Chapter 4 - THE FIRE
Richard made it twelve steps.
One security officer caught his arm.
Richard swung at him.
That turned a financial investigation into something much uglier.
Within seconds, both officers had him against a stone pillar while hundreds of phones recorded everything.
“Get off me!”
He shouted toward my mother.
“Linda! Tell them!”
She didn’t move.
“Tell them the truth!”
My mother stared at him.
For twenty-two years, I had watched Linda Bennett choose him.
Over me.
Over honesty.
Over common decency.
But when he screamed her name that afternoon, something in her expression changed.
Fear.
Not for him.
Of him.
The police arrived minutes later.
Detectives separated everyone.
The courtyard emptied slowly as graduates were guided toward another lawn.
Professor Hughes refused to let the ceremony end in chaos.
Before the last students left, she stepped to the microphone.
“For the record,” she announced, “the university has reviewed Miss Bennett’s academic work and currently has no evidence supporting the accusations made against her today.”
Applause started somewhere near the economics department.
Then another person joined.
Then twenty.
Then hundreds.
I stood onstage holding letters from a family I never knew I had while strangers applauded me.
I almost cried.
Not because I felt victorious.
Because I finally understood how exhausted I was.
Later, inside Professor Hughes’s office, Rebecca sat across from me.
Jonathan Mercer opened three thick folders.
Ethan and my mother were being questioned separately.
Richard had been taken downtown after attempting to interfere with officers.
“What exactly happened to Daniel?”
I asked.
Rebecca folded her hands.
“The official report said faulty electrical wiring caused the fire.”
“And you didn’t believe it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Jonathan slid a document toward me.
“Because the warehouse was scheduled for a safety inspection the following morning.”
A report showed disabled fire alarms.
Blocked exits.
Unapproved electrical work.
All signed off by a company controlled by Richard.
“He caused the fire?”
“We don’t know that,” Jonathan said carefully. “But he may have concealed conditions that made Daniel’s death preventable.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“And Daniel had discovered missing company funds three days before he died.”
My stomach twisted.
“Did Mom know?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
The office door opened.
Linda walked in.
She looked twenty years older.
“Then ask me.”
I stood.
Rebecca’s face hardened.
My mother shut the door.
“Richard didn’t start the fire.”
Rebecca snapped.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
Linda looked at me.
“Because I was at the warehouse that night.”
Silence.
I could hear the clock on Professor Hughes’s wall.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
“What?”
My mother sat down.
“I followed Daniel.”
Rebecca whispered, “Why?”
“Because he told me he was leaving the company.”
My mother’s hands trembled.
“He had discovered Richard was stealing.”
The room became very still.
“Daniel wanted to report him.”
She swallowed.
“I begged him to wait until we could protect ourselves financially.”
Rebecca looked disgusted.
“Protect yourselves?”
“I had an eight-month-old baby!”
“That baby was Daniel’s daughter.”
“And I was terrified!”
Linda suddenly looked at me.
“Emily, your father—Daniel—was furious that night. Not at me. At Richard. He went to the warehouse because he believed the missing financial records were stored there.”
“What happened?”
My mother’s eyes filled.
“I waited outside.”
“Why?”
“He told me not to come inside.”
Her voice broke.
“Ten minutes later, smoke started coming from the roof.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
“I called 911. I screamed for him. Richard arrived before the fire department.”
Jonathan frowned.
“Richard arrived?”
“Yes.”
“Why was that never in the police report?”
Linda closed her eyes.
“Because Richard told investigators he arrived after the firefighters.”
My skin went cold.
“You lied for him.”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“He told me Daniel had caused the fire himself while destroying evidence.”
Rebecca stood.
“You believed that?”
“No.”
My mother whispered the word.
“No. I was afraid.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That seems to be everyone’s excuse.”
Linda looked at me.
“You’re right.”
The answer silenced me.
For once, she didn’t defend herself.
“He showed me documents saying Daniel had stolen from the company. I know now they were forged. Richard told me that if I challenged him, I would lose everything. The house. Money. Custody of you.”
“So you married him?”
“Fourteen months later.”
I stared at her.
“My father died, and you married the man you suspected had covered up his death.”
Tears rolled down her face.
“Yes.”
Rebecca turned away in disgust.
My mother reached into her purse.
“I’ve lived with that every day.”
She placed an old brass key on the table.
Richard’s confidence suddenly made sense.
Linda had secrets too.
“What is that?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
Jonathan leaned forward.
“Which bank?”
“First Metropolitan.”
“What’s inside?”
Linda looked at me.
“Daniel’s original business ledger.”
Rebecca gasped.
My mother continued.
“And photographs from the warehouse taken the week before the fire.”
Jonathan stood immediately.
“We need to contact detectives.”
My mother shook her head.
“There’s another problem.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“Richard knows the box exists.”
My phone suddenly buzzed.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Ethan’s voice whispered through the speaker.
“Emily.”
He sounded terrified.
“Where are you?”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
“Ethan?”
“I screwed up.”
I stood.
“What did you do?”
“He made me take Mom’s key.”
My eyes shot toward the brass key on the table.
Linda looked confused.
Then her hand flew to her purse.
The key on the table was a duplicate.
Ethan continued.
“Dad had another one made months ago.”
“Where are you?”
“At First Metropolitan.”
My heart stopped.
“Ethan, leave.”
“I can’t.”
His breathing became shaky.
“Dad’s attorney is here.”
I heard a door slam through the phone.
Then a man’s voice in the background.
“Give me the phone.”
Ethan whispered three words.
“I’m sorry, Emily.”
May you like
The call went dead.
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