The Rusty Anchor’s dim lights flickered as the mechanical click outside—a trigger, unmistakable—cut through the rain-soaked silence, sending Lena Hart—Eleanor Whitmore—into high alert. The bloodied young man’s warning—Grayson’s men hit our lookout post—still echoed, and the roar of approaching engines confirmed the trap.

Lena’s hand tightened on the key to locker 47, her father’s inscription—where the river meets the sea—a steady pulse against the chaos. The ...