Chapter 13 - The Fire Alarm
Shaw didn’t dismiss the envelope.
Officers collected it.
Beth tightened the household routine.
School pickup changed.
Nathan met with Lily’s principal and gave the school the custody documents.
He stopped taking calls in another room when the children were awake.
If work couldn’t wait, someone else handled it.
Three nights later, his office fire alarm went off.
The monitoring company called him at 10:18.
By the time he arrived, firefighters were inside.
Smoke drifted from the rear entrance.
One office had burned.
The old records room.
Nathan stood behind the tape in a sweatshirt and unlaced boots.
Daniel arrived ten minutes later.
“Tell me you didn’t keep the originals here.”
“Police have the important ones.”
“And the copies?”
“Off-site.”
Daniel exhaled.
Across the parking lot, a firefighter carried out a blackened metal drawer.
Nathan watched water run from it.
For years, he had believed hard work could hold his life together.
Stay late.
Bid another job.
Pay the debt.
Fix the leak.
Someone had been using that faith to keep him busy while his home rotted behind him.
Shaw arrived before midnight.
She asked about keys.
Alarm codes.
Recent visitors.
Richard still had an old key.
Vanessa had known the code.
So had several employees.
“We don’t decide who did this because it fits,” Shaw said.
Nathan nodded.
“Find out.”
At one in the morning, a man approached the tape.
Nathan recognized Eddie Cole, who had worked maintenance for the company until Richard fired him.
Eddie’s jacket was soaked.
“I heard about the fire.”
Nathan stared at him.
“What are you doing here?”
Eddie looked toward Shaw.
“I should’ve come in years ago.”
She stepped closer.
“About what?”
Eddie rubbed his mouth.
“Mr. Mercer’s SUV. The old black one.”
Nathan felt the rain through his sweatshirt.
“It wasn’t registered to my father.”
“No,” Eddie said. “But he had me drive it to the repair shop.”
“When?”
“Two days after Mrs. Mercer died.”
Shaw took him aside.
Nathan stayed where he was.
Through the smoke-stained window, he could see the outline of Claire’s old desk.
Eddie looked back once.
May you like
Then he said something that brought Shaw’s attention sharply to Nathan.
“I didn’t just drive it,” he told her. “I cleaned it first.”
