Chapter 11 - FIRE IN THE ARCHIVE
They reached Vance Holdings twelve minutes later.
Smoke was already visible through a lower-level window.
The building alarm screamed through the empty lobby.
Firefighters were arriving from the opposite street.
Arthur rushed toward the entrance.
A firefighter stopped him.
“You cannot go inside.”
“My records are downstairs.”
“Then your records stay downstairs.”
Julian looked across the street.
A silver SUV was pulling away from the curb.
He recognized it.
Victoria’s.
“There.”
Thomas turned.
Julian pointed.
“That is her car.”
Arthur immediately called the police officer handling the case.
Nobody chased the SUV themselves.
Instead, they gave the plate number and direction of travel.
Thomas placed a hand on Julian’s shoulder.
“Do not turn one disaster into another.”
Julian nodded.
Twenty minutes later, firefighters contained the blaze.
The damage was limited to one storage room.
The fire suppression system had activated before the flames spread.
But someone had forced open two cabinets.
Several boxes were missing.
Arthur stared through the glass doors from the lobby.
“What was stored there?”
The building manager checked the archive log.
“Legacy partnership agreements.”
“Debt restructuring documents.”
“And the original Northstar correspondence from nineteen years ago.”
Thomas looked at Arthur.
“Nineteen years?”
Arthur went still.
Julian noticed.
“What happened nineteen years ago?”
Arthur said nothing.
Thomas stepped closer.
“Arthur.”
The old man finally answered.
“Northstar Meridian did business with my son.”
Julian stared at him.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Before Julian could ask more, a police cruiser pulled up.
An officer entered holding a black document case.
“We recovered this from a vehicle stopped six blocks away.”
Julian looked toward the street.
Victoria sat in the back of another patrol car.
Her face was pale.
Eleanor was nowhere to be seen.
The officer placed the case on a table.
Inside were the missing archive folders.
Victoria had not managed to destroy them.
She had tried to steal them.
Arthur opened the oldest file.
A photograph slipped onto the table.
Julian picked it up.
His father stood beside a younger Eleanor.
Between them stood another man.
Arthur pointed.
“That is Eleanor’s brother, Richard.”
Thomas studied the photograph.
“And Northstar Meridian?”
Arthur nodded.
“He founded it.”
Julian looked at the date printed on the back.
Nineteen years earlier.
“What were they doing together?”
Arthur opened the first agreement.
His face tightened.
“Trying to take control of Vance Holdings.”
Julian stared at the document.
“This started before I ever met Elena.”
May you like
Arthur nodded.
“Long before.”
