Chapter 6 - THE MISSING HOODIE)
The hoodie became important because of what was on it.
Investigators found the garbage bag three days later.
Karen had not thrown it away.
She had hidden it in the attic above the home office, behind two boxes of Christmas decorations.
Inside were Liam’s dark blue hoodie, a towel, disposable gloves and an empty bottle of leak-detection solution used on propane connections.
Forensic testing would take time.
The meaning was already disturbing.
The hoodie sleeve had residue consistent with the solution.
Mark remembered seeing Scott carry the cardboard box.
He called Detective Reyes.
“Scott works with insurance investigations.”
“We know.”
“He would know how to test for propane leaks.”
“We know that too.”
“Then why would he be testing our heater?”
“That’s what we want him to explain.”
Scott’s attorney had advised him to say nothing.
But silence did not stop digital evidence from speaking.
Police obtained a warrant for Karen’s email accounts.
There they found a conversation from seven weeks before the fire.
Scott had sent Karen an article about product liability claims involving outdoor propane heaters.
Karen replied:
People really get paid that much?
Scott answered:
Only when injuries are serious and there is evidence of a defect.
Two days later Karen searched online for the model number of Mark’s heater.
Then:
propane heater settlement injury
skin graft compensation
child burn lawsuit average
can manufacturer inspect heater after accident
how long propane residue remains
Mark read the search history in Detective Reyes’s office.
His fingers went numb.
“You’re telling me she planned it.”
Reyes remained careful.
“I’m telling you she researched the financial value of burn injuries before Liam was burned.”
Mark’s chair scraped backward as he stood.
He walked to the wall.
Then back.
“She planned to burn him.”
“We cannot state that yet.”
“What else can it mean?”
“There are degrees of criminal intent. She may have planned to stage a leak without intending anyone to be injured. She may have intended an accident. She may have acted recklessly. We need to prove what happened.”
Mark wanted certainty.
The law demanded evidence.
The evidence kept coming.
Scott’s credit card had purchased a new propane regulator three days before the fire.
That regulator was never found.
A search of his rental car records showed he had driven from another state to Mark’s town the afternoon before the accident.
Karen had told Mark Scott was in Arizona.
Liam remembered seeing him.
“He was by the fence,” Liam told Denise during a recorded interview.
“What was he doing?”
“Talking to Karen.”
“Did you hear them?”
“Only a little.”
“What did you hear?”
“She said, ‘It has to look old.’”
Mark was not in the room during that interview.
He watched it later.
Liam sat with his bandaged arm in his lap.
Small.
Serious.
Trying desperately to remember details adults had ordered him to forget.
Denise asked, “Did Scott talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He said I was lucky.”
“Why?”
“Because kids get cool scars.”
Mark had to pause the recording.
He walked outside the police station and stood beneath a tree until he could breathe normally.
When he returned, Reyes was waiting.
“We found Karen.”
Mark stopped.
“Where?”
“A motel outside Columbus.”
“Is she in custody?”
“Yes.”
Something inside him loosened.
Not relief exactly.
But the end of constant anticipation.
“She tried to run?”
“She used cash, changed vehicles twice and registered under another name.”
“That sounds like running.”
“It will be part of the case.”
“Did she say anything?”
“She wants an attorney.”
Mark nodded.
“Good.”
Reyes studied him.
“Good?”
“I don’t want explanations anymore.”
That was not entirely true.
He wanted explanations more than anything.
He wanted Karen to explain how a person ate breakfast beside a child, helped him with homework and then calculated the value of his injuries.
He wanted to know when her resentment became cruelty.
He wanted to know whether she had ever loved either of them.
But he no longer trusted any explanation she could give.
Karen was booked that evening on preliminary charges related to child endangerment, evidence tampering and forgery.
More charges were expected.
Scott remained under investigation.
The media learned of the arrest the next morning.
Mark discovered reporters outside Rachel’s home.
Someone had leaked the connection between the alleged heater accident and the insurance claim.
The first online headline read:
Stepmother Accused of Interfering With Child’s Burn Recovery in Million-Dollar Insurance Case
Mark wanted to break every phone in the house.
Liam saw the headline anyway.
A classmate sent it to him.
“Am I on the news?”
Mark sat beside him.
“People are talking about what happened.”
“Do they know my name?”
“Some probably do.”
Liam’s shoulders tightened.
“I don’t want them to.”
“I know.”
“Do I have to go to school?”
“Not until you’re ready.”
Liam stared at his arm.
“Are people going to think I’m stupid?”
“For what?”
“For touching the heater.”
Mark’s chest hurt.
“Liam, the person responsible for an unsafe situation is the adult who created it. Not the kid who was ordered to do something.”
“But I turned the knob.”
“Because an adult told you.”
“I could have run.”
“You should never have been put in a situation where you needed to run.”
Liam was quiet.
Then he asked, “Did Karen want me to get burned?”
Mark hated the question because he did not know the answer.
So he gave the only answer he could defend.
“I don’t know.”
Liam looked disappointed.
Mark continued.
“But I know she knew something was unsafe. I know she lied afterward. And I know none of it was your fault.”
Liam nodded slowly.
That evening, Mark received an unexpected call.
It was from Karen’s mother, Patricia.
Mark had spoken to her only a handful of times in three years.
Her voice sounded exhausted.
“I need to tell you something about Karen.”
Mark almost hung up.
Instead he said, “What?”
“She did something like this before.”
Every hair on his arms rose.
“To another child?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
There was a long silence.
“When Karen was nineteen, her father was injured at work.”
Mark waited.
“She told everyone the machine failed.”
“What really happened?”
Patricia’s voice broke.
“She had disabled a safety guard because she wanted him to finish faster.”
Mark sat down.
“Did anyone know?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“Her father survived. The company settled.”
“Karen got money?”
“No. But after that, she learned something.”
Mark already knew what Patricia was going to say.
May you like
She said it anyway.
“She learned that accidents can be worth more than the truth.”
