Chapter 3 - THE KEY TO EVAN'S LAST SECRET
Someone knocked on my apartment door.
Three quiet knocks.
Then nothing.
I looked through the peephole.
Caleb Vale stood in the hallway wearing a dark coat, his hair damp with melting snow.
He was alone.
I opened the door only far enough to see his hands.
How did you find me? I signed.
Evan told me where you lived before he died.
That answer frightened me more than I expected.
Why were you keeping secrets about my brother?
Caleb's face tightened.
Because the last person who helped me disappeared.
I stepped aside.
He entered, noticed Evan's red coat on the bed, and stopped moving.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Then he touched the sleeve.
He was my friend, Caleb signed. He taught me how to trust people again.
I felt tears burning behind my eyes.
Evan had volunteered at a community center for deaf young adults.
I knew he loved helping people, but he'd never mentioned Caleb Vale.
Caleb explained that his father had kept him isolated after the explosion.
Evan had helped him improve his signing and encouraged him to live independently.
Together, they had started investigating Isabel's death.
Then Evan had discovered something dangerous.
Caleb pointed toward the brass key.
North Point Records. Box seventeen.
“What's inside?” I whispered before remembering he couldn't hear me.
I repeated the question with my hands.
Everything Evan was afraid to keep at home.
We went to the records facility the next morning.
Caleb wore a baseball cap and borrowed jacket.
I wore sunglasses despite the gray Chicago sky.
Inside the storage unit, we found a sealed metal case.
The brass key opened it.
There was a notebook, a portable storage drive, and a thick envelope filled with financial documents.
Evan's handwriting covered the first page.
If anything happens to me, don't trust the official story.
My stomach twisted.
I turned the page.
There were photographs of warehouses, security vehicles, and bank transfers.
Caleb pointed to one transfer.
The recipient's name was unfamiliar.
But the account holder wasn't.
I read it three times.
Hannah Elizabeth Mercer.
My full legal name.
According to the document, someone had transferred nearly two million dollars through an account registered to me.
I had never seen that money.
Never opened that account.
Never signed a single document.
Then Caleb showed me the newest transaction.
It had been authorized just forty-eight hours earlier.
May you like
Someone was still using my identity.
And whoever they were had already prepared the evidence to make me look guilty.
