A Broke Waitress Inherited a $6 Train Depot — 12 Sealed Mail Cars Waited Behind the Wall
Chapter 7
Mara couldn’t breathe.
Her grandfather had not simply died of old age.
Someone had marked him as a problem.
Eli called the county sheriff.
The response was immediate.
Too immediate.
An hour later, Sheriff Cole arrived at the depot.
He asked to see the ledger.
Mara refused.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know who I can trust.”
The sheriff smiled.
“Good instinct.”
He looked at the old cars.
“You should leave this alone.”
“Why?”
“Because people disappeared over this.”
Mara stared.
“You knew?”
“I knew rumors.”
“Then why didn’t anyone investigate?”
The sheriff looked toward the floor.
“Because the people involved had money.”
Mara felt anger rising.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
He walked toward the tunnel entrance.
“Listen to me. Sell the depot.”
“No.”
“You can make a fortune.”
“I don’t want a fortune.”
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
The sheriff sighed.
“Truth won’t bring your grandfather back.”
“No.”
Mara held the ledger tightly.
“But it might stop it from happening again.”
The sheriff looked at her for a long moment.
Then he whispered:
“Your grandfather said the same thing.”
Mara froze.
“You knew him.”
“I did.”
“Did you help him?”
The sheriff looked away.
“Not enough.”
That night, he returned alone.
He brought another box.
Inside were police reports that had never been filed.
Names.
Missing persons.
Unsolved property disputes.
And a photograph of Samuel Ellis standing beside Sheriff Cole twenty years earlier.
The truth was becoming clearer.
The town had known.
Many people had known.
But fear had kept everyone silent.
