SERIES : The Seat Nobody Dared to Take

The first vehicle entered Mercer Freight Depot through the loading yard.

The second blocked the street entrance.

Owen looked at Devlin.

“We have six, maybe eight.”

Jonah shook his head.

“Too many for Brendan’s usual cleanup crews.”

Chantelle stared at him.

“You say that like there is an ordinary number for cleanup crews.”

“There is in my life.”

“That is not comforting.”

Devlin handed the document case to Maeve.

“Finn, get her out through the east service corridor.”

Maeve immediately objected.

“I am not leaving Chantelle.”

“You are carrying the evidence.”

“So?”

“So for the next ten minutes, I like the evidence more than any of us.”

Maeve glared at him.

“Your father used to say things like that.”

Devlin’s face hardened.

“Then I’ll apologize when we’re outside.”

A metal door slammed upstairs.

Owen whispered, “Move.”

They split into two groups.

Maeve and Finn went toward the east corridor with the ledger pages and recorder. Caleb stayed with Devlin, Chantelle, Owen, and Jonah.

Jonah pointed toward an unmarked door behind the storage wall.

“Old maintenance tunnel.”

Owen looked at him.

“You knew about that too?”

“I investigated a fire here before you learned to shave.”

“I learned early.”

Chantelle whispered, “Excellent. Male bonding. Can we escape now?”

Devlin pushed the door open.

A narrow concrete passage sloped downward.

They moved quickly.

Behind them, voices entered the basement.

“Seventeen is open.”

“Check everything.”

Another voice said, “Murphy wants the girl alive.”

Chantelle stopped.

Devlin caught her shoulder.

“Keep moving.”

“Which Murphy?”

“We can ask after we are not standing beneath the people who want you alive for reasons I dislike.”

They reached a locked steel gate.

Jonah swore.

“This was open before.”

Owen examined the chain.

“New padlock.”

Caleb said, “They knew the tunnel.”

Devlin looked at Jonah.

“Another way?”

“Thirty yards back. Utility shaft, but it exits into the rail cut.”

A flashlight beam swept across the passage behind them.

“Too late,” Caleb said.

Devlin moved Chantelle behind a concrete column.

She grabbed his sleeve.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Yes.”

“Is it a good one?”

“No.”

“Thank you for the honesty.”

Owen stepped into the darkness and called out.

“You are boxed in. Walk away.”

A man answered from the far end.

“Give us Creed and Brooks.”

Jonah muttered, “I feel popular.”

Owen called, “Not happening.”

The man laughed.

“Then ask your boss how many people he wants hurt for a waitress.”

Chantelle looked at Devlin.

He was expressionless.

She whispered, “I really hate being described by my job right now.”

Devlin said, “I know.”

The voice came again.

“Murphy, your uncle said this can stay inside the family.”

Devlin’s eyes changed.

There it was.

Not proof.

But enough.

Devlin stepped forward just enough to be heard.

“Tell Brendan I’m touched by the invitation.”

“You want to talk to him?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want?”

Devlin glanced at Owen.

Owen nodded once.

Devlin said, “I want you to keep talking.”

A heavy ventilation fan roared to life above them.

The lights in the passage went out.

Owen had found an old control panel.

Caleb cut the chain with a compact bolt cutter from his pack.

Chantelle whispered, “Do all of you carry impossible objects?”

Caleb pushed the gate open.

“Occupational habit.”

They ran.

The tunnel ended beneath a loading ramp two blocks away.

By the time the men behind them reached the gate, Devlin’s group was already inside a delivery truck Finn had moved from the east side.

Maeve sat in the front with the document case on her lap.

“You took your time,” she said.

Chantelle climbed in.

“We stopped for sightseeing.”

Devlin entered last and slammed the door.

“Drive.”

Finn pulled away.

For three blocks no one spoke.

Then Maeve said, “Did you hear who sent them?”

Devlin looked at her.

“Brendan.”

Maeve closed her eyes.

Chantelle asked, “You still don’t believe Jonah?”

“I believe Brendan is capable of ordering men into a warehouse,” Maeve said. “I am not yet prepared to believe Patrick knowingly let Lorna die.”

Jonah leaned against the wall.

“Those are two different questions.”

Devlin looked at him.

“Keep them separate.”

Jonah nodded.

“Agreed.”

Owen’s phone vibrated.

He looked at the screen.

“Boss, one of our external teams caught a man leaving the loading yard.”

“Who?”

“Not in our database.”

“Bring him to the safe office.”

Owen hesitated.

“He had this.”

He held up a photo sent to his phone.

It showed a black security badge with a silver M.

Devlin stared.

“That is current issue.”

Owen nodded.

“Level three access.”

“Whose department?”

Owen’s jaw tightened.

“Mine.”

Chantelle watched him carefully.

Devlin said nothing for several seconds.

Then, “Every badge issued in the last year. I want names, dates, replacements, lost reports.”

“Already pulling them.”

Jonah smiled faintly.

Owen turned.

“What?”

“You finally look nervous.”

“I am considering whether throwing you out of a moving vehicle counts as littering.”

Chantelle raised a hand.

“I vote yes.”

Devlin said, “Nobody throws anybody anywhere.”

They reached a private office beneath one of Devlin’s legitimate shipping companies.

The captured man was already in a conference room with two guards.

He looked barely thirty.

Devlin entered first.

Chantelle followed.

Owen tried to stop her.

“This is not for you.”

She looked at him.

“He came to a warehouse asking for me by name.”

Owen stepped aside.

“Fair.”

The man stared at Chantelle, then at Devlin.

Devlin sat across from him.

“Name.”

“No.”

“Who issued the badge?”

“No.”

“Who gave you the order?”

The man smiled.

“You already know.”

Devlin leaned back.

“Brendan?”

The smile vanished for half a second.

Chantelle noticed.

“So that’s a yes,” she said.

The man looked at her.

“You should have kept walking when you saw that empty seat.”

Her skin prickled.

“How did you know where I sat?”

He did not answer.

Devlin’s voice sharpened.

“How did you know?”

The man looked at Owen.

Only for a second.

Owen’s face remained still.

Chantelle saw it anyway.

So did Devlin.

The man realized his mistake too late.

He looked back at Devlin.

“Your family watches everything.”

Devlin stood.

“Take him out.”

After the guards removed him, Chantelle turned to Owen.

“He looked at you.”

Owen’s expression did not change.

“I noticed.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Jonah said, “That answer is becoming contagious.”

Owen stepped toward him.

Devlin raised a hand.

“Owen.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Pull your own records first.”

Owen went very still.

“Understood.”

He left.

Chantelle stared at the closed door.

“You trust him?”

“With my life.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Devlin looked at her.

“No.”

The admission sat heavily between them.

Maeve entered carrying a tablet.

“Brendan knows we found something. He wants Devlin at Murphy House tonight.”

Devlin laughed once.

“Of course he does.”

Chantelle asked, “Why?”

Maeve handed him the tablet.

A message filled the screen.

Come home. Bring the girl. You deserve to know what her mother stole.

Chantelle read it twice.

“My mother stole something?”

Jonah shook his head.

“Brendan lies professionally.”

Maeve said, “Not always.”

Everyone looked at her.

Maeve continued carefully.

“After Lorna died, Patrick claimed two-point-four million dollars was missing from a reserve account.”

Chantelle stared.

“And you waited until now to say that?”

“I never believed she took it.”

“But the money disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“Where did it go?”

“No one knew.”

Jonah said, “I did.”

Chantelle turned.

“You are getting very good at holding information until the worst possible moment.”

Jonah’s face tightened.

“The money was found in an account under Yvette Brooks’s name.”

Chantelle felt the room tilt.

“My aunt?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible.”

“It was there for eleven days, then moved through a trust in Montreal.”

“Why would my mother put money in Yvette’s name?”

Jonah said nothing.

Chantelle stepped closer.

“Answer me.”

“I don’t know.”

Devlin looked at Maeve.

“Did Patrick know?”

“Yes.”

“What did he do?”

“He told everyone Lorna had been planning to run.”

Chantelle’s face burned.

“No.”

Maeve reached toward her.

“Chantelle—”

“No.”

She backed away.

“My aunt worked at a public school cafeteria. She counted coupons before buying groceries. If she had two million dollars hidden somewhere, I think I would have noticed.”

Jonah said, “The account was emptied before Yvette ever knew it existed.”

“Then someone used her name.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

Devlin stepped in.

“We verify before we decide what it means.”

Chantelle looked at him.

“Your uncle just invited us to his house to tell me my dead mother was a thief.”

“Yes.”

“And you want to verify?”

“I want to know why he chose that fact.”

She stared at him.

Devlin continued.

“If Brendan wanted only to frighten you, he would threaten you. If he wanted to discredit Lorna, he would give us something we could easily disprove. He chose a real account.”

Jonah nodded slowly.

“He’s baiting us with truth.”

Chantelle looked at the message again.

“Then I want to hear the lie that comes with it.”

Devlin’s face hardened.

“You are not going to Murphy House.”

She almost laughed.

“We have had this conversation.”

“This time I am not negotiating.”

“Neither am I.”

Maeve said, “Devlin.”

He turned.