Maya stood beside the kitchen doorway while Nora approached the entrance. Jordan remained near the window, glancing down at the street. Another series of knocks echoed through the apartment, exactly matching the first.
Nora looked through the peephole.
Then she released a breath.
"It's Samuel."
She opened the door.
A tall man in his late sixties entered carrying a weathered canvas satchel. His left hand was missing two fingers, and a narrow scar crossed his chin. He glanced at Maya, then stopped.
"Evelyn?"
Maya shook her head.
"I'm her daughter."
Samuel Price closed his eyes.
"Of course. You look so much like her."
He'd been the factory's maintenance supervisor, responsible for keeping aging machinery operational long after management stopped investing in repairs. Evelyn trusted him because he knew which equipment had been removed, when it disappeared, and who authorized the transfers.
Samuel sat at Nora's table and placed the satchel between them.
"I heard Thomas was found."
Maya nodded.
"He's in the hospital."
Samuel rubbed his forehead.
"I told him not to come back alone."
"What happened to him?" Jordan asked.
Samuel looked toward Nora.
She nodded reluctantly.
After the factory closed, Thomas attempted to challenge the acquisition through civil proceedings. He spent years fighting over records, ownership claims, and allegedly improper transactions. Legal fees consumed his savings, and his marriage ended under the strain. Eventually, he lost his home.
"He disappeared for a while," Samuel explained. "I thought he'd gone to live with relatives."
"Why was he homeless?"
"Because sometimes losing a lawsuit costs more than money."
Maya thought about Thomas refusing to take the sandwich at first, embarrassed by his hunger.
Then Samuel removed a photograph from his satchel.
It showed the factory floor before its closure: rows of sewing machines, overhead pipes, steel support columns, and workers gathered beneath fluorescent lights.
"Evelyn told us to hide copies of the records inside the building," he explained.
"Where?"
"Behind a maintenance access panel beneath the old boiler room."
Maya remembered her mother's note.
Where the machines cannot reach.
Samuel continued.
"The building is scheduled for demolition next month."
Nora stared at him.
"That's why Thomas came back."
He nodded.
"If the building goes, the evidence may disappear forever."
Maya felt a rush of anger.
"Then we need to retrieve it."
Samuel shook his head.
"The property belongs to Harlan Properties. We can't simply enter."
"Can we get permission?"
"We can try."
Jordan leaned forward.
"What if they refuse?"
Samuel looked toward the photograph.
"Then we need a court order."
Maya thought about the development notices recently posted outside her apartment.
Harlan Properties was planning a large redevelopment project.
The same company that controlled the abandoned factory now wanted to demolish the homes of families who'd worked there.
And suddenly, her mother's secret seemed far bigger than one lost business.