Chapter 71: Ash

"Ash," Victor repeated.

The name hung in the communications room long after Nathaniel's recording ended.

Arthur broke the silence first.

"That was Elias' nickname?"

Victor nodded slowly.

"Only our family called him that."

"He hated Elias."

"Said it sounded too formal."

"If Nathaniel believed he still remembered Ash..."

"Then part of his childhood survived."

I looked at the silent tape recorder.

"Nathaniel never wasted words."

"If he warned us not to rush in..."

"There's a trap waiting."

"Agreed," Damien said.

"We stop reacting."

"From now on, we make them react to us."

Arthur returned to the old switchboard.

"This room wasn't only for phone calls."

"Look at these frequencies."

Dust covered most of the equipment.

Except one receiver.

Someone had used it recently.

"Can it still work?" Victor asked.

"Let's find out."

Arthur restored power to the console.

The ancient speakers crackled.

Static filled the room.

Then fragments of voices emerged.

"...transfer confirmed..."

"...Platform Seven..."

"...asset moving at twenty-two hundred hours..."

The signal disappeared.

"Did you record that?" Damien asked.

"Already saved," Arthur replied.

"Whoever transmitted it is using analogue frequencies."

"Practically invisible today."

Margaret entered the communications room carrying another folder.

"I searched the chapel."

"Found this hidden beneath a pew."

She handed Victor a worn leather notebook.

It wasn't Nathaniel's handwriting.

"Richard," Victor said.

The first page read:

"If you're reading this, you've discovered the emergency network."

"Every hidden room inside Ashford Manor connects here."

"Never destroy it."

"One day someone honest may need it."

Victor turned another page.

A hand-drawn railway map covered the paper.

Several stations were crossed out.

One remained circled in red ink.

"East River Terminal," Arthur said.

"Richard knew about it."

"Not only knew," I whispered.

"He marked it as important."

Beside the station, Richard had written four words.

"Where they become ghosts."

Rose frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"Identity replacement," Margaret answered quietly.

"People disappear there."

"New documents."

"New names."

"New lives."

"Or new prisons," Victor added.

Arthur zoomed in on the map.

"Wait."

"There's another marking beneath the station."

He adjusted the image.

Hidden beneath faded ink was a date.

Tomorrow.

"That's why the email gave us forty-eight hours," Damien realised.

"They're moving someone tomorrow night."

"Probably Elias," Victor said.

"Or someone they want us to believe is Elias," I replied.

Victor looked at me.

"Nathaniel warned us."

"Find the destination before the prisoner."

"Exactly."

Arthur's laptop chimed again.

"I've finished analysing the railway photograph."

"And?"

"The reflection behind Elias wasn't accidental."

"Someone left it there deliberately."

"Look."

He enlarged the train window.

The reflection showed a timetable board.

Most of the letters were blurred.

One destination remained readable.

"Blackridge."

"Blackridge isn't on public routes anymore," Margaret said.

"It was closed twelve years ago."

"Officially," Arthur replied.

"Unofficially... freight trains still stop there."

Victor smiled for the first time all day.

"Nathaniel."

"Even after death, you're still leaving breadcrumbs."

The manor suddenly shook.

A loud explosion echoed from the eastern gardens.

Rose gasped.

"The greenhouse!"

Arthur pulled up the security cameras.

Smoke poured into the sky.

"Someone planted explosives," he said.

"No casualties," Damien confirmed after checking another feed.

"It was a distraction."

"For what?" I asked.

Arthur's expression changed instantly.

"The archive room."

"Camera signal just disappeared."

Victor sprinted upstairs.

The others followed.

The archive door hung open.

Nothing appeared disturbed.

Until I reached Richard's desk.

The leather binder was still there.

So was the journal.

But the velvet pouch lay empty.

"The signet ring," I whispered.

"It's gone."

Arthur inspected the lock.

"Professional entry."

"Less than three minutes."

"They came for one thing only."

Victor looked around the room.

"No."

"Two things."

He pointed towards the cassette recorder.

Nathaniel's tape was missing too.

In its place lay a single folded card.

I opened it carefully.

Only one sentence was written in elegant blue ink.

"Bring Ash to Blackridge..."

"Or you'll never learn who taught Raven to recruit children."