Chapter 15 - A Deal With the DevilMarcus was not going back to the mountain to climb.
Claire knew that immediately.
“He bought rope because he needs access somewhere.”
Medina asked, “What kind?”
“Dynamic climbing rope. Sixty meters.”
“Could be misdirection.”
“Could be.”
Ethan looked at the map.
The purchase occurred in Boulder.
The storage unit containing Victor’s ledger was in Denver.
Marcus could go anywhere.
Then Claire remembered the Blake Meridian property files.
“Does your company own any mountain infrastructure?”
Ethan laughed once.
“We own half the state.”
“Old mines? Towers? Remote construction sites?”
Helen answered.
“Northstar.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Northstar Development’s original project was a hydroelectric survey corridor near Independence Pass.”
“Still owned?”
“Partially.”
Claire pulled up satellite imagery.
An old maintenance access tunnel cut into a steep rock face above a decommissioned service road.
“Rope would help reach that.”
Medina frowned.
“Why would he go there?”
Ethan looked at the ledger.
“Because Northstar started there.”
The answer was waiting in Victor’s records.
In 2014, Blake Meridian had partnered with county officials and private developers on an ambitious mountain infrastructure project.
The plan died after environmental opposition.
Northstar Development Advisory handled political strategy.
Marcus had been a junior consultant.
Nia was the Blake executive assigned to the project.
That was where they first met.
Claire zoomed the map.
“There are old survey vaults.”
“What are those?”
“Locked equipment rooms cut into the mountain. They stored geological samples, plans, sometimes physical records.”
Ethan looked at Helen.
“Did Dad use one?”
“I don’t know.”
Nia did.
When Medina questioned her again, she went pale at the photograph.
“I forgot.”
“What?”
“There was a vault.”
“Did Marcus know?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“Dad kept duplicate Northstar records there because environmental protesters had broken into the Denver office.”
“Still there?”
“I thought everything was removed.”
“Thought?”
Nia closed her eyes.
“Marcus once told me Victor kept originals because he trusted paper more than servers.”
“What originals?”
“Contracts. Consultant invoices.”
“The real ledger?”
“Maybe.”
Medina stared.
“You told us Marcus had the ledger.”
“He had one.”
“One?”
Nia looked toward Ethan.
“Dad kept two accounting systems during Northstar.”
Helen swore under her breath.
“One for corporate accounting?”
“Yes.”
“And one private?”
Nia nodded.
“What was in the second?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“No.”
The word stopped Medina.
Nia continued.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything I say.”
Ethan watched his sister.
She looked smaller than she had on the mountain.
“But Marcus believed the private records could destroy Dad.”
“Why?” Ethan asked.
“Because some payments were real.”
“Bribes?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I never saw proof.”
Nia’s voice rose for the first time.
“I believed Marcus when belief made me angry. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Silence.
She looked at Medina.
“If he’s going to the vault, he’s not going to destroy everything.”
“What will he do?”
“Take whatever gives him leverage.”
Against prosecutors.
Against Blake Meridian.
Against Ethan.
Against Nia.
Medina organized a search team.
Ethan was told to remain in Denver.
He ignored the instruction.
Claire did not.
“You are not coming.”
“It’s my property.”
“It’s an active fugitive search.”
“It’s my family.”
“That argument has nearly killed you once.”
Ethan glared.
Claire continued.
“You don’t get points for walking into danger because guilt makes you feel useful.”
That silenced him.
“You think I feel guilty?”
“I think you believe if you had noticed Nia’s resentment earlier, none of this would have happened.”
Ethan looked away.
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
Claire softened slightly.
“You didn’t cut the rope.”
He laughed bitterly.
“I didn’t create the family either.”
“No.”
“Dad did.”
“Your father created damage. Nia made choices. Marcus exploited them. Those statements can exist together.”
Ethan stared at the mountains visible beyond the windows.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Stay alive long enough to decide.”
The search team reached the Northstar site after dark.
The access tunnel had been opened.
A rope descended from the service road.
Marcus had arrived first.
Inside the vault, shelves had been emptied.
Burned paper lay inside a metal drum.
But one cabinet remained locked.
Medina’s team forced it open.
Inside were old environmental reports.
Consulting agreements.
Photographs.
And a sealed envelope addressed to Nia.
Victor’s handwriting again.
Ethan received the call shortly before midnight.
Helen read the first line over speakerphone.
Nia, if Marcus ever brings you back to this place, it means I failed to tell you the truth while there was still time.
Ethan closed his eyes.
Victor had predicted the place.
The man.
Even the failure.
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But Marcus was gone.
And he had taken whatever document Victor most desperately wanted Nia to see.
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