Jackson yanks the gray coat back. The woman from the records office is finally exposed, standing at the center of the private slip with nowhere left to hide.
Dallas sees the same face that kept the files clean and the names disappearing. The brass key tag lies between them on the wet deck like evidence that never learned how to lie.
Clara
So this is it. No coat. No cover. He knows.
Her eyes flick to the tag, then back to Dallas. Fear tightens her shoulders, but her chin stays hard, defiant right up to the edge of panic.
Clara
You think I was the one running this? I was just cleaning up what Bell ordered.
Jackson holds her by the arm, breathing fast, while Murderbone plants himself between the deck and the cabin door. The flashlight rolls to a stop, throwing shaky light over the boat and the boxed-in liar.
Dallas Fontaine
The clerk is the missing piece. Not the hand on the gun, the hand on the records.
“I press Clara for Bell's name”
SUCCESS (Legendary Interrogation, rolled +2)
Dallas lets the silence stretch, then names Bell like a verdict. Clara flinches before she can stop herself.
Dallas Fontaine
Bell. Say it plain.
Clara
Jonas Bell. He liked clean hands and dirty work done off the books.
Jackson tightens his grip, eyes fixed on her face, not the water. The rolling flashlight jitters over her shoes and the brass tag.
Clara
I moved envelopes, erased intake stamps, and rerouted names. Bell told me which files had to vanish, then Carter Vale made sure they stayed gone.
Dallas watches her swallow hard. The fear is still there, but the lie is not.
Clara
He used the records room because nobody looks twice at a clerk. That was the whole trick.
Jackson exhales through his teeth, half relief and half disgust, while Murderbone holds steady at the cabin door. Clara’s gaze drops to the deck, then lifts again, almost pleading.
Clara
If you want the rest, ask me about who Bell met here at the slip. I can tell you.
Learn who Bell met at the private slip
Quest Complete
Expose the cleaner at the records office
New Gift: Bureaucratic Saboteur