Chapter 6 - Smoke on the Water
I stood so fast the chair hit the wall.
Ruiz raised a hand.
“Stay here.”
“There could be people inside.”
“Firefighters are there.”
Hannah had gone pale.
“There’s a woman. Ruth. She worked nights.”
Ruiz was already typing.
“What does she look like?”
“Sixty, maybe. Gray braid. She walks with a limp.”
“What was her role?”
Hannah hesitated.
“She kept the doors locked.”
Then her voice softened.
“She also kept me alive.”
Ruiz stepped into the hall.
I watched Hannah’s hands twist the blanket.
“Why bring you to our house?”
“Ruth started talking about calling someone. Mark didn’t trust her anymore.”
“So they moved you.”
“Two nights ago.”
I pictured Vanessa kissing me goodbye before I left for work.
Telling me the contractor needed access to the west wing.
Telling me the room smelled like paint.
“I was sleeping upstairs,” I said.
Hannah’s eyes filled again.
“I heard you.”
I bent forward.
I couldn’t get enough air.
She had been behind that door while I helped Lily with homework.
While I complained about the party caterer.
While Vanessa asked whether we should serve chicken or salmon.
“I tried to make noise,” Hannah said. “Then Vanessa showed me Lily’s bedroom on her phone.”
I looked up.
“She had a camera?”
“In the hall. She said she could get to her before you could.”
Owen appeared in the doorway.
He took one look at me.
“What do you need?”
“Stay with Lily.”
“I am.”
“No one takes her anywhere. Not a family friend. Not somebody who knows me. Nobody.”
His face hardened.
“Understood.”
Near midnight, Ruiz returned with smoke in her hair.
“They got Ruth out.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
“She’s alive?”
“She’s being treated.”
“What about the records?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Ruiz sat beside the bed.
“A neighbor saw a man leave before the fire. We’re getting camera footage.”
“Mark,” I said.
“Possibly.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“The ledger wasn’t there.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“Where was it?”
“I don’t know. But Mark used to tell Vanessa she’d get her share when the book was safe.”
“Her share of what?”
“The money. The house. You.”
The last word landed between us.
Ruiz’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Then she looked directly at me.
“Did you tell anyone where your brother took Lily?”
My skin went cold.
“They’re in the family waiting room.”
“Owen just called.”
I was already moving.
May you like
Ruiz caught up beside me.
“A woman tried to pick her up.”
