Adventure of Dallas Fontaine 2

Dallas and Elena freeze in the stairwell shadow, the loading bay spread below them like a concrete trap. Two museum staffers wheel a heavy unmarked crate toward the freight elevator, exactly where the evidence tag says the paper trail leads.

Murderbone stiffens at Dallas’s side, ears up, watching the staffers and the elevator doors. The crate rolls over a stain of damp earth, and the bay hums with the clean, dead sound of money hiding in plain sight.

Dallas reads the room in a glance, the crate, the stamps on the staff badges, the way they keep checking the bay entrance instead of the hall. Elena shifts beside him, hand near her concealed pistol, waiting for his move.

The elevator light snaps on, and the staffers stop short. Dallas has the corridor, the crate, and the witnesses in one frame now. The corruption is no longer buried in files, it is moving on wheels.

Dallas lifts two fingers, then cuts them toward the elevator. Murderbone moves at once, slipping low along the crate line. Dallas steps out of the stairwell shadow and levels his revolver at the doors. "

The Taller Staffer jolts and lets go of the handle. The Shorter Staffer freezes with one hand on the call panel, eyes wide at Dallas and the dog sliding into flank.

Elena stays at Dallas’s shoulder, watching the elevator seam while Murderbone plants himself between the staffers and the open bay. The freight light glows over the crate’s fresh museum tag, now fully exposed.

One of the badges on the taller man swings open, and Dallas catches the stamped route inside. It matches the backfilled entries from Desk Nine, same hand, same paper trail.

The elevator doors shudder as they begin to part, revealing a lit service car already waiting. The crate is in Dallas’s reach now, and the route slip tells him exactly where it was meant to go.