TESSA VANCE: "You could have told me that the delivery was connected to the inquiry."
WALTER HAYES: "And what would that have changed?"
Tessa did not answer.
Walter looked toward the door.
WALTER HAYES: "I wanted you to receive the evidence without anyone questioning whether it had been handled properly."
TESSA VANCE: "You could have been seriously hurt."
WALTER HAYES: "I was doing what I promised."
TESSA VANCE: "Dad, a promise should never require you to put yourself in danger."
Walter looked at her.
WALTER HAYES: "Sometimes keeping a promise is the only thing a person has left."
Tessa lowered her eyes.
She knew that sentence had come from somewhere deep in his past.
For years, Walter had carried memories that he rarely discussed. Some were painful, others complicated, and a few were tied to people whose names had disappeared from official records.
The North Atlantic incident was one of those memories.
Tessa had been a young officer when the original investigation began. She remembered her father returning home from a meeting with naval officials, placing his cap on the table, and sitting in silence for nearly an hour.
When she asked what had happened, he told her that some questions took time to answer.
She had never forgotten it.
Now the answers might finally be within reach.
TESSA VANCE: "Did you know Captain Rowan personally?"
Walter looked at her.
WALTER HAYES: "Yes."
TESSA VANCE: "How well?"
WALTER HAYES: "Well enough to know he wouldn't have sent that envelope unless he believed it was time."
TESSA VANCE: "The official record says he died."
Walter looked down.
WALTER HAYES: "The official record says many things."
Tessa leaned forward.
TESSA VANCE: "Do you believe he's alive?"
Walter took a long breath.
WALTER HAYES: "I believe someone who was supposed to be forgotten has finally decided to speak."
Tessa stared at him.
That answer did not confirm anything, but it told her more than she had expected.
WALTER HAYES: "You need to be careful with what you find."
TESSA VANCE: "I will."
WALTER HAYES: "And don't assume everyone who asks questions wants the truth."
Tessa thought about Mercer.
Then she remembered the access logs.
TESSA VANCE: "I think someone knew this envelope was coming."
Walter slowly nodded.
WALTER HAYES: "Then you should find out who."
Outside the room, Commander Hale approached with a new report.
He knocked lightly before entering.
COMMANDER HALE: "Commander Vance, we have an update."
Tessa stood.
TESSA VANCE: "What is it?"
Hale handed her the tablet.
COMMANDER HALE: "The access logs show that Officer Mercer opened your father's authorization record before the confrontation. But there is something else."
Tessa examined the screen.
COMMANDER HALE: "Someone accessed the same record from a terminal outside the security division approximately forty minutes earlier."
TESSA VANCE: "Who?"
COMMANDER HALE: "The terminal belongs to the administrative records office."
Tessa looked up.
TESSA VANCE: "Do we have a name?"
Hale hesitated.
COMMANDER HALE: "The account was registered to a senior administrative officer."
Walter looked toward them.
WALTER HAYES: "Who?"
Hale checked the screen.
COMMANDER HALE: "Deputy Director Robert Ellison."
Tessa's expression changed.
She knew the name.
Robert Ellison had been involved in the original administrative review of the North Atlantic incident. He had signed several of the documents that closed the inquiry, and his name appeared on the final report.
Tessa slowly lowered the tablet.
TESSA VANCE: "That's impossible."
COMMANDER HALE: "Why?"
TESSA VANCE: "Because Ellison retired three years ago."
Hale looked at the access record again.
COMMANDER HALE: "Then someone may be using his credentials."
Walter remained silent.
He looked at the photograph inside his leather folder, remembering the men who had stood beside him on that ship.
He had waited many years for the truth to surface.
Now it was finally moving.
But the first person who had tried to stop it was not a stranger in the hallway.
It was someone connected to the very investigation the envelope was meant to reopen.
Tessa turned toward her father.
TESSA VANCE: "Dad, I need you to tell me everything you remember about that night."
Walter looked at her.
WALTER HAYES: "Not here."
COMMANDER HALE: "We can arrange a secure room."
Walter shook his head.
WALTER HAYES: "Not yet."
Tessa frowned.
TESSA VANCE: "Why?"
Walter looked at the tablet.
WALTER HAYES: "Because if someone accessed my authorization before I arrived, then someone knew exactly where I would be."
He paused.
WALTER HAYES: "And if they knew where I would be, they may also know what I was carrying."
Hale exchanged a glance with Tessa.
The commander immediately reached for his radio.
COMMANDER HALE: "Security control, this is Commander Hale. I need an immediate review of all access to the eastern corridor and the medical unit. Identify anyone who entered or left this floor during the past hour."
A voice responded through the radio.
SECURITY CONTROL: "Understood, Commander."
Hale turned back.
COMMANDER HALE: "Mr. Hayes, we should move you to a secure location."
Walter looked at Tessa.
She nodded.
TESSA VANCE: "We'll go together."
Walter slowly stood.
But just as the nurse began gathering his medical documents, a security officer appeared at the doorway.
SECURITY OFFICER: "Commander Hale, we have a problem."
Hale turned.
COMMANDER HALE: "What happened?"