The aquarium was closed to the public that evening.
Marcus had arranged for the investigation team to enter through the staff entrance.
Elena stood beside the touch pool.
The water was calm.
Gray moved slowly beneath the surface.
Mia watched him for a moment.
“He doesn't seem scared.”
Claire looked at her.
“Who?”
“Gray.”
Elena smiled.
“He has nothing to be afraid of.”
Marcus unfolded the original plans.
Richard stood beside him.
“Here.”
He pointed beneath the filtration passage.
Room 17.
Then he moved his finger several inches farther.
“Room 18.”
Marcus frowned.
“There is nothing here.”
“There used to be.”
“Where?”
Richard pointed toward the wall behind the quarantine equipment.
They moved the old storage cabinets.
Behind them was concrete.
No door.
No handle.
Nothing.
Daniel frowned.
“Are you sure?”
Richard nodded.
“The entrance was hidden.”
Marcus examined the wall.
He tapped several places.
One section sounded hollow.
“There.”
Workers removed a thin layer of paneling.
A metal door appeared.
No number.
No lock.
Only a small circular indentation.
Mia looked at it.
“The key.”
Elena remembered the key marked Room 17.
She took it from the evidence case.
Richard shook his head.
“Not that one.”
“Then what?”
He looked at Mia.
“She found the other key.”
Mia reached into her backpack.
She had brought her notebook.
Inside was a rubbing she had made from the old photograph.
On the edge of the image was a small metal tag.
Room 18.
Marcus examined it.
“There.”
A tiny number had been stamped beneath the circular indentation.
18.
Elena felt her pulse quicken.
“Where's the key?”
Richard answered.
“I don't know.”
Mia looked toward the touch pool.
Everyone followed her gaze.
She walked slowly to the edge.
Gray turned.
He moved toward the shallow corner.
Then stopped.
Mia pointed.
“Under the rock.”
Marcus lowered the net.
This time he retrieved a small brass key.
Elena stared.
“How?”
Mia shrugged.
“He likes hiding things.”
Marcus smiled.
He took the key.
It opened the door.
The room beyond was tiny.
A single table.
A chair.
A metal cabinet.
And shelves filled with old paper.
The air smelled of dust.
Elena stepped inside.
On the table lay a ledger.
She recognized her father's handwriting.
She touched the cover.
“It's here.”
Marcus photographed it before anyone opened it.
Inside were years of payments.
Names.
Dates.
Locations.
The first entries went back more than twenty years.
Victor's name appeared repeatedly.
Peter's appeared later.
Thomas's appeared after that.
But there were other names too.
Government officials.
Private contractors.
Research companies.
People who had never been mentioned in the original investigation.
Daniel looked at Elena.
“This is much bigger.”
She nodded.
Marcus continued turning pages.
Then he stopped.
The final entries were dated the week Lena died.
One payment had been made to Victor.
Another to Peter.
A third was marked simply:
“Emergency.”
Beside it was a name.
Lena.
Elena's hand went cold.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus shook his head.
“We don't know.”
Richard looked over his shoulder.
“That isn't a payment.”
“What is it?”
“A code.”
“For what?”
Richard stared at the page.
“Extraction.”
Elena looked at him.
“Extraction?”
“Someone planned to remove Lena from the aquarium.”
“Why?”
“Because she had become a liability.”
Marcus turned the next page.
There was another entry.
“TRANSFER CANCELLED.”
Elena stared.
“Then she wasn't supposed to die.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“She was supposed to be taken somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
The location was written beneath the entry.
A private airfield.
Marcus photographed it.
Daniel looked at the date.
“The morning after she died.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Someone had planned to move her.
But she had died before they could.
Marcus continued.
The final page contained a handwritten note.
Lena's handwriting.
“I know what they're doing. I know who is paying them. If they take me, don't believe them when they say I left willingly.”
Elena pressed her hand over her mouth.
“She knew.”
Richard nodded.
“She knew.”
Mia stood beside the doorway.
“Then the story about her leaving wasn't just a lie.”
“No,” Elena said.
“It was planned.”
Marcus looked at the evidence.
“Yes.”
A sound came from outside.
Footsteps.
They all turned.
The aquarium hallway was empty.
Marcus closed the ledger.
“We're not alone.”
Richard looked toward the door.
“Victor?”
“He's in custody,” Daniel said.
“Then someone else knows we're here.”
The lights flickered.
Mia looked toward the touch pool.
Gray had moved away from the corner.
He was swimming rapidly now.
Marcus locked the ledger in the evidence case.
“Everyone out.”
They left Room 18.
A figure appeared at the end of the corridor.
Thomas Vale.
Older.
Thinner.
His face was exhausted.
Elena stopped.
“You.”
Thomas raised both hands.
“I didn't come to hurt anyone.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Then why are you here?”
Thomas looked at Elena.
“I came because Victor told me to destroy the ledger.”
Elena's expression hardened.
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked toward the touch pool.
“Because Lena asked me not to.”
Silence.
“You saw her that night.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Thomas swallowed.
“She ran into the corridor.”
“Why?”
“She had the ledger.”
“She was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hurt her?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Thomas looked at Richard.
Richard looked away.
Thomas finally said the name.
“Victor.”
Elena's breath caught.
Thomas continued.
“He pushed her.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“I didn't see that.”
“You arrived after.”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked at Elena.
“I was there when she fell.”
“What did you do?”
“I wanted to help.”
“But you didn't.”
“I was afraid.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“Everyone was afraid.”
Thomas nodded.
“That was how Victor controlled us.”
Mia stepped closer.
“Why did Gray find the things?”
Thomas looked at her.
“I don't know.”
Mia smiled.
“I do.”
Thomas stared at the child.
“He kept the clues safe.”
Thomas began to cry.
Not dramatically.
Just a quiet collapse of the face he had carried for seven years.
“I should have told you.”
Elena looked at him.
“Yes.”
“I was ashamed.”
“You should have been.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Marcus secured the ledger.
Then Thomas said something that made everyone stop.
“There is one thing you don't know.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
Thomas looked toward the old aquarium entrance.
“Victor wasn't the only person who ordered Lena's death.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART16: The Last Witness Named the Person Behind Victor, and Elena Finally Learned Why Her Father Had Hidden the Truth Where Lena Would Find It
The Stingray Beneath the Water Changed Direction Twice, and Mia Was Certain It Was Trying to Show Her Something
Part 15 of 16
