Chapter 17 — A Promise At The Cable Car Station

Cabin number 17 is locked at the maintenance platform, the door is open for the technical team to check. Duy did not let anyone climb onto the roof before cutting off the power. He set up a safety zone with yellow wire and asked Tu to call the person in charge of the equipment.

“If the camera was up there, when did Ms. Hanh hide it?” Linh asked.

“Sixteen years,” Tu replied.

“Can a film camera withstand the rain?”

“If it's in a sealed box.”

Mai stood under the cabin, looking up. "Ms. Hanh used to work at the station below. She knows the places that other people don't see."

“Why didn't she hand over the photos from the beginning?” Duy asked.

“Because I'm afraid of the person in the photo.”

Duy pulled the seat belt and climbed up the technical step. Linh followed behind, keeping her distance. The cabin surface is wet, the metal is slippery. On the roof there is a ventilation cover and a row of bolts. Can't find the camera box.

Tu pointed near the cable hook. "There."

A flat piece of metal mounted under the bracket, coated with paint the same color as the cabin body. Duy used a magnet to check. It popped open, revealing a small plastic box.

Linh put on gloves and opened the lid. Inside was an old film camera, the film roll had been removed, and a piece of paper dated August 19, 2009.

“The camera doesn't have film,” Mai said.

Tu looked at the piece of paper. “Maybe Ms. Hanh took the film.”

“We have to find her.”

In the village above, Ms. Hanh's house is located next to the old soccer field. She opened the door after hearing three knocks. The woman in her thirties, her hands still covered in flour, looked at Linh and then at the camera.

“I thought it was gone.”

“You hid it in the cabin?” Mai asked.

"I didn't hide it. Someone asked me to keep it."

"Who?"

Ms. Hanh did not answer immediately. She invited everyone into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Family photos hang on the wall, including a young man wearing a Van Lo uniform.

“Your father?” Linh asked.

"My brother. He died in the landslide."

“Where were you when the annex was changed?”

"In the weight room. I brought mom food."

“Do you take pictures?”

"I took the photo because the team's camera was forgotten. I was young and just wanted to try."

“So where is the photo?”

Ms. Hanh went into the inner room and took out another small tin box. Inside is a roll of film wrapped in oil paper.

"I don't dare wash it. The photographer will see me."

“I kept it for sixteen years,” Mai said. “Why did you only give it today?”

"Because you guys opened the box. If I continue to hide it, I'll be like the people who changed their names in the records."

The film was taken to an old photo shop in town. The shop owner, Mr. Phuc, uses a specialized negative scanner. The image gradually appeared on the screen: the weighing room, the desk, four people standing around the annex. Hung is younger, Tu stands outside the door, Vinh holds a file. Nguyen Minh Quang turned his back to the camera.

In the third photo, Quang holds a bank seal. Hung opened the drawer and took out another appendix. Vinh handed a bag of documents to the man behind the camera.

“The photographer is Ms. Hanh,” Linh said.

“No,” Ms. Hanh replied. "I stood near the door. The camera was on the shelf."

“So who is behind the machine?”

Mr. Phuc enlarged the reflection on the scale glass. A face appears blurry, but recognizable enough: Mrs. Man, Duy's mother.

Duy sat motionless.

“My mother stood there,” Mai whispered.

Ms. Hanh nodded. "She didn't take the picture. She saw it and told me to take the camera."

“Why didn't my mother say anything?” Duy asked.

"She said that if she reported, Quang would declare that your father had agreed. She wanted to wait for the original copy."

“Did she find it?”

"No. Vinh takes it away."

Linh looks at each photo, making a list of people, locations and actions. The last photo is a photo The page was placed under Quang's hand. The first line reads “Asset preservation agreement”. Below, the guarantor's name has not been filled in.

In the corner of the page there is a code: Q-2009.

Mai opened the computer and compared it with her bank account. Code Q-2009 appeared in four loan edits of Duy's family, but the last person to approve it was not Quang but an account named "Mortgage Settlement Department".

“This account is still active,” Mai said. “He asked to sell the house last week.”

“Who has the right?” Linh asked.

"Three people. One is the loan manager, one is the branch manager, one is the system account."

“Is Hung in there?”

"Are not."

“Vinh?”

“No longer in the data.”

Tu looked at the screen. “Someone used the system account to edit the name.”

Ms. Hanh took another stack of papers. "I found it in my mother's house. She wrote down the date each person came to the weight room."

The list has the names Hung, Vinh, Quang and one person abbreviated as "Q". Next to the letter Q, Duy's mother wrote: "The person who came later, did not wear uniform, knew the account number."

Linh looked at the piece of red shirt with the letter Q. "This person does not have to be Quang."

“Maybe a bank official,” Mai said.

Mr. Phuc gave them the scan. The final reflection shows the person behind the camera with a black ring engraved with a circle. Ms. Hanh realized.

“I once saw this ring on someone who came to my house and asked to buy land.”

"Who?" Duy asked.

"A person claimed to be a property handler. He said if I wanted to keep the house, I had to sign that my father had lost the equipment."

"Name?"

“Le Quoc Toan.”

Mai types the name into the bank database. A profile popped up: Le Quoc Toan, former asset management manager, quit last year. The current contact is a consulting office located near the lower station.

Tu stood up. “He was the one who called Mr. Khang.”

“And the tenant Nam,” Linh said.

Duy looked at Ms. Hanh. “Can you testify?”

Ms. Hanh looked at the photo. "I can say I saw it. But I'm afraid they'll look for my sister."

Mai held her hand. “I won't leave you alone.”

Linh called Thao. The lawyer requested that a record of on-site testimony be made, clearly stating the origin of the film roll, the camera owner and the scanning process. Mr. Phuc signed to confirm the data copy.

“The photo is not enough to prove that the content of the appendix was changed,” Thao said. “But enough to connect people, time and action.”

“And the bank records?” Mai asked.

“Need original copy and reviewer.”

Mai opens another document. "I found the operation log. The system account edited the borrower's name three times. The last time was done from the computer in Le Quoc Toan's office."

No one said.

They went to that office late in the afternoon, but the door was locked. On the board is a notice of change of address. A camera outside the gate points straight to the street. Mai used an old map to determine that the new office was two blocks from the station.

Tu looked at Linh. “I have to say one more thing.”

“Say it.”

"In 2009, I took Vinh to Toan's office. I thought that was where I got money for my father's medicine."

“What did you hear them talking about?”

“They say the names of the dead are easier to use than the names of the living.”

Duy made a fist, but Linh put her hand on his arm.

“Don't lose your testimony because of anger.”

Duy released his hand.

It was dark, so Ms. Hanh agreed to go with them to town to submit photos. Mr. Khang was transferred to the hospital. Before leaving home, Ms. Hanh looked at her old camera.

“I used to think the person standing outside the frame was human take. It turned out that the person had the right to delete the photo.”

Linh kept the copies in two separate bags. “This time no one can erase it.”

Mai's phone vibrates. A notice from the bank appeared: "Mr. Nguyen Minh Quang's secured assets have been included in the auction list at 5:30 p.m."

Duy looked at his sister. “Our house is attached to our father's name.”

Linh looked at the code line Q-2009. “So we have to prove how that guy was placed there.”

Ms. Thao sent them a to-do list: keep the original film reel, make a record with Mr. Phuc, ask the bank to suspend the auction, verify Le Quoc Toan's address and apply for an order to preserve the system log. Nothing can be done with a single call.

Mai read the list and sighed. “What if they sell the house in a few days?”

“We send an urgent request tonight,” Linh said.

Duy looked at his sister. “I'm going to the bank.”

“I'm not going alone,” Linh replied.

“You can talk for yourself.”

“You can make them think you're just a borrower.”

Duy nodded and received a copy of the contract. Mai holds server data. Tu kept his testimony, even though his hand shook as he signed. Ms. Hanh holds the camera, and Linh holds the film.

They divided the documents into many bags, no one held all of them. That method makes moving slower, but if one person loses their bag, it doesn't mean the whole story is lost.

At the end of the street, a silver car stopped at a red light. The driver looked at the group of people, then picked up the phone. Linh didn't know if it was a follower or just a normal driver. She didn't run after him. She just took a photo of the license plate and sent it to the police.

From now on, every doubt must have a trace.

When they reached the bank office, the gate was closed. A security guard said the property handling department only works during office hours. Duy gave the urgent request, but the security guard did not accept it.

Linh called Thao and turned on the speaker. The lawyer made it clear that they did not ask the security guard to resolve the case, they only asked to record the time of document delivery. The security guard reluctantly signed the receipt.

On the ticket is the name of the person on duty: Le Quoc Toan.

The person who quit couldn't be present, but his name still appeared everywhere they went.