Chapter 7 - BENEATH THE RESTAURANT
Julian returned to the dining room.
Mr. Pike was gone.
The manager’s office had been emptied in less than ten minutes.
Uniforms, photographs, personal files—everything had disappeared.
Noah stood near the service stairs.
“There’s a basement?” he asked.
“There’s an old one,” Julian said. “It was sealed during renovation.”
The original Ember House building had once been a bank.
Below the wine cellar sat a records vault no modern blueprint showed.
Julian found the access panel behind a shelving unit.
A keypad blinked red.
Pike knew the code.
Rachel’s note meant she had discovered something hidden below the restaurant before she was attacked.
Serena watched Julian test dates.
“Try the restaurant’s opening day.”
He entered 0417.
The lock clicked.
A narrow stairway descended into darkness.
Noah wanted to follow, but Julian stopped him.
“Stay upstairs and call Detective Ortiz.”
Serena picked up a flashlight.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“My brother did this. I know how he thinks.”
“You didn’t know him well enough an hour ago.”
“That’s why I’m coming now.”
They descended together.
At the bottom, they found a steel vault door standing open.
Inside were boxes of forged invoices, employee files, and surveillance photographs.
One wall held pictures of Julian entering hospitals, meeting attorneys, and visiting his mother’s grave.
Serena stared at them.
“He’s been watching you for years.”
Julian opened a metal cabinet.
Inside were duplicate keys to every Cross & Ember property.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Graham’s voice filled the vault.
“You always did like hidden rooms, Julian.”
The steel door slammed shut.
The lights went out.
Serena grabbed Julian’s arm.
A ventilation fan stopped.
Then Graham spoke again.
“The police will find two bodies beneath your restaurant and one confession upstairs. By morning, everyone will believe you killed her after she embarrassed you.”
A faint chemical smell entered through the vent.
Julian recognized it from construction sites.
May you like
Carbon monoxide.
And the vault had no second door.
