Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 359

The call from Channing Road Storage Depot came in at nine o'clock the following morning.

Wren had just dropped Leo off at school and was standing outside the gates replying to Mr. Lawson's texts. When an unknown number popped up, she glanced at it and answered.

"Is this Ms. Whitaker? This is the management office at Channing Road Storage Depot." The voice on the other end was polite, though the courtesy felt a bit forced. "The lease documents for Unit 3 have been verified. If it's convenient for you, you can come down and take a look this afternoon."

Wren's grip on her phone tightened slightly.

"What time?"

"Between two and four."

"I'll be bringing my lawyer."

There was a half-second pause on the other end.

"That's fine."

After ending the call, Wren stood frozen in place, making no move toward her car.

Upbeat morning exercise music blasted from the school's loudspeakers, the distant chatter of children spilling out through the iron gates. She looked down at her screen; Mr. Lawson had already replied.

*I'll accompany you. We'll record the entire process. Do not touch any items at the scene directly; we need to photograph everything for evidence first.*

Phoebe chimed in just as quickly.

*I'm coming too. I'll meet you downstairs at Stellaris at 1:30.*

Wren replied with a simple *Okay*.

She looked up at the bleak, gray sky.

That stubborn door at Channing Road was finally willing to open.

Yet, she didn't feel an ounce of relief.

When a door that had been sealed off for so long finally opened on its own, it usually meant someone had already slipped inside and out.

At ten minutes to two, the trio arrived at the storage depot.

The security guard at the entrance had been swapped out. The man in the frayed uniform from their last visit was gone; today, they were greeted by Manager Morrison, a man in his forties with deep crow's feet framing his eyes whenever he smiled.

Manager Morrison jingled a set of keys, two staff members trailing behind him.

"Our system genuinely glitched the other day. I apologize for making you all waste a trip." He spoke with practiced smoothness. "It's an old facility with outdated records, so verifying everything took some time."

Phoebe clutched her laptop bag, staring at him with a glacial expression.

"And this system glitch just so happened to target Unit 3 specifically?"

Manager Morrison's smile froze for a fraction of a second before he plastered it back on. "You're joking, Ms. Price."

Unit 3 was located in the furthest row.

The pavement throughout the depot was cratered and uneven, with murky rainwater pooling in the cracks and reflecting the rusted corrugated roofs overhead. The deeper they went, the heavier the stench of mildew became. Most of the doors flanking them bore faded numbers, their padlocks blackened with rust.

Yet, the area in front of Unit 3 was conspicuously spotless.

And the lock was brand new.

The pristine silver metal gleamed glaringly against the grimy, battered door.

Phoebe stopped in her tracks and let out a harsh laugh.

"Manager Morrison, you certainly are selective about your maintenance."

Manager Morrison's expression soured further. "We did a bulk replacement of locks recently."

"And the replacement log?" Mr. Lawson demanded.

Manager Morrison didn't answer.

Wren stepped up to the door and stared down at the lock.

There was zero dust around the keyhole, and a faint drag mark scarred the floor just beneath the gap in the door, as if something heavy had been hauled away recently. She crouched down, making sure not to touch the metal, and snapped a few photos of the ground with her phone.