Page 26 of Sins of the Fathers

At first, he didn’t think much of it, but then he realized that it was out of place. It was open, and he could see documents poking from it, but they weren’t rotten like they should’ve been if they’d been in the basement for the past twenty years. The box was metal, and it seemed to have protected the documents until Kester had opened it.

Archie quickly went to the table, sneezing again when he reached it. He didn’t stop to see what it was. He placed the cover on top of the box, grabbed it, and hurried toward the stairs. He didn’t think he’d find anything else here, but maybe it would be worth it to come back with Jasper. In the meantime, he had something for Jasper that Jasper would be eager to have, even though Archie had no idea what these documents contained. Even if they were just grocery lists, they were a piece of Jasper’s past, and Archie knew that Jasper would be happy to see them.

* * * *

JASPER HADN’T EXPECTED someone to knock on the door of his apartment at six in the morning. He was already awake, but he was the only one, and he dragged himself to the front door. He checked the peephole, frowning when it revealed Archie, holding what looked like a metal box.

Jasper opened the door. “What happened to you? You look like you haven’t slept,” he told Archie.

Archie shook his head. “Only a few hours.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

Archie raised the box and hurried toward the kitchen. Jasper closed the door and followed him, curious. Whatever was in the box was clearly important. He didn’t know what it was or where Archie had found it, but he suspected he was about to find out.

Archie carefully set the box on the kitchen table, then took a step back and stared at it. Jasper did the same, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. “So, what’s this?” he asked.

“I was ready to go home last night after working late when I got a phone call from one of my informants. He told me that Kester was at the sanctuary.”

That definitely wasn’t what Jasper had expected. “Why? What was he doing there?”

Archie tilted his chin towards the box. “Retrieving something from that box. Don’t worry, I waited until he wasn’t around anymore to go and get it. I didn’t know what to expect, but he seems to know that there was a basement that no one has accessed in twenty years. It was full of rotted food, but that wasn’t why Kester was there. He took something from this box, then left it open there. I grabbed the whole thing.”

Jasper’s hands shook slightly as he reached for it. He opened the box, wrinkling his nose at the dust, and smiling when Archie sneezed. Archie scowled at the box but didn’t say or do anything. He was waiting for Jasper to make the next move, and Jasper was scared.

He didn’t know what he would find in the box. He didn’t know what he wanted to find in the box. Still, they couldn’t just stay there and stare at the thing, so he reached in and pulled the first document out. It took him a second to realize what he was reading. When he did, he put the document down, then grabbed another from the box. “These look like reports,” he said. “On the hunters. Someone was keeping track of their operations in the city in detail, including what hunters were up to when it came to monsters.”

“What do you mean?” Archie said, reaching for another document.

“Look for yourself. These reports clearly weren’t written by the hunters. They’re explicit when it comes to what the hunters did to the monsters they arrested or, worse, killed. It makes it clear that they’re doing this because they hate monsters, not because it’s the right thing to do.” Jasper raised the piece of paper he had in his hand. “Look at this. They savagely beat an elderly monster just because he told them to leave the kids alone. I’m sure that if I were to try and find this report in the hunters’ archives, it would have an entirely different description.”

Archie was digging through the documents. “And it looks like there were plenty of cases to find. Hell, it looks like whoever wrote all of this was building a case against the hunters. Imagine what they could’ve done if they’d gone public with this.”

Jasper stared down at the document he was holding. He recognized some of the names, including a man who was very high in the organization, higher than even Leroy. This was one of the men who made the decisions. Twenty years ago, though, he’d been a hunter, and from the looks of it, he’d been one of the worst. Now, he was in charge of the hunters, and he was guiding them.

“Daniel is in one of these files,” Archie suddenly said, getting Jasper’s attention. “And Ben?”

“Yeah. I found the name of the hunter who was also killed, which isn’t a surprise considering he was still a hunter. I bet that I’ll find the third victim in there, too.”

“Could this be the reason the sanctuary was destroyed? Maybe someone knew what whoever compiled these documents was doing and tried to destroy them? Why weren’t they destroyed?”

Archie was frowning. “When I reached the spot where Kester was digging, I found a piece of wood next to the stairs he’d uncovered. From the looks of it, that piece of wood had fallen on the stairs, maybe in the fire, and had hidden them. I think that maybe whoever set the place on fire thought they’d destroyed all of this, but the person who compiled them was smarter.”

“They hid them in the basement.”

“They did. It makes me wonder how Kester knew about this and what he took from the box.”

Jasper was curious about that, too, but it wasn’t the only thing he was curious about. He needed to talk to Leroy more than ever. For now, he hadn’t found Leroy’s name anywhere in this, but it might be there. Even if it wasn’t, Leroy had to know some things about the incidents that were reported in these documents. He might not want to talk to Jasper about it, but that didn’t mean Jasper wasn’t going to try.

“I’m going to look into the survivors again,” Archie said. “I’m surprised that all of this was still in the basement. It makes me wonder where the killer is finding the names of the people they’re killing.”

“Maybe they knew the person who was compiling these documents.” And if they did, they’d know more about Leroy and Jasper’s biological parents.

Chapter Ten

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JASPER COULDN’T SAY he wanted to see Leroy. In fact, he wished he’d never had to see him again. Unfortunately for him, he was pretty sure that his father had all the answers to all the questions he was asking himself. Whether or not Leroy would give him those answers was anyone’s guess, but if Jasper had to take a bet, he’d go for no. Leroy wasn’t going to make this easy on him. He’d never been the kind of person who made things easy on anyone, but especially not for Jasper.