Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO WANTED THE FACTORY MORE THAN THE BRAND
Nolan stopped trying to buy Ortega & Sons the moment he saw my father's photograph.
That surprised everyone.
Including me.
He called Lena from the storage unit.
"Freeze the acquisition."
Her voice came through the speaker.
"Entirely?"
"Entirely."
"What do I tell the board?"
"Tell them the diligence process uncovered unresolved historical liability."
I looked at him.
"That's very corporate."
He glanced toward me.
"You want me to say we may have evidence my uncle helped cover up fourteen deaths?"
"That would be clearer."
Rachel coughed to hide a laugh.
Nolan ignored her.
Then he called Gabriel Ortega.
Gabriel answered after four rings.
"I have nothing to say to you."
Nolan looked toward me.
"Then listen."
He told Gabriel about the memo.
My father's files.
The photograph.
There was silence.
Then Gabriel spoke in Spanish.
"Put the waitress on."
Nolan's eyebrows lifted.
I took the phone.
"Mr. Ortega?"
"Claire Bennett?"
"Yes."
His voice changed.
"Thomas Bennett's daughter."
"You knew him?"
"Your father was the only investigator who treated my family like human beings."
My throat tightened.
"He never told me."
"He was trying to protect you."
I looked down.
Gabriel continued.
"Did he finish the report?"
"No."
A long pause.
"Then they got to him first."
My stomach turned.
"What does that mean?"
Gabriel exhaled.
"Your father contacted me three years ago."
Three years.
The year he died.
"What did he say?"
"He had found new evidence."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"What evidence?"
"He wouldn't tell me over the phone."
"Did you meet?"
"No."
His voice hardened.
"He died two days later."
The room went cold.
My parents' car accident.
Rain.
A highway barrier.
Police said my father lost control.
My brother had been in the back seat.
He survived.
I suddenly remembered something he'd said during rehabilitation.
Dad wasn't driving fast.
At the time, I assumed trauma had confused him.
Now I wasn't sure.
Gabriel continued.
"Claire, your father believed the fire was connected to something much bigger than negligence."
"What?"
"Land."
I frowned.
"What land?"
"Our workshop sits over an underground rail spur built during World War II."
Nolan's expression changed.
Gabriel continued.
"Your father's theory was that Pierce interests wanted the property for freight access."
Nolan shook his head.
"That makes no sense. The Ortega property isn't large enough to justify—"
I looked toward him.
"Unless it connects to something else."
He stopped.
Then reached for one of the acquisition maps.
Pierce North owned three parcels surrounding Ortega & Sons.
Three.
Not enough for a freight corridor.
Unless the Ortega land connected them.
Nolan stared.
"The deal was never about leather."
Gabriel heard him.
"Finally."
Nolan's jaw tightened.
"What is under your workshop?"
Gabriel was silent for a moment.
Then answered.
"An old rail tunnel running beneath three city blocks."
My heart pounded.
Lena had said Pierce North wanted Ortega for brand expansion.
But if the workshop sat over critical freight infrastructure, nine hundred million dollars might have been cheap.
Nolan looked toward Rachel.
"Who commissioned the property valuation?"
She shrugged.
He called Lena.
"Who requested the Ortega acquisition?"
Lena answered immediately.
"Sebastian."
Nolan's face went still.
Of course.
His uncle.
Then Gabriel said something that made all of us stop breathing.
"Claire, before your father died, he mailed me one page from his new report."
I swallowed.
"What did it say?"
May you like
Gabriel's voice lowered.
"It said the fire was started deliberately inside a wall Blackridge Industrial had sealed twelve hours earlier."
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