Chapter 8 - FIRE IN THE EAST WING
Amelia crossed the room and tested the door.
Locked.
Sabrina began coughing.
Smoke thickened near the ceiling.
“Get down,” Amelia ordered.
She grabbed the piano bench and smashed it against the nearest window. The first strike cracked the glass. The second broke it.
Cold night air rushed inside.
The music room was on the second floor.
Below the window, a stone terrace roof extended six feet from the wall.
Amelia climbed onto the sill.
“You first.”
Sabrina stared down.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“It’s too far.”
“The terrace is eight feet below us.”
“I’ll fall.”
“I’ll hold you.”
Flames appeared beneath the door.
Amelia lowered Sabrina through the window until her feet touched the terrace roof.
“Move away from the wall.”
Sabrina crawled to safety.
Amelia returned for the recording device and wedding invitation.
The door burst inward.
Fire rolled across the ceiling.
Through the smoke, Amelia saw a figure wearing a dark mask.
The intruder moved toward the piano.
Amelia leaped through the window as flames engulfed the curtains.
She landed hard on the terrace and rolled.
Sabrina pulled her away from the broken glass.
Together they climbed down a maintenance ladder.
Alarms began ringing throughout the manor.
Staff rushed outside.
Vanessa appeared in the garden wearing a robe.
“What happened?”
Amelia studied her face.
If Vanessa had set the fire, she was an extraordinary actress.
“The music room caught fire,” Sabrina said.
Vanessa looked toward the broken window.
“Were you inside?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, genuine fear crossed her face.
She grabbed Sabrina’s shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
Sabrina pulled away.
“Someone locked us in.”
Vanessa turned toward Amelia.
“What did you do?”
Amelia nearly laughed.
Firefighters entered the house.
Marcus Reed appeared near the fountain, speaking into a radio.
He was gray-haired.
He wore dark glasses despite the night.
And on his right hand was Robert’s West Point ring.
Amelia crossed the garden before he noticed her.
She caught his wrist.
“Where did you get this?”
Marcus tried to pull away.
Vanessa shouted, “Let him go.”
Amelia twisted the ring from his finger.
Inside the band were Robert’s initials.
R.E.H.
Sabrina stared at it.
“You told us it was buried with Dad.”
Vanessa’s face went pale.
Marcus reached for the ring.
Amelia stepped back.
“You followed me to Fort Reed.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You sent a man into Unit 317.”
Marcus gave a cold smile.
“Can you prove that?”
“Not yet.”
Vanessa moved between them.
“Marcus has worked for this family for thirty years.”
“Because he is family,” Amelia said.
Vanessa said nothing.
Sabrina looked from Marcus to her mother.
“Who is he?”
Marcus removed his glasses.
His eyes were the same shade of green as Vanessa’s.
“My brother,” Vanessa said.
Sabrina covered her mouth.
Amelia had suspected it.
Hearing it still changed the shape of the story.
“Why did you hide him?” Sabrina asked.
“Our father was violent,” Vanessa replied. “Marcus took another surname and left.”
“He has the same surname written on your wedding invitation.”
Vanessa looked at Amelia.
“You found it.”
“It nearly burned with us.”
Marcus’s voice became hard.
“You should have let the past remain buried.”
Amelia stepped toward him.
“You attempted to murder two federal service members.”
Sabrina looked startled.
“I’m not a federal service member.”
“Not you,” Amelia said.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Marcus glanced at her.
That glance was enough.
Amelia turned slowly toward Vanessa.
“Who else was in that room?”
Vanessa did not answer.
Then Amelia remembered the dark figure she had seen through the smoke.
The intruder had moved toward the piano, not toward them.
The fire may have been intended to destroy evidence, not kill them.
But someone else had locked the door.
Two people.
Two different objectives.
A firefighter approached.
“We found evidence of an accelerant in the hallway.”
Amelia asked, “Anything else?”
“A military-grade signal jammer near the ventilation system.”
Vanessa looked at Marcus.
Marcus looked genuinely confused.
The firefighter continued.
“And this was beneath the piano.”
He handed Amelia a scorched metal tag.
It bore the emblem of Vale Continental Bank.
Arthur Vale’s bank.
Amelia turned toward Jonathan, who had just arrived through the gate.
His face was white as he watched the flames.
“Where is your father?” she asked.
Jonathan looked around the garden.
“He was supposed to be here.”
A black SUV crashed through the open gate.
It stopped beside the fountain.
The driver’s door opened.
Arthur Vale fell onto the gravel.
Blood covered his shirt.
He looked at Amelia and raised a trembling hand.
May you like
“Box 419,” he gasped.
Then he collapsed.
