Drink the tea, Julian, you look exhausted after the campaign rally, my father-in-law, Senator Arthur Montgomery, said softly as he patted my shoulder.
The air in the Capitol sub-basement hung heavy, thick with the scent of damp concrete and forgotten paper. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting long, dancing shadows across towering shelves packed with municipal records. My master security pass had granted me access, but it couldn’t alleviate the feeling of being buried alive.
Each metallic clang of a sliding file box echoed in the cavernous space. I was looking for anything from 2017, anything related to the County Hospital annex fire, anything Montgomery touched. This was a needle in a haystack, a desperate gamble.
Hours blurred into a dull ache in my shoulders. Dust motes danced in the anemic light. I pulled out a box marked “2017 City Permits – Misc.” The label was faded, barely legible. Inside, a jumble of uncatalogued documents: old building inspection reports, minor zoning variances, a forgotten utility bill for a decommissioned city fountain.
And then, halfway down, tucked beneath a crumpled parking ticket from six years ago, I felt a thicker envelope. It wasn’t marked, just a plain manila folder. My fingers trembled as I pulled it out.
Inside was a single, crisp document. Not a permit. Not a bill. A lease agreement.
My breath hitched. The lessor was Montgomery’s shell corporation, “Blue Ridge Holdings LLC.” The lessee was “Oakhaven Security Solutions.” The property description detailed a remote compound, miles outside the city, hidden deep in the upstate wilderness. The most chilling detail: the date. It was signed two days after the County Hospital annex fire—the fire that had supposedly claimed Clara and Lily.
A private security property. Not a medical clinic, not a campaign office, but a secluded, heavily secured compound. Montgomery hadn’t just covered up a death; he had actively secured a facility right after the supposed tragedy. My mind raced, connecting the dots: Genevieve’s warning, the missing remains, Lily’s survival. This wasn’t just about a political cleanup. It was about possession.
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