Chapter 8 - The Death Before the Death
Charlotte’s father had died fourteen years earlier.
Richard Vale had been killed in a private plane crash outside Aspen.
The investigation blamed mechanical failure.
Charlotte had been sixteen.
Until that moment, she had never questioned it.
Vivian refused to explain more in the hallway.
She gave Charlotte an address.
A private storage facility in Brooklyn.
“Locker 814.”
Vivian walked away.
Charlotte immediately called Ethan.
An hour later, they stood outside the locker.
Charlotte entered the code Vivian had provided.
The door opened.
Inside were twenty-seven boxes.
Ethan examined the labels.
“These are old Solmere aviation records.”
Charlotte opened the first box.
Maintenance reports.
Insurance documents.
Pilot schedules.
Then she found a photograph.
Richard Vale standing beside Daniel.
The date was three days before the crash.
Another file contained an internal aircraft inspection.
The plane had been declared safe.
But the technician who signed the report had disappeared shortly after the accident.
Ethan opened another box.
“Charlotte.”
He handed her a payment statement.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Paid by a company called DV Consulting.
The recipient was the aircraft technician.
“DV.”
Charlotte whispered.
“Daniel Vale.”
Ethan nodded.
Charlotte sat on the floor.
Fourteen years.
Her mother had spent fourteen years sitting across holiday tables from the man who may have murdered her husband.
Then Charlotte found a letter.
It was addressed to Elizabeth.
Never sent.
The writer was the aircraft technician.
Mrs. Vale,
I was paid to alter the fuel control system.
I did not know anyone would die.
The payment came through a third party.
But the man who ordered it was Daniel Vale.
Charlotte stopped reading.
Her vision blurred.
Ethan knelt beside her.
She handed him the letter.
“This could prove murder.”
“If we can authenticate it.”
Charlotte wiped her eyes.
“Why did Vivian have this?”
Ethan looked around the locker.
“She’s been collecting insurance.”
“Against Daniel?”
“Probably.”
Charlotte felt a new understanding.
Vivian wasn’t loyal.
She was trapped.
Her phone rang.
Vivian.
Charlotte answered.
“Where are you?”
Vivian whispered.
“You opened the locker?”
“Yes.”
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Daniel knows.”
Charlotte stood.
A mechanical sound came from outside.
The storage facility’s metal security gates began closing.
Ethan ran toward the entrance.
“Charlotte!”
The lights went out.
Vivian screamed through the phone.
“I’m sorry.”
The call disconnected.
Charlotte heard gasoline splashing somewhere beyond the lockers.
Ethan smelled it too.
“Fire.”
Flames suddenly erupted at the far end of the corridor.
Someone had locked them inside.
Smoke filled the ceiling.
Charlotte grabbed the letter and several files.
Ethan kicked at the emergency door.
It didn’t move.
The flames spread rapidly.
Charlotte coughed.
“We’re trapped.”
Ethan looked upward.
A ventilation shaft.
He climbed onto a storage cabinet.
Charlotte followed.
Behind them, boxes containing years of evidence caught fire.
Ethan forced open the vent cover.
They crawled inside seconds before flames reached the locker.
Charlotte looked back.
Her father’s records disappeared in orange fire.
But one letter remained inside her jacket.
One letter that could finally expose the truth.
Then through the vent grate below them, Charlotte saw a man standing calmly in the burning corridor.
Detective Warren Pike.
The officer who had investigated both of her parents’ deaths.
May you like
He looked directly up at Charlotte.
And smiled.
