Chapter 9 - Behind the Blue Tractor
Rebecca called the deputy assigned to the property before anyone went near the barn.
Price remained across the street, pretending to read his phone.
When he realized we'd noticed him, he left without approaching.
The sheriff's office documented the encounter.
We drove to the farm with a second unit following.
The barn doors stuck as they always had when rain swelled the wood.
I could almost hear Grandpa telling me to lift before pulling.
Behind the blue tractor was a heavy tool chest secured with two rusted clasps.
June handed me a second key.
"He said the first key would reveal the problem," she explained.
"The second would show who was paying for it."
The chest contained duplicate accounting books, an old laptop, and a stack of letters addressed to a state investigator.
Several letters had been returned undelivered.
A memory card was taped inside the lid.
Rebecca arranged for qualified technicians to make forensic copies before we opened it.
The data contained scanned invoices from Pier Nine, correspondence about the warehouse, and video from a security camera that had survived because Grandpa backed it up off-site.
The footage showed a loading truck entering the restricted yard hours before the fire.
Daniel Price was visible beside the gate.
A second figure stood in shadow.
The camera was too distant to identify that person.
More alarming were the transaction records.
Money had moved through Carter Tidewater Holdings into companies related to Harbor Crest.
Grandpa had repeatedly demanded an explanation.
His final letter to a regulator stated that he feared his son Robert was being blackmailed over unauthorized storage and concealed payments.
The letter was dated four days before his fatal stroke.
I sat down heavily on an overturned bucket.
For twelve years I'd believed Dad hated me because I'd joined the Navy.
Now I wondered whether he had kept me away because he feared I would notice what Grandpa had discovered.
Rebecca studied an old payment instruction.
"This is more than an inheritance fight."
"I know."
She shook her head.
"No, look at the dates."
A large transfer had occurred after Grandpa died, when Dad no longer possessed valid authority to sign for the trust.
The beneficiary line identified me.
The authorization was signed in my name.
And the destination was an account opened while I was recovering from surgery overseas.
May you like
Someone had used me as a paper shield for transactions I never knew existed.
