The wooden basement door was propped open with a broken brick, just as Daniel had promised.

I slipped through the opening and descended the creaking wooden steps into the dark.

A single, bare lightbulb hung from a frayed wire in the center of the damp room, casting harsh shadows.

The air smelled of wet earth, old coal dust, and decaying cardboard boxes.

Daniel was standing near a rusted steel filing cabinet in the corner, his tie loosened and his glasses sliding down his nose.

He turned quickly when he heard my footsteps on the concrete floor, his eyes wide with relief.

“You made it,” Daniel whispered, his voice muffled by the low ceiling.

“Gavin was at the restaurant,” I said, wiping cold sweat from my forehead. “He’s destroying the office.”

Daniel pointed to the steel cabinet, which had been pulled away from the stone wall.

“He’s looking in the wrong place,” Daniel said. “Look what I found behind the loose brick in the coal chute.”

He held out a thick stack of blue-bound documents, tied together with a faded red ribbon.