Kendrick read the three words twice.<\/p>\n
UNDER THE WATER.<\/p>\n
Then he looked through the workshop window toward Silver Lake.<\/p>\n
Dad had reached the loft.<\/p>\n
He saw the paper.<\/p>\n
His face went pale.<\/p>\n
Kendrick noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know exactly where.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cCamden, you were always poor at silence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked toward me.<\/p>\n
That glance contained apology.<\/p>\n
Another withheld truth.<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot again.\u201d<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Kendrick lifted the pistol.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared at the floorboards.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Claire died, we built a submerged storage chamber beneath the old boathouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
My anger arrived so cleanly I almost admired it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have got to be kidding me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was for equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou built an underwater vault and forgot to mention it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a vault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick smiled.<\/p>\n
Dad snapped, \u201cIt was a dry chamber connected to the original foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich you never searched,\u201d Kendrick said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire did.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about the chamber the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you check it after she died?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the access flooded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick looked interested.<\/p>\n
Dad continued. \u201cA retaining wall collapsed. I assumed the lower compartment filled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAssumed,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat word keeps doing tremendous work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick folded Claire\u2019s note and put it in his pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the entrance?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked toward the lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoathouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
We climbed down.<\/p>\n
Outside, the others waited under armed watch.<\/p>\n
Elaine saw the compass in my hand.<\/p>\n
Her eyes widened.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe used it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she planned to give you something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick said, \u201cEnough.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ordered everyone toward the boathouse.<\/p>\n
Vale walked stiffly, blood still dark across his shoulder.<\/p>\n
Reagan stayed beside him.<\/p>\n
Carter moved near Elaine.<\/p>\n
Dad and I walked ahead with Kendrick.<\/p>\n
The boathouse had always been the oldest structure on the property.<\/p>\n
Stone foundation.<\/p>\n
Cedar siding.<\/p>\n
A narrow dock extending over deep water.<\/p>\n
Inside, the green tackle box remained open where we had left it.<\/p>\n
Kendrick kicked it aside.<\/p>\n
Dad moved toward a shelving unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelp me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not.<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinnley.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou built it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter stepped forward and helped instead.<\/p>\n
Together they shifted the shelves.<\/p>\n
Behind them was an iron ring set into the wall.<\/p>\n
Dad pulled.<\/p>\n
A narrow stone panel opened.<\/p>\n
Cold air moved through.<\/p>\n
Steps descended beneath lake level.<\/p>\n
Kendrick smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always did excellent work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad ignored him.<\/p>\n
We went down.<\/p>\n
The stairwell ended at a rusted steel hatch.<\/p>\n
Water stains marked the walls.<\/p>\n
Dad touched the locking wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be sealed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick held up Claire\u2019s tiny brass key.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked at me.<\/p>\n
I took the key.<\/p>\n
The lock cylinder sat beneath the wheel.<\/p>\n
It fit.<\/p>\n
Of course it did.<\/p>\n
I turned it.<\/p>\n
A mechanism released inside the wall.<\/p>\n
Dad stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire modified it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never noticed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hatch opened inward.<\/p>\n
Dry air.<\/p>\n
Not flooded.<\/p>\n
Dad looked genuinely stunned.<\/p>\n
The chamber beyond was narrow and lined with old marine concrete.<\/p>\n
Shelves ran along one wall.<\/p>\n
A single watertight trunk sat at the far end.<\/p>\n
Kendrick pushed past us.<\/p>\n
Dad caught his arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cCareful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick turned the gun toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cConcerned for my safety?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be pressure damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Claire planned better than you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad almost hit him.<\/p>\n
I stepped between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen the trunk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick handed me the brass key.<\/p>\n
It fit a second lock.<\/p>\n
Inside the trunk were four sealed document cases.<\/p>\n
One metal cash box.<\/p>\n
A tape recorder.<\/p>\n
And Claire\u2019s red scarf.<\/p>\n
I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
The scarf was folded neatly on top.<\/p>\n
The same one I remembered missing after her death.<\/p>\n
Dad touched it with two fingers.<\/p>\n
For eleven years, he had believed that scarf vanished in the crash.<\/p>\n
Now it lay dry beneath the lake.<\/p>\n
Kendrick reached toward the cases.<\/p>\n
Dad slapped his hand away.<\/p>\n
Kendrick raised the pistol.<\/p>\n
Carter stepped down into the chamber.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is how we die? Fighting over paperwork underwater?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were always disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought I was yours until I was twelve. Maybe look inward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elaine almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Kendrick\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
I opened the first document case.<\/p>\n
Inside was the original black ledger.<\/p>\n
Red thread stitched through the spine.<\/p>\n
Elaine whispered, \u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
She touched the binding.<\/p>\n
Her hand trembled.<\/p>\n
Twenty years of fear condensed into one object.<\/p>\n
Kendrick reached.<\/p>\n
Dad blocked him.<\/p>\n
Vale appeared in the hatchway.<\/p>\n
His pistol was raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick looked annoyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re wounded.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStill accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reagan stood behind him.<\/p>\n
Her gun pointed down the stairwell.<\/p>\n
At whom, I could not tell.<\/p>\n
Vale said, \u201cThat ledger leaves with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou intend to turn state witness?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn what fantasy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the fantasy where I\u2019m the first person in this room to hand them the original.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elaine stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been cooperating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Harrow subpoena.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reagan turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you didn\u2019t know who reopened it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI lied.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked almost impressed.<\/p>\n
Then angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale laughed despite the pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cReagan, everyone has used everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick\u2019s voice went cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou approached federal investigators?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I got tired of cleaning up bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou created Finnley\u2019s case.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ll testify to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect gratitude?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer was better than apology.<\/p>\n
Kendrick moved suddenly.<\/p>\n
Carter tackled him before he could shoot.<\/p>\n
The gun fired.<\/p>\n
The bullet struck the concrete ceiling.<\/p>\n
Dust rained down.<\/p>\n
Dad grabbed the ledger.<\/p>\n
Reagan fired toward Vale.<\/p>\n
Vale twisted.<\/p>\n
The shot hit the hatch frame.<\/p>\n
Elaine dropped.<\/p>\n
I pulled her behind the trunk.<\/p>\n
Carter and Kendrick crashed into the wall.<\/p>\n
For an old man, Kendrick fought viciously.<\/p>\n
He drove his thumb toward Carter\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n
Carter slammed his forearm into Kendrick\u2019s throat.<\/p>\n
Dad shouted, \u201cEnough!\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody listened.<\/p>\n
Then water began pouring through a crack in the ceiling.<\/p>\n
The gunshot had struck an old pipe.<\/p>\n
Not lake water.<\/p>\n
A supply line.<\/p>\n
But panic did not care.<\/p>\n
Kendrick saw it.<\/p>\n
He shoved Carter away and lunged for the ledger.<\/p>\n
Dad threw it to me.<\/p>\n
I caught it.<\/p>\n
Reagan aimed at me.<\/p>\n
Dad stepped in front.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
Exactly as he had in the factory.<\/p>\n
I shouted, \u201cStop doing that!\u201d<\/p>\n
Reagan\u2019s hand shook.<\/p>\n
Vale aimed at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cLower it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll shoot me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter everything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially after everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at him.<\/p>\n
Something passed between them.<\/p>\n
History.<\/p>\n
Not affection.<\/p>\n
Recognition.<\/p>\n
Reagan lowered the barrel one inch.<\/p>\n
Kendrick used the distraction.<\/p>\n
He climbed the stairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop him!\u201d Elaine shouted.<\/p>\n
Carter went after him.<\/p>\n
Dad grabbed my shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
We opened them quickly.<\/p>\n
Photographs.<\/p>\n
Bank records.<\/p>\n
Signed payoff sheets.<\/p>\n
Copies of Claire\u2019s communications with federal agents.<\/p>\n
Names.<\/p>\n
Judges.<\/p>\n
Lawyers.<\/p>\n
Police officers.<\/p>\n
Business owners.<\/p>\n
Enough to destroy more than Kendrick.<\/p>\n
The metal cash box contained passports.<\/p>\n
Several identities.<\/p>\n
One belonged to Robert Shaw.<\/p>\n
A current photograph was clipped inside.<\/p>\n
Dad stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cemetery.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n
Older.<\/p>\n
Thinner.<\/p>\n
But unmistakable.<\/p>\n
The groundskeeper who had first given me the key was Dad.<\/p>\n
Not Robert.<\/p>\n
Yet another face in the image pulled at memory.<\/p>\n
A maintenance contractor who had worked at Dennis Industrial years ago.<\/p>\n
Dad whispered, \u201cRobert has been around us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elaine looked over his shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was protecting Claire\u2019s evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale called down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
Above us, a vehicle engine started.<\/p>\n
Carter shouted from outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cKendrick\u2019s leaving!\u201d<\/p>\n
I grabbed the ledger.<\/p>\n
Dad took two cases.<\/p>\n
Elaine took the third.<\/p>\n
Vale helped her up the stairs.<\/p>\n
Reagan remained near the hatch.<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared at Claire\u2019s scarf inside the trunk.<\/p>\n
Then at me.<\/p>\n
For the first time, she looked old.<\/p>\n
Not frightened.<\/p>\n
Finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cKendrick will kill Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen move.\u201d<\/p>\n
She followed.<\/p>\n
Outside, Kendrick\u2019s black pickup tore away from the house.<\/p>\n
Carter stood beside Reagan\u2019s SUV, bleeding from one eyebrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took my gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter held up another weapon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut not his guard\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
We piled into two vehicles.<\/p>\n
Vale insisted on driving despite the shoulder.<\/p>\n
Elaine told him he was an idiot.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cDocument that for the prosecutors.\u201d<\/p>\n
We followed Kendrick north.<\/p>\n
Not toward town.<\/p>\n
Toward Pinecrest.<\/p>\n
Dad realized first.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to the cemetery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Elaine stared at the passports.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick believed his brother was there.<\/p>\n
The cemetery was almost empty when we arrived.<\/p>\n
Kendrick\u2019s pickup sat near the maintenance shed.<\/p>\n
Door open.<\/p>\n
No Kendrick.<\/p>\n
Dad ran toward the building where he had hidden for months.<\/p>\n
Inside, everything had been overturned.<\/p>\n
Bed.<\/p>\n
Table.<\/p>\n
Files.<\/p>\n
The wall map torn down.<\/p>\n
On the floor lay the faded green cap he had worn when I first saw him.<\/p>\n
Beside it was a note.<\/p>\n
One sentence.<\/p>\n
CAMDEN \u2014 IF KENDRICK COMES, TAKE FINNLEY TO CLAIRE.<\/p>\n
Dad stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elaine read it.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s buried here,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered the three smooth stones on her grave.<\/p>\n
Dad always left stones.<\/p>\n
Three were there the day I returned.<\/p>\n
Dad had been alive.<\/p>\n
He could have placed them.<\/p>\n
But he looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t leave those.\u201d<\/p>\n
We ran.<\/p>\n
Claire\u2019s grave stood beneath the maple tree.<\/p>\n
Camden\u2019s false grave beside it.<\/p>\n
The three smooth stones remained.<\/p>\n
I knelt.<\/p>\n
Each had a different symbol scratched beneath.<\/p>\n
R.<\/p>\n
S.<\/p>\n
3.<\/p>\n
Robert Shaw.<\/p>\n
Three.<\/p>\n
Dad looked toward the row markers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSection R. Row S. Grave three.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elaine whispered, \u201cThere is no grave three in that row.\u201d<\/p>\n
We went.<\/p>\n
The row ended at an old mausoleum wall.<\/p>\n
Third stone panel.<\/p>\n
No name.<\/p>\n
Dad touched it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a service door.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter laughed breathlessly.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently the entire county is secret doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad almost answered.<\/p>\n
Then a gunshot cracked from inside.<\/p>\n
We froze.<\/p>\n
Another shot.<\/p>\n
Then silence.<\/p>\n
Carter pulled the door open.<\/p>\n
Kendrick stood twenty feet inside the narrow mausoleum corridor.<\/p>\n
Gun in hand.<\/p>\n
Across from him, bleeding against the wall, was an elderly man I recognized from Robert\u2019s passport photograph.<\/p>\n
Robert Shaw.<\/p>\n
Kendrick aimed again.<\/p>\n
Robert looked past him.<\/p>\n
Directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinnley,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let him destroy Claire\u2019s recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick read the three words twice. UNDER THE WATER. Then he looked through the workshop window toward Silver Lake. Dad had reached the loft. He saw the paper. His face … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11291,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271\/revisions\/11291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}