Gideon looked toward Elena.
“Don't speak to him alone.”
She nodded.
Then turned toward Rose.
“Did he go into the storeroom?”
Rose looked surprised.
“No.”
“Did he ask about the accounts?”
The assistant hesitated.
“He asked whether Aunt Lydia's old records were still here.”
Gideon became motionless.
Elena felt cold.
“What did you tell him?”
“That I didn't know.”
Elena nodded.
“Good.”
Rose looked frightened.
“Why?”
Elena took a breath.
“Because I think someone wants records Aunt Lydia kept a long time ago.”
She glanced toward Gideon.
“And we're going to find them before anybody else does.”
The storeroom occupied the back of the bakery.
It was crowded with flour sacks, shelves, wooden crates, baking supplies, and several old cabinets inherited from Lydia.
Elena knew most of its contents.
But she hadn't examined every box in the upper storage area.
Her aunt had kept paperwork for decades.
Receipts tied with string.
Ledgers.
Letters.
And handwritten recipe books.
Some were organized.
Others weren't.
Gideon helped move the heavier boxes from the shelves while Elena sorted and examined the records from a sturdy table.
Rose assisted with labeling.
The three worked for hours.
At first, they found little.
Routine purchase receipts.
Invoices from flour merchants.
Accounts for sugar, salt, and dried fruit.
Then Elena discovered an old ledger from the winter Matthew disappeared.
The cover was faded blue.
Inside were entries written in Lydia's neat handwriting.
Gideon approached.
“Anything?”
Elena studied the page.
“Maybe.”
She pointed toward a series of unusual transactions.
Most bakery purchases were small.
Flour.
Butter.
Eggs.
Wood.
But during the blizzard year, Lydia had recorded several deliveries of bread and preserved food to a remote freight station.
The quantities were enormous.
Far more than a handful of freight workers would have needed.
Gideon leaned closer.
“Crow's Landing.”
Elena nodded.
The same place marked on Matthew's map.
She turned another page.
The shipments continued for six weeks after the search for Matthew ended.
Gideon's expression changed.
“That depot was supposed to be closed.”
Elena looked toward him.
“When?”
“Before the storm.”
She stared at the records.
Then calculated the total quantities.
The figures suggested a substantial number of people had been supplied through that location.
Not merely two or three workers.
Gideon looked toward the delivery signatures.
One name appeared repeatedly.
M. Voss.
Martin Voss.
Rusk's clerk.
Elena felt her pulse quicken.