Three weeks after the night Peter Caldwell was arrested, the aquarium reopened its public galleries.
The stingray touch pool remained closed.
A temporary wall stood around it, covered with a simple notice explaining that the exhibit was undergoing inspection. Visitors walked past slowly, many stopping to read. Some whispered about what had happened, though the official statement revealed little. The investigation was still active, and several employees had been interviewed.
Mia noticed the wall immediately.
She stopped beside it on her first visit back.
“Gray is still here, right?”
Claire looked at Daniel.
Daniel nodded.
“I think so.”
“He didn't get moved?”
“Not permanently.”
Mia seemed relieved.
Elena had asked the family to come that morning. She was now working with investigators and the aquarium board to document everything connected to Lena's death. She met them near the closed exhibit wearing the same dark blue sweater she had worn the night they found Room 17.
She smiled when she saw Mia.
“I was hoping you'd come.”
Mia pointed at the barrier.
“Can we see Gray?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because the veterinary team is examining the animals.”
Mia frowned.
“They didn't do anything wrong.”
Elena smiled.
“No. They're just making sure they're healthy.”
Daniel looked through the glass.
The pool appeared ordinary again, but the ordinary appearance felt deceptive. Beneath the surface, every grate and pipe had been inspected. Room 17 had been sealed by investigators. The old passage had been photographed and documented.
Nothing remained hidden there.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Elena handed Daniel a folder.
“We found something yesterday.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a copy of Lena's original volunteer records.
There were handwritten notes in the margins.
Daniel recognized the handwriting immediately.
“There's something missing.”
Elena nodded.
“One page.”
Claire leaned closer.
“What page?”
“The final transfer sheet.”
Daniel looked up.
“Wasn't that among the documents from Room 17?”
“No.”
“But you found the payment records.”
“Yes.”
“The photographs.”
“Yes.”
“The recordings.”
“Yes.”
Elena tapped the folder.
“But not this.”
Mia looked at the papers.
“Why is it important?”
Elena hesitated.
“Because Lena wrote the names of every animal transfer she discovered.”
“And the missing page had one more name?”
Elena nodded.
“Maybe.”
Mia looked toward the closed touch pool.
“Maybe Gray knows.”
Claire smiled gently.
“Mia.”
“What?”
“Not everything has to be a mystery.”
Mia folded her arms.
“It usually is.”
Daniel laughed.
Elena laughed too.
But her smile disappeared quickly.
She had learned not to dismiss small things.
The investigators had discovered that several animals mentioned in Lena's notes had been transferred through a private company connected to Peter. Most of the transactions had been traced. A few were still unexplained.
The missing page could contain the final link.
That afternoon, Marcus arrived carrying a cardboard archive box.
“We found another storage location.”
Elena turned.
“Where?”
“Not Room 17.”
“Where, then?”
Marcus placed the box on a table.
“Old administrative records.”
Daniel looked inside.
“There are hundreds of files.”
“Thousands.”
Elena sighed.
“Then how do we find one page?”
Marcus smiled slightly.
“We don't.”
Mia looked at him.
“You let the page find you?”
Marcus looked surprised.
“That is one way of putting it.”
He pulled out a stack of old employee documents.
“Lena's records were filed incorrectly.”
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
“Can you tell when?”
Marcus nodded.
“Seven years ago.”
Elena stared at him.
Again.
That number.
The year Lena died.
Marcus placed another file beside it.
“This one contains maintenance schedules.”
Daniel opened it.
A name appeared repeatedly.
Thomas Vale.
But beneath several entries, someone had written a second name in pencil.
Richard Hale.
Elena looked at Richard's signature.
“He was covering Thomas's shifts.”
Marcus nodded.
“After Lena died.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
Marcus pointed to the dates.
“Because Thomas stopped coming to work.”
Elena looked up.
“You said Thomas helped cover things up.”
“He did.”
“Then where did he go?”
Marcus shook his head.
“That's what we're trying to establish.”
Mia sat quietly at the end of the table.
She had been staring at the archive box.
Then she reached inside.
She pulled out a laminated aquarium map.
“What's this?”
Marcus took it.
His expression changed.
“This isn't supposed to be here.”
“Why?”
“Because this map is older than Room 17.”
He unfolded it.
A series of underground corridors appeared beneath the aquarium.
There was Room 17.
There was the filtration passage.
And there was another section.
A long corridor extending beyond the aquarium property.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Where does that go?”
Marcus shook his head.
“It shouldn't go anywhere.”
Elena pointed at the edge.
“There's a second entrance.”
Mia traced it with her finger.
“What's there?”
Marcus looked at the map again.
“An old service building.”
“Is it still there?”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“What happened to it?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“It was demolished eight years ago.”
Elena stared at the map.
“One year before Lena died.”
Mia looked at her.
“Then why is the tunnel still on the map?”
Nobody answered.
Marcus folded the paper.
“We need to check the site.”
The next morning, Elena, Marcus, Daniel, Claire, and Mia stood outside an overgrown lot several streets from the aquarium.
The old service building was gone.
Only a concrete foundation remained.
Grass pushed through cracks.
A rusted fence leaned toward the road.
Mia walked around the edge.
“There's something here.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the foundation.
A small metal cover was almost completely hidden beneath weeds.
Marcus cleared it.
Underneath was a maintenance hatch.
He stared.
“That shouldn't still be connected.”
Elena looked at him.
“Then open it.”
Marcus hesitated.
The hatch lifted.
Cold air rose from below.
A narrow stairway disappeared into darkness.
Mia looked at Claire.
“Do you think Gray knew about this?”
Claire smiled.
“I think we're going to find out.”
They descended carefully.
At the bottom was a corridor.
The walls were damp.
Old electrical cables ran along the ceiling.
And on one wall, someone had painted a single number.
17.
Elena stopped breathing.
Marcus raised his flashlight.
The corridor continued into darkness.
Then Mia saw something on the floor.
A blue thread.
The same shade as Lena's scarf.
She pointed.
Elena stared at it.
“This isn't seven years old.”
Marcus crouched.
He examined the thread.
There was fresh dirt around it.
Someone had been there recently.
And the corridor didn't end at Room 17.
It continued farther.
Click Here to continue read next: PART10: Beneath the Abandoned Building, Elena Discovered a Second Trail of Evidence That Lena Had Never Managed to Reveal Before Her Death
The Stingray Beneath the Water Changed Direction Twice, and Mia Was Certain It Was Trying to Show Her Something
Part 9 of 16
