Chapter 6 - The Fire Revealed Who Had Really Murdered Daniel
Flames raced across the floor.
The sound was almost gentle at first.
A low rushing whisper.
Then the curtains caught.
Fire climbed the walls.
Caleb stared at Warren as if he had stopped understanding the English language.
“You wanted me dead?”
Warren backed toward the door.
“You were supposed to stay inside the Subaru.”
“You told me to cut my seat belt.”
“To make sure the police believed you tried to save yourself.”
Caleb’s eyes filled.
“You said you loved me.”
Warren looked at him.
“I loved your father too.”
Then he walked outside.
Nathan followed.
Harlan hesitated.
For one second, I thought he might help us.
Instead, he shut the door.
Caleb and I were alone inside the burning cabin.
Our wrists were still bound.
Smoke thickened almost immediately.
“Basement,” I said.
“The hidden stairs?”
“They know about them now.”
“Then what?”
I looked toward the kitchen.
“The pantry.”
Daniel had built the cabin in stages.
Behind the pantry wall was an old exterior door covered years earlier when we added an extension.
I had complained that removing the frame would cost too much.
Daniel had laughed and said leaving it might save us money someday.
Or apparently our lives.
Caleb kicked the pantry door open.
Smoke followed us.
“Back wall!”
We slammed our shoulders against the paneling.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Fire cracked behind us.
Caleb coughed violently.
“Again!”
We hit the wall together.
Wood splintered.
Cold morning air rushed through.
Caleb pushed me through first.
We tumbled onto wet grass behind the cabin.
I rolled onto my side, gasping.
Caleb crawled after me.
Then Harlan appeared.
He pointed his gun directly at us.
“Stay down.”
Caleb froze.
I looked around.
Warren and Nathan were near the trees.
Nathan held Daniel’s flash drive.
Warren carried the paper ledger.
“You don’t have to do this,” I told Harlan.
His face was pale.
“Yes, I do.”
“No. Warren does.”
He swallowed.
“You helped bury Daniel’s investigation three years ago.”
“Shut up.”
“How much did he pay you?”
“Claire.”
“You took Martin’s statement. You knew about the forged documents.”
“Stop talking.”
“You knew Daniel’s death wasn’t an accident.”
Harlan raised the weapon higher.
“Stop!”
A voice came from behind him.
“She’s right.”
Martin.
He stood near the woodshed, one arm in a sling, a gun in his other hand.
Beside him were two Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents.
Martin smiled faintly.
“You should really search people better, Rick.”
Harlan spun around.
Everything happened at once.
Warren ran.
Nathan dropped the flash drive.
Harlan fired.
Martin ducked.
The agents shouted.
Caleb grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a rain barrel.
Another gunshot cracked through the trees.
Then silence.
I looked out.
Harlan was on the ground.
One agent was handcuffing him.
Warren had disappeared into the woods.
Nathan stood with both hands raised.
I almost believed it was over.
Then Nathan suddenly seized Caleb.
He had moved faster than anyone expected.
He wrapped one arm around Caleb’s neck and pressed a pistol against his temple.
“Back up!”
Everyone froze.
Caleb’s eyes locked on mine.
Nathan dragged him toward the burning cabin.
“Drop your weapons!”
Martin slowly lowered his gun.
The agents followed.
Nathan looked wild now.
Gone was the polished estate attorney who had sat across conference tables pretending to protect my family.
“You ruined everything,” he shouted at me.
“Let him go.”
“You have no idea what Daniel almost destroyed.”
“The theft?”
“Warren couldn’t move eleven million dollars without someone who understood trusts.”
There it was.
Nathan.
Not merely Warren’s attorney.
His partner.
Martin said quietly, “Keep talking, Nathan.”
Nathan laughed.
“You think I’m stupid?”
“Stupid enough to trust Warren.”
Nathan’s face changed.
“You think this was Warren’s plan?”
I watched him carefully.
“You framed me.”
“Warren wanted Daniel distracted. I gave him something better.”
“The documents.”
“The insurance policy. The emails. Everything.”
Caleb whispered, “And my dad?”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Your father should have walked away.”
“How did he die?”
“Caleb,” I said.
But the boy needed to know.
Nathan looked at him almost with contempt.
“Daniel figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
“That Warren wasn’t smart enough to design the transfers.”
Martin moved slightly closer.
Nathan pressed the gun harder against Caleb.
“Back!”
Martin stopped.
Nathan continued.
“Daniel arranged to meet me at Lake Calder. He said he was going to the FBI the next morning.”
My heart hammered.
“What did you do?”
“I called Warren.”
“And Harlan?”
Nathan smiled.
“Harlan handled the report.”
Caleb’s voice cracked.
“What happened to Dad?”
Nathan looked directly at him.
“Warren hit him.”
My entire body went cold.
“Daniel fell against the dock railing. He was alive when he went into the water.”
Caleb began crying.
Nathan tightened his arm around him.
“Your uncle panicked. I told him what to do.”
“You watched him drown?”
Nathan did not answer.
He did not have to.
Martin said, “We heard enough.”
Nathan laughed nervously.
“You don’t have proof.”
Caleb looked at me.
I remembered the memory card he had slipped into my hand.
Still inside my pocket.
Then I noticed something else.
Caleb’s jacket.
His phone had been dead earlier.
But when Harlan brought him to the station, they must have returned it.
A tiny light blinked near his chest pocket.
Caleb had been recording.
Nathan noticed my gaze.
His expression changed.
He reached inside Caleb’s jacket.
Caleb moved.
He slammed his head backward into Nathan’s face.
The gun fired.
I screamed.
Caleb fell.
Nathan stumbled.
Martin rushed forward.
Nathan grabbed Caleb again, but Caleb kicked his knee.
The pistol slid across the grass.
One of the agents tackled Nathan.
I crawled toward Caleb.
“Caleb!”
He was breathing.
The bullet had missed him.
It had torn through the side of his jacket without touching his body.
I pulled him against me.
He shook uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed.
“I know.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I know.”
Across the yard, agents handcuffed Nathan.
Harlan was already secured.
But Warren was still gone.
Martin came toward us.
“We need to move. The cabin’s going.”
A deep cracking sound came from inside.
The roof began collapsing.
Then Caleb suddenly looked toward the woods.
“Claire.”
I turned.
Warren stood between two trees.
He had returned.
And he was aiming a hunting rifle directly at us.
“Daniel should have minded his own business,” he shouted.
Martin reached for his weapon.
Warren fired.
The bullet struck the rain barrel inches from my head.
Caleb pushed me flat.
Warren fired again.
Martin answered.
Warren disappeared behind a tree.
Then I heard an engine.
He had parked another vehicle beyond the woods.
“He’s getting away!” Caleb shouted.
We heard tires spin against mud.
Martin looked toward the agents.
One ran for their vehicle.
Caleb suddenly struggled to stand.
“No.”
I grabbed him.
“What?”
“He can’t leave.”
“Caleb—”
“He killed Dad.”
Another engine roared beyond the trees.
Caleb looked at me with a desperation that frightened me.
Then Martin’s expression changed.
“What did Warren take?”
I looked toward the ground.
The flash drive was there.
Nathan had dropped it.
But the paper ledger was gone.
Warren still had it.
The original evidence.
Martin swore.
“If he destroys that—”
Caleb reached into his jacket and removed his phone.
Its screen was shattered.
But still recording.
“I got Nathan’s confession.”
Martin stared at him.
Caleb swallowed.
“And Warren’s confession in the SUV.”
For one breathtaking second, we all understood.
The ledger no longer mattered.
Warren just didn’t know it.
In the distance, sirens began screaming up Miller’s Ridge.
Caleb looked at the burning cabin.
Then at me.
“It’s over.”
I wanted desperately to believe him.
But Martin shook his head.
“No.”
He stared toward the road where Warren had disappeared.
“Warren knows one person is still alive who can put him away forever.”
“Who?”
May you like
Martin looked at Caleb.
“You.”
