Chapter 4 - Descent into the Blue
Waiting in the suite felt like sitting in a coffin. Sarah couldn't just wait for James to arrive, nor could she trust Detective Raynor, who seemed too eager to accept Michael's high-priced lawyers' excuses. She needed proof. She needed to know how Michael had gotten Chloe into the tank.
She checked on the kids. They were sleeping soundly, exhausted by the day's trauma. She locked the heavy mahogany door of the bedroom and slipped out of the suite, trading her heavy satin dress for a pair of dark jeans, a black sweater, and quiet sneakers.
The resort was eerily quiet, the corridors patrolled by sparse security. Sarah knew the layout; Michael had proudly given her a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium's infrastructure months ago. She slipped past the yellow police tape in the grand hall and found the service elevator hidden behind the caterer's prep kitchen.
She pressed the button for Sub-Level 2. The Maintenance Deck.
The elevator descended with a low mechanical groan. When the doors opened, she was hit by the smell of ozone, saltwater, and damp concrete. Massive PVC pipes pulsed with thousands of gallons of water above her head. The only illumination came from the eerie blue light bleeding through the maintenance windows of the main tank.
Sarah crept along the metal catwalk. She was looking for the feeding lock—the only entry point large enough to drop a human body into the main display without draining the water.
May you like
As she rounded a corner toward the filtration room, her foot caught on something. She looked down. It was a silver sequin. Then another. A trail of them leading toward a heavy steel door marked Authorized Personnel Only.
She pushed the door open. It wasn't a maintenance closet. It was a makeshift apartment. And the walls were completely covered in photographs.
