Chapter 6: The Death Certificate
Marcus drove without speaking.
Darren sat in the passenger seat.
Evelyn and Walter followed in a second vehicle.
Rain began tapping against the windshield as they crossed the city toward the old Reedstone warehouse.
Marcus's hands stayed at ten and two.
His mind kept returning to the same sentence.
Your father didn't die because of natural causes.
He glanced at Darren.
“Did you know?””
Darren stared through the passenger window.
“Know what?””
“My father.””
“I knew him.””
“You knew how he died.””
Darren remained silent.
Marcus's voice sharpened.
“Answer me.””
“I knew what everyone was told.””
“That wasn't my question.””
Darren finally looked at him.
“I wasn't there.””
“That's not an answer either.””
Darren looked away.
“Your father was sick.””
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“That's what the death certificate says.””
Darren swallowed.
“Then why are you asking me?””
“Because you look terrified.””
“I have a reason.””
“What reason?””
Darren didn't answer.
Marcus pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse.
The building looked exactly as he remembered it.
Dark brick.
Broken windows.
Rusting loading doors.
His father had bought the property in the 1980s and turned it into Reedstone's first headquarters.
Marcus parked.
Darren didn't move.
“What?”” Marcus asked.
Darren stared at the building.
“I haven't been here since the funeral.””
Marcus got out.
“Then you're overdue.””
The four of them entered through a side door.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Walter switched on a flashlight.
The beam passed over old desks, broken filing cabinets, and faded company signs.
Evelyn looked around.
“This place was supposed to be empty.””
Marcus shook his head.
“My father never let anyone inside after he closed it.””
Darren said quietly, “He locked the basement.””
Marcus turned.
“How do you know?””
Darren went silent.
Walter noticed.
“You've been here.””
“No.””
“You just said he locked the basement.””
“I heard it from someone.””
Marcus stepped toward him.
“Who?””
Darren didn't answer.
Marcus turned to Evelyn.
“Find the old records room.””
They split up.
Walter walked toward the back hallway.
Evelyn searched the old offices.
Marcus climbed the stairs to his father's office.
The door was still there.
A brass nameplate remained attached.
*DANIEL REED — FOUNDER*
Marcus touched it.
Dust covered his fingers.
He pushed the door open.
The office smelled of old paper and cedar.
His father's desk remained exactly where it had always been.
Marcus remembered sitting beneath it as a child while his father worked late.
He remembered the old man's voice.
One day, this will all be yours.
Marcus walked behind the desk.
The drawers were locked.
Evelyn entered.
“Found anything?””
“Not yet.””
She noticed the desk.
“Try the third drawer.””
Marcus looked at her.
“Why?””
“Your father always kept his important documents there.””
Marcus smiled faintly.
“You knew him well.””
“Everyone did.””
He pulled the drawer.
Locked.
Marcus found an old key taped beneath the desk.
He inserted it.
Click.
The drawer opened.
Inside were envelopes.
Bank documents.
Photographs.
A small black notebook.
Marcus picked it up.
The cover had his father's handwriting.
*FOR MARCUS — ONLY IF THE COMPANY IS IN DANGER.*
Marcus's breathing stopped.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Open it.””
He did.
The first page contained one sentence.
*If you're reading this, I was right to be afraid.*
Marcus turned the page.
There were dates.
Names.
Financial transfers.
One name appeared repeatedly.
*Darren Cole.*
Marcus looked up.
Darren stood in the doorway.
He looked at the notebook.
Then at Marcus.
“Put it down.””
Marcus closed it.
“Why?””
“Because you don't understand what it means.””
“You seem to.””
Darren entered the room.
“My father knew about you.””
Darren nodded.
“Yes.””
“He knew you were in financial trouble.””
“Yes.””
“He refused to help you.””
Darren's face tightened.
“Yes.””
“And then you started stealing from employees.””
“No.””
Marcus held up the notebook.
“My father wrote your name.””
Darren shook his head.
“Not because of the payroll.””
“Then why?””
Darren stared at the floor.
“Because I was investigating it.””
Marcus stopped.
“What?””
Darren looked up.
“I wasn't the one who created the first account.””
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Then who did?””
Darren looked at Marcus.
“Your father.””
Marcus shook his head.
“No.””
“He created it before he died.””
“Why?””
“To protect the company.””
“From whom?””
Darren looked toward the hallway.
Then lowered his voice.
“Your mother.””
Marcus froze.
Evelyn stared at him.
“What?””
Darren continued.
“Your father believed she was moving company assets.””
Marcus felt the room spin.
“My mother?””
“She wasn't just his wife.””
Darren's voice trembled.
“She was one of the seven people with access to the reserve.””
Marcus stared at the notebook.
His mother had died two years after his father.
He had spent years believing they had built Reedstone together.
“You're lying.””
Darren shook his head.
“Read the notebook.””
Marcus opened it.
A page had been folded down.
He unfolded it.
His father's handwriting filled the page.
*The problem isn't Darren. Darren is trying to survive. The problem is the person above him.*
Marcus looked up.
“Above him?””
Darren nodded.
“My father was investigating someone.””
“Yes.””
“Who?””
Darren stared at him.
“I never found out.””
Marcus flipped through the notebook.
Seven names.
Six were crossed out.
One remained.
Marcus read it.
Then stopped breathing.
The final name was not his mother.
Not Darren.
Not Evelyn.
It was someone still employed by Reedstone.
Someone who had access to the executive office.
Someone who had submitted a resignation that morning.
Marcus whispered the name.
“Evelyn.””
Evelyn went completely still.
Darren looked at her.
Walter appeared in the doorway.
“What happened?””
Marcus slowly turned the notebook toward Evelyn.
“Why did my father write your name?””
Evelyn's face crumpled.
“I can explain.””
Marcus's voice was barely audible.
“Then explain.””
Evelyn looked at Darren.
Then Walter.
Then Marcus.
“I didn't steal the money.””
Marcus stared.
“Then why did you resign today?””
“Because I knew you were going to find this.””
“What is this?””
Evelyn took a breath.
“The truth about your father's last year.””
Marcus stepped closer.
“What truth?””
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“Your father didn't die in his sleep.””
Silence.
“He was poisoned.””
Marcus's face went blank.
Walter whispered, “Jesus.””
Darren lowered his head.
Marcus gripped the desk.
“Who?””
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.””
“You expect me to believe that?””
“I was there.””
Marcus looked at her.
“What do you mean?””
Evelyn's voice broke.
“I was the one who found him.””
Marcus stared.
“When?””
“The night before he died.””
“And you said nothing?””
“He made me promise.””
“Promise what?””
“That I would protect you.””
Marcus's eyes burned.
“You protected me by lying?””
“I protected you by keeping you alive.””
The room went silent.
Evelyn reached into her coat and pulled out a folded document.
“I've kept this for eight years.””
She handed it to Marcus.
He unfolded it.
A death certificate.
Daniel Reed.
Cause of death:
*Acute cardiac event.*
Marcus stared.
“That's what we knew.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“Look at the date.””
Marcus checked.
Then frowned.
“This was issued two days after he died.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because the first certificate was replaced.””
Marcus looked up.
“Where is the first one?””
Evelyn pointed toward the basement.
“Your father hid it.””
Marcus turned.
Darren said quietly, “We shouldn't go down there.””
Marcus looked at him.
“Why?””
Darren swallowed.
“Because that's where he kept the evidence.””
Marcus grabbed a flashlight.
He walked toward the basement door.
Walter followed.
Evelyn came behind them.
Darren remained upstairs.
Marcus turned.
“You're coming.””
Darren shook his head.
“I can't.””
“You can.””
“I told you, I haven't been down there since—”
The basement door suddenly creaked open by itself.
Everyone froze.
A cold draft moved through the hallway.
Marcus raised the flashlight.
At the bottom of the stairs, a single light was glowing.
Someone had turned it on.
Walter whispered, “We're not alone.””
Marcus descended slowly.
One step.
Then another.
At the bottom was a metal filing cabinet.
Its door stood open.
Inside was a single folder.
Marcus picked it up.
Written across the front in his father's handwriting were six words:
*THE PERSON WHO WILL BETRAY YOU.*
Marcus opened the folder.
A photograph slid onto the floor.
He picked it up.
It showed his father standing outside the Reedstone warehouse eight years earlier.
Beside him stood someone Marcus recognized immediately.
Someone who had told him that morning that she was trying to protect him.
Evelyn.
But there was something else in the photograph.
A second person stood behind them.
Half-hidden in shadow.
Marcus brought the photograph closer to the light.
His heart stopped.
Because the person in the background was supposed to have been dead for eight years.
May you like
And suddenly, from somewhere behind them in the basement, a man's voice whispered:
“Marcus… you finally came.””