Chapter 6 - FIRE AT THE LAKE
They arrived seventeen minutes before the fire department.
Evelyn's SUV tore through the gravel driveway.
Rachel shouted, “Slow down!”
Evelyn didn't.
Smoke was already crawling from the rear windows.
Noah leaned forward.
“Is he still inside?”
Claire looked at the security feed.
“The cameras went down.”
Rachel grabbed Noah.
“You stay in the car.”
“Mom—”
“Not negotiable.”
Evelyn was out before the vehicle fully stopped.
Rachel followed.
The front door was locked.
Evelyn grabbed a landscaping stone.
Claire shouted, “Wait!”
Evelyn smashed the side window.
Glass fell inward.
Smoke poured out.
Rachel coughed.
“You're insane.”
“Probably.”
Evelyn reached through and unlocked the door.
They entered.
The lake house smelled of gasoline and old wood.
Flames had started near the back study.
“Victor!”
No answer.
Evelyn moved toward the stairs.
Rachel grabbed her arm.
“Where?”
“The hiding place.”
“Where is it?”
“Upstairs.”
They climbed.
Smoke thickened.
When Evelyn was nine and Daniel was six, they had discovered a hollow space beneath a loose floorboard in the upstairs bedroom.
Their father never found it.
They hid candy there.
Report cards.
Money.
Once, Daniel hid a dead frog until the smell gave him away.
Evelyn dropped to her knees.
She tore at the carpet.
Rachel coughed behind her.
“Come on.”
Evelyn found the seam.
Pulled.
Nothing.
“It's stuck.”
Smoke rolled into the room.
Rachel kicked the board.
It cracked.
Evelyn pulled again.
The wood came free.
Inside was a metal document case.
“Got it.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
They turned.
Victor Shaw stood in the doorway.
He held a pistol.
Rachel stopped breathing.
Evelyn slowly rose.
“Victor.”
He looked exhausted.
Not murderous.
That somehow made him scarier.
“You should have left it buried.”
Evelyn held the case behind her.
“You set the fire.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill Daniel?”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“Don't.”
“Answer me.”
“You think your father gave people choices?”
Rachel stepped forward.
Victor pointed the gun at her.
“Don't move.”
Evelyn's face went cold.
“You point that at her again, I'll make sure you die in prison.”
Victor laughed.
“If we're discussing prison, Evelyn, I'm already there.”
Flames snapped downstairs.
Rachel coughed.
Victor looked toward the smoke.
“Give me the case.”
“No.”
“You don't know what's inside.”
“I know enough.”
“Your father ran that company like a criminal organization.”
“And you helped him.”
“I was twenty-eight.”
“You were old enough.”
“So were you.”
Evelyn flinched.
Victor saw it.
“You think you were innocent because you never opened the envelopes?”
Rachel looked at Evelyn.
Victor continued.
“Your father paid people off.”
“Doctors.”
“Inspectors.”
“Judges.”
“And you signed half the corporate documents.”
“I didn't know.”
Victor's smile was bitter.
“That sentence saves everyone.”
A window cracked from the heat.
Victor raised the pistol.
“Case.”
Suddenly something smashed against the back of his head.
Victor staggered.
The gun fired.
Rachel screamed.
Evelyn ducked.
Victor collapsed.
Behind him stood Noah.
Holding an antique lamp.
Rachel stared at him in horror.
“I told you to stay in the car!”
Noah looked terrified.
“I saw him come upstairs.”
The fire roared below them.
Victor groaned.
Claire appeared behind Noah.
“We have maybe thirty seconds!”
Evelyn grabbed the case.
Rachel grabbed Noah.
They ran.
Halfway down the stairs, part of the ceiling collapsed.
Flames cut off the front door.
Claire screamed.
Evelyn looked toward the kitchen.
“Back way!”
They pushed through smoke.
Noah stumbled.
Rachel pulled him up.
Victor appeared at the top of the stairs behind them.
Blood ran down his face.
And somehow, impossibly, he still had the gun.
“Evelyn!”
She turned.
Victor raised it.
Then the staircase collapsed beneath him.
He disappeared into fire.
Rachel screamed Evelyn's name.
They ran through the back door.
Seconds later, flames swallowed the roof.
Outside, Noah bent over coughing.
Rachel pulled him against her.
Sirens screamed in the distance.
Evelyn stood barefoot in the grass.
One of her gold heels had vanished inside the burning house.
Her jacket was torn.
Her face was black with smoke.
She stared at the metal case in her hands.
Claire looked back at the flames.
“Victor?”
Nobody answered.
Then the case clicked.
The heat had warped the lock.
It opened.
Inside were financial records.
Photographs.
And a sealed envelope.
Evelyn picked it up.
Her name was written across the front.
May you like
But the handwriting wasn't Daniel's.
It belonged to her father.
