Chapter 8 - Fire on the Porch
Daniel arrived before the fire department.
Claire never asked how fast he had driven.
He ran through the rain with a garden hose from the neighboring property while Margaret screamed at him to stay back.
The fire remained mostly on the porch.
Rain slowed it.
Firefighters finished it.
The house survived.
But the message was clear.
Someone wanted Hawthorne destroyed.
A detective named Lena Ortiz questioned everyone.
Claire handed her a copy of the trust papers.
Ortiz looked from the documents to the burned porch.
“This escalated from a property dispute.”
Daniel stared at Margaret.
“Was that Victor?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You just told Claire he was dangerous.”
“That doesn’t mean he threw the bottle.”
Daniel turned to Claire.
She had not spoken to him since finding the emails.
“You’re okay?”
“Yes.”
“Emma?”
“With Mrs. Alvarez.”
“I’ll bring her home.”
“No.”
Daniel flinched.
Claire continued.
“Not until we talk.”
They moved away from the others.
“How much did Victor give you?”
Daniel looked down.
“Six hundred thousand.”
“Gift?”
“Bridge financing.”
“Where’s the contract?”
“There wasn’t one.”
Claire laughed once.
“Of course.”
“I intended to repay him.”
“Did you?”
“Most.”
“How much remains?”
“One hundred eighty.”
“Thousand?”
“Yes.”
Claire’s eyes burned.
“And what exactly did he expect in return?”
“At first, referrals. Property work.”
“At first.”
Daniel nodded.
“Then Hawthorne.”
“Did he ask you to forge documents?”
“No.”
“Destroy evidence?”
“No.”
“Lie to me?”
Daniel took too long.
Claire turned away.
“He asked me not to tell you until title cleanup was complete.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was ashamed.”
She looked at him.
Daniel’s voice broke.
“My firm was failing. We had just bought the house. Emma was starting school. I thought I was protecting our life.”
“You protected our mortgage by helping the people who stole from me.”
“I didn’t understand that at first.”
“When did you understand?”
“About eighteen months ago.”
“So for eighteen months you chose silence.”
“Yes.”
Claire nodded.
“Then that is what I’m angry about.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. Everyone keeps deciding what I’m allowed to know. My mother. My father. Sophie. Victor. You.”
Daniel absorbed it.
“You’re right.”
The lack of defense hurt almost as much.
Claire continued.
“I don’t know whether our marriage survives this.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“But tomorrow, you’re going to help stop that demolition.”
“Yes.”
“And then you’re giving Detective Ortiz every file.”
“Yes.”
“And if it ruins your firm?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Then it ruins my firm.”
For the first time that night, Claire believed him.
Across the yard, Ortiz called them over.
“We pulled footage from a traffic camera.”
She showed them a still image.
The black SUV.
License plate partly visible.
Registered to Hale Urban Renewal.
Margaret whispered, “Victor.”
Ortiz shook her head.
“The company owns six vehicles. We still need the driver.”
Sophie had been quiet.
Now she spoke.
“I might know.”
Everyone looked.
“When June and I arrived two nights ago, someone followed us.”
“Who?”
“A man named Ethan Hale.”
Victor’s son.
Claire remembered Ethan from childhood.
Older than her by five years.
Always around Victor’s office.
Daniel frowned.
“He runs security for Hale Development.”
Sophie nodded.
“He came to Dad’s funeral.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“He offered to buy Dad’s documents.”
Margaret went pale.
“You never told me that.”
Sophie looked at her.
“Why would I?”
Ortiz asked, “Did he threaten you?”
“Not directly.”
“What did he say?”
Sophie remembered exactly.
“He said: ‘Your father spent eighteen years trying to prove something that no longer matters. Don’t waste your daughter’s childhood the way he wasted yours.’”
Ortiz wrote it down.
Margaret sat on the curb.
Suddenly she looked old.
Claire watched her.
“Mom.”
Margaret did not respond.
“Why are you scared of Ethan?”
Margaret looked up.
“Because Victor doesn’t know everything Ethan has done.”
A silence followed.
“What has he done?”
Margaret stared at the burned porch.
“Two years ago, an accountant named Raymond Cole found irregularities.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“I remember him.”
Claire asked, “What happened?”
Margaret swallowed.
“He disappeared.”
Ortiz immediately said, “Missing person?”
Margaret nodded.
“Victor told me Raymond took money and fled.”
Sophie stared at her.
“And you believed him?”
May you like
Margaret looked at the flames reflected in the wet street.
“No.”
