Chapter 7 - WHAT THE FIRE COULDN'T TAKE
Hannah saw the fire from the library window.
For one second she forgot how to breathe.
“My cottage.”
Lily appeared beside her.
Orange light flickered across the snow.
Hannah tried to stand.
Pain tore through her ankle.
She nearly fell.
Lily grabbed her sleeve.
“Don't go.”
“My things are in there.”
“Firemen will go.”
Hannah stared at the child.
Seven years old.
Scared.
Still thinking more clearly than she was.
Sirens moved across the estate.
Fire crews had already been stationed nearby because of the gala.
They reached the cottage within minutes.
Dominic returned from the carriage house while smoke rolled across the grounds.
He entered the library with snow on his shoulders.
“Hannah.”
She turned.
“My mother's picture.”
He stopped.
Of all the things she could have said, he understood immediately.
“Where?”
“Bedroom dresser. Top drawer.”
Dominic turned toward a firefighter entering the hall.
He gave the location.
Hannah grabbed his arm.
“Don't send anyone in for a photograph.”
“I'm sending them in to check the building anyway.”
His tone softened.
“If they can get it safely, they will.”
Hannah released him.
Lily whispered, “I'm sorry.”
Hannah looked down.
“For what?”
“Because bad things happen when people help us.”
Dominic heard.
His face changed.
He knelt.
“No.”
Lily stared at him.
“Miss Hannah got hurt.”
“Yes.”
“The house burned.”
“The cottage.”
“Because of us.”
Dominic took both her hands.
“Listen to me.”
He waited until she looked at him.
“Frank did those things.”
“But—”
“No.”
His voice remained gentle.
“People who hurt others want you to believe their choices are your fault.”
Hannah saw Caroline standing in the doorway.
The words hit her too.
Dominic continued.
“You didn't make Frank do anything.”
Lily whispered, “Promise?”
“Promise.”
A firefighter entered twenty minutes later.
The cottage was badly damaged.
But the fire had been contained to the rear half.
He carried a wet cardboard box.
“Ms. Reed?”
Hannah stepped forward.
Inside were several clothes.
A Bible.
A small wooden jewelry box.
And a photograph in a cracked frame.
Hannah's mother.
She pressed it to her chest.
“Thank you.”
Dominic looked away, giving her privacy.
Caroline didn't.
She watched Hannah cry.
Then said:
“I owe you more than an apology.”
Hannah wiped her face.
“Yes.”
Caroline flinched.
Good.
Hannah wasn't interested in making this easier.
“You locked me outside with an injured ankle.”
“Yes.”
“You accused me of stealing.”
“Yes.”
“You knew something dangerous was happening around Lily and decided protecting your secrets mattered more than protecting me.”
Caroline swallowed.
“Yes.”
Hannah stared at her.
“Why should I ever trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
The answer surprised her.
Caroline continued.
“Not because I say sorry.”
She looked toward Lily.
“Trust should cost me something.”
Dominic watched quietly.
Caroline removed her engagement ring.
A large diamond.
She placed it on the library table.
“I don't deserve to wear this.”
Dominic's expression didn't change.
Caroline looked at him.
“I loved you.”
“Don't.”
“I know.”
“Don't use that word to make this cleaner.”
Caroline nodded.
“I won't.”
She left the ring there.
Then Detective Chen entered.
“Frank's in custody.”
Nobody celebrated.
“There is a problem.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Of course there is.”
Chen held up a file from the carriage house.
“We found the originals Eleanor described.”
“And?”
“Frank wasn't lying about one thing.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Eleanor documented your operations too.”
Silence.
Hannah looked at Dominic.
Chen continued.
“Things you did know about.”
Dominic nodded once.
“I assumed she had.”
“Some are criminal.”
“Yes.”
Caroline looked at him.
“Dominic—”
He ignored her.
Detective Chen studied him.
“If I take these downtown, you may not come home tonight.”
Lily heard.
Her small hand found his.
Dominic looked down.
There it was.
The choice Eleanor had been trying to force four years earlier.
Family or power.
This time Frank wasn't controlling the question.
Dominic was.
He looked at Chen.
“Take them.”
Everyone stared.
Chen asked, “You understand what you're saying?”
“Yes.”
“Your attorneys—”
“No.”
Dominic glanced at Lily.
“No more hiding behind people.”
Caroline's eyes filled.
Hannah remembered Eleanor's voice on the cassette.
If we can still be a family, I want that.
Dominic bent and kissed Lily's forehead.
“I have to go answer some questions.”
Lily's face crumpled.
“You said you'd come back.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“I don't know.”
She started crying.
Dominic held her.
This time he did not promise ten minutes.
He did not give her a comforting lie.
He simply held her until she could breathe.
Then Lily reached into Hannah's pocket and took out the silver bell.
She put it in Dominic's hand.
“So you know I need you.”
He closed his fingers around it.
“I already know.”
“No.”
She pushed his fist toward him.
“You take it.”
Dominic swallowed.
“All right.”
Detective Chen led him away without handcuffs.
Hannah stood beside Lily at the window while he crossed the snowy drive.
Caroline remained behind them.
Agnes sat near the fire.
Claire stood beside her sister but didn't touch her.
The family had survived the night.
But survival was not repair.
Three hours later, shortly before dawn, Detective Chen returned alone.
Hannah's stomach dropped.
“Where's Dominic?”
Chen removed her coat.
“Being interviewed.”
Lily had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Hannah lowered her voice.
“Is he being charged?”
“Possibly.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
Chen placed something on the table.
A sealed evidence bag.
Inside was the red medicine bottle from Eleanor's photograph.
“We found this in Frank's carriage-house files.”
Agnes leaned forward.
Chen continued.
“Claire, you said you prepared pharmacy inventory.”
Claire nodded.
“Look at the bottom.”
Claire did.
Her expression changed.
“There are two batch numbers.”
“What does that mean?” Hannah asked.
Claire looked at Caroline.
“The sedative Caroline gave Eleanor wasn't the dose that killed her.”
Caroline went pale.
Agnes stood.
“What?”
Claire pointed to the bottle.
“Someone switched it after Caroline left.”
Caroline's lips parted.
“You're saying…”
Claire nodded.
“You hurt Eleanor.”
Caroline's eyes filled.
“But you didn't kill her.”
Silence.
Then Agnes whispered:
“If Caroline didn't administer the fatal dose…”
Everyone understood the question.
Who did?
Detective Chen placed a second evidence bag beside the first.
Inside was an old hospital identification card.
A photograph.
A name.
Hannah leaned closer.
Her blood went cold.
The face belonged to someone who had spent the entire evening inside the Mercer mansion.
Someone no one had questioned.
Someone Lily trusted.
May you like
Hannah whispered:
“Oh my God.”
