Chapter 6 - CLARA FINCH
Clara was thirty-four.
Thin.
Watchful.
Terrified of Charles Vale.
She agreed to speak only after Sheriff Beck promised protection.
Her story changed everything.
Charles had sailed aboard Morning Star.
Secretly.
Ambrose confronted him about selling research.
The argument turned violent.
Not murder.
At first.
Charles demanded the ledger.
Ambrose refused.
That night, a storm hit.
During the chaos, Charles and two hired men attempted to take control of the ship.
Captain Dunn resisted.
A fight broke out.
Someone damaged the steering linkage.
Morning Star drifted toward rocks.
Clara escaped in a maintenance skiff with one deckhand.
They were separated in the storm.
She survived.
Never found him.
Why did she disappear?
Because Charles found her first.
He offered money.
Then threatened her.
She fled.
Changed her name.
Never went back.
“What happened to Ambrose?” Eliza asked.
Clara began crying.
“I don’t know.”
“Was he alive when you left?”
“Yes.”
“Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did the ship come back empty?”
Clara shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The mystery deepened.
Charles could have abandoned ship later.
Ambrose could have survived somewhere.
Or died at sea.
But the scientific cargo remained untouched.
Why?
Clara answered that too.
“Charles never found the hidden compartment.”
Eliza smiled faintly.
May you like
For the first time, buying the wreck for seventy-five dollars felt less like luck.
It felt like Ambrose had designed the ship to keep his secret from the wrong person.
