Chapter 9 - The Fire in the East Wing
The fire began before sunrise. Caleb called me at 5:42 a.m. His voice was rough with smoke.
“The east wing is burning.”
I was already awake. I had spent the night staring at Daniel’s handwriting on my phone.
“Is everyone out?”
“The staff quarters are clear. I’m heading back in for the records.”
“Do not go inside.”
“The old files are in the archive room.”
“Caleb, listen to me. Leave the building.”
A siren wailed through the phone. Then the call dropped. Elaine’s driver took us to Pine Manor.
Priya followed with Mateo. Smoke rose above the trees in a black column. Fire crews crowded the gravel drive, hoses snaking across the lawn.
The east wing windows glowed orange. Caleb stood near the gate with soot on his face. I ran to him.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You went inside.”
“I got the archive boxes out.”
He pointed toward a row of crates beneath a tarp.
“The page was in one of them.”
The page bearing my inheritance lay inside a plastic sleeve, singed at the corners.
“Who started the fire?” I asked.
“The fire marshal will determine that.”
Mateo crouched near the foundation.
“There are fresh tire tracks.”
Priya spoke with the sheriff. The preliminary cause appeared to be an accelerant near the electrical room, but investigators would not confirm anything until the scene cooled. Theresa arrived in a white sedan.
She stepped out wearing a red scarf.
“Where is Richard?” she demanded.
“You tell us,” Priya said.
Theresa’s gaze moved to the crates.
“Those records belong to the family.”
“They belong to the evidence log,” Priya replied.
“You have no right to take them.”
“The court order says otherwise.”
Marianne arrived ten minutes later, carrying no phone. Her face was bare, her hair pulled into a knot. Without the polished contempt she usually wore, she looked younger.
“Mom,” she said,
“where’s Dad?”
Theresa ignored her. I watched Marianne closely.
“You knew about the loan.”
Her expression tightened.
“You created the email account,” I continued.
“I did not forge your signature.”
“You helped send the application.”
“I wrote what I was told to write.”
“By Richard?”
She looked toward the burning wing. Theresa grabbed her arm.
“Do not say another word.”
Marianne pulled free.
“He said it was temporary,” she said.
“He said Northstar would pay it off.”
“And the $75,000?”
“He paid Lantern for the campaign.”
“What campaign?”
Marianne looked at me.
“The story that you were unstable, greedy, and trying to take Pine Manor from the family.” The fire snapped behind us.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because if the partnership failed, Richard needed someone else to blame.”
“The partnership failed because my mother withdrew.”
“He wanted it to fail after the loan closed.”
The words hung in the smoke.
“Why would he want that?”
“Insurance.”
Priya turned sharply.
“What insurance?”
Marianne’s eyes filled with tears she did not wipe away.
“Aster Lane took out a business interruption policy. The east wing was valued at six million. If the restoration collapsed and the property was condemned, the payout would cover the debts.”
Mateo swore under his breath. The fire was not an accident. The manor had been prepared to become a claim.
“Where is Richard?” I asked again.
Marianne looked at the road.
“He left before dawn.”
Theresa slapped her. The sound cut through the sirens.
“You ungrateful little—”
“Enough,” I said.
Theresa turned on me.
“This is your fault.”
“You set the fire?”
Her face changed. Not guilt. Calculation.
“You destroyed the family.”
“Your family was already burning.”
Jason arrived moments later in a borrowed truck. He ran past us toward the fire line, but a firefighter stopped him.
“You can’t go in.”
“My father may be inside.”
“Then stay out of the way.”
Jason turned to me.
“He’s gone.”
“Marianne says he left before dawn.”
He looked at his sister.
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“For once,” Marianne said.
Jason’s gaze dropped to the crates.
“Did you find the page?”
“Yes.”
“There’s another document.”
He reached into his jacket and handed me a flash drive.
“What is this?”
“Copies of Richard’s emails. I took them from his office before the fire.”
“Why didn’t you give them to me before?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“You are always afraid after the damage is done.”
He accepted the blow. Priya took the drive.
“Where did you get this?”
“He kept a backup folder on the office computer. I copied it last night.”
“Did he see you?”
“No.”
The fire crews finally contained the blaze. The east wing roof collapsed inward, sending a storm of sparks into the pale morning. A firefighter emerged carrying a metal lockbox.
“Found this under a desk,” he said.
The box bore my father’s initials. Inside was a cassette tape, a key, and a note. The note had been written recently.
I unfolded it. Meet me at the boathouse. I can prove Richard used Daniel’s name.
May you like
There was no signature. The date was the day before the airport confrontation. Someone had tried to meet my father’s ghost.
Someone who knew the truth was about to disappear.
