was a box."
"Where?"
"I never opened it."
"Why?"
"Because your father told me not to unless something happened."
"Something did happen."
"I was afraid."
Nicole softened.
"For six years?"
"For six years."
They entered the storage room.
Behind shelving stood an old freezer.
Moving it revealed a metal plate in the floor.
Underneath was a narrow stairway.
Hayes remained upstairs.
Nicole descended with Evelyn.
The tunnel smelled of dust.
Twenty feet in, they found a steel box.
Nicole opened it.
Inside were folders wrapped in plastic.
Thomas had documented everything.
Cain purchases.
Pressure campaigns.
Payments associated with county officials.
A handwritten ledger.
Sheriff Harper.
Mayor Brooks.
Building inspectors.
And one entry Nicole didn't understand.
T.T. — contingency beneficiary.
Wade had followed them downstairs.
"That's what I wanted."
Nicole turned.
"Why?"
"Because your father stole from me."
"No. He documented you."
"He built half of this with me."
"And then bought you out."
Wade laughed.
"That's the story Evelyn told you?"
Nicole looked at her mother.
Evelyn said nothing.
Wade stepped closer.
"Ask her where the buyout money came from."
Nicole did.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"Your grandfather."
"Mom."
"He loaned us the money."
Wade shook his head.
"No. Tom used money from our business account."
Evelyn stared at him.
"That's a lie."
"Is it?"
Nicole raised a hand.
"Enough."
She examined the ledger.
Whatever happened thirty years earlier didn't justify what was happening now.
But she needed facts.
She called state investigators.
Within an hour, the tunnel was treated as an evidence location.
Wade became furious.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
"You think a uniform makes you powerful?"
"I'm not wearing one."
That silenced him.
Nicole deliberately had not used her rank to control local authorities.
She had used evidence.
And Wade finally understood that.
State investigators separated everyone.
Harper tried to leave.
He was stopped.
Not arrested.
Not yet.
But stopped.
By evening, forensic teams had removed the box.
Nicole sat beside Evelyn in an empty booth.
"Why didn't Dad tell me?"
"He wanted your life to be yours."
"My life was already his."
"No."
Evelyn touched her hand.
"He was proud that you left."
Nicole looked toward the counter where Thomas used to sit after closing.
"He died alone."
"No."
"What?"
"Someone was with him."
Nicole turned.
Evelyn swallowed.
"The night he died, he wasn't going home."
"Where was he going?"
"To meet someone."
"Who?"
"He wouldn't say."
Nicole stood.
Her phone rang.
State investigator Rachel Monroe.
"We found something in the ledger."
"What?"
"A recurring payment."
"To Harper?"
"No."
"Brooks?"
"No."
"Who?"
"We don't know. Initials only."
"Which initials?"
Monroe hesitated.
"N.T."
Nicole stopped breathing.
Her own initials.
"That's not me."
"We know."
"Then who?"
"We're checking."
Nicole looked at Evelyn.
Her mother suddenly seemed terrified.
"Mom?"
Evelyn stood.
"Nicole, there's something I never told you about your father."
Before she could continue, the lights in the diner went out.
Complete darkness.
Then came the sound of breaking glass from the storage room.
Nicole turned toward it.
A flashlight appeared below the floor.
May you like
Someone was already inside the tunnel.
And whoever it was had entered from the other end...
