Chapter 13 - The Room Without Windows
Evelyn directed Nora to an abandoned agricultural office twelve miles outside town.
The building stood behind a rusted fence surrounded by empty fields. Most of its windows had been boarded over, but the iron key unlocked a side entrance.
Inside, dust covered the floor.
Nora and Evelyn followed a narrow hallway to a steel door without a handle. The key fit into a hidden lock beneath the frame.
The room beyond had no windows.
Metal cabinets lined the walls. Maps, photographs, soil reports, and copies of property records covered a large table.
At the center sat a laptop protected by a password screen.
Nora noticed a yellow note beside it.
What Lily called the moon.
When Lily had been learning to speak, she could not pronounce the word moon. She had called it “Momo.”
Nora typed the word.
The laptop opened.
A video file appeared on the desktop.
Ethan filled the screen.
He looked tired but healthy. The recording had been made only days before his death.
“Nora, I hope you never have to see this.”
She covered her mouth.
Ethan explained that Meridian Crown had discovered a rare underground water source beneath the former Hayes farm. The company wanted to control it and sell water rights to several planned communities.
The water source was worth far more than the houses Meridian intended to build.
Mason had secretly supplied the company with old family documents. In exchange, he had been promised a percentage of the project.
But the final ownership certificate remained inside Ethan and Nora’s home.
Without it, Meridian had no lawful access.
“I hid it where Mason would never look,” Ethan said. “Inside something he believes is worthless.”
The video ended.
Nora searched the room, but the certificate was not there.
Evelyn looked at Ethan’s frozen face on the screen.
“What did Mason consider worthless?”
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Nora immediately knew the answer.
“Everything that belonged to my daughter.”
