THE BRICK FELL BEFORE THE TRUTH COULD BE BURIED

Wyatt woke to the smell of gasoline.

Sadie's door stood open. The chair he had used as a barricade lay on its side. He followed the odor down the corridor and saw orange light pulsing beneath the east wing doors.

"Fire!" he shouted.

The alarm did not answer.

He struck the manual switch. Nothing. Smoke rolled across the ceiling as he ran from room to room, pounding on doors. Guests and staff stumbled into the hall. Rosa appeared in a nightgown, coughing, and said Daniel was working in the east wing panel room.

Wyatt wrapped a curtain around his arm and forced the fire door open. Flames had climbed the paneled walls. In the center of the corridor, Daniel lay beside his tool case, one ankle trapped beneath a fallen beam.

Wyatt crawled to him.

"Sadie," Daniel gasped. "Conservatory."

Together they lifted the beam enough to pull Daniel free. A second crash showered sparks across the carpet. Wyatt half carried him toward the stairs while Rosa directed the staff through a service exit.

In the conservatory, Sadie heard the shouts. Celeste's head turned toward the east wing as firelight began to flicker against the glass.

"What did you do?" Sadie demanded.

"What was necessary."

"Daniel could die."

"Then the court will hear one less wounded son blaming a company for his father's failures."

Sadie grabbed a cast-iron plant stand and swung it into the door. The first blow cracked the glass. Celeste did not stop her. She simply watched, as if measuring how much desperation her daughter possessed.

On the third blow, the pane shattered. Sadie climbed through, slicing her palm, and ran toward the smoke.

Fire engines reached Rosemont before the estate's disabled alarms finally sounded. Firefighters contained the blaze to the east wing, but the panel room, Daniel's temporary office, and the records waiting for forensic collection were destroyed.

Daniel survived with a fractured ankle and smoke inhalation. Wyatt found Sadie in the courtyard and held her until the paramedics separated them. When she told him about Celeste's confession, he asked for the recording.

"She jammed it."

"Then it is your word against hers."

"Again."

Near dawn, fire investigator Nolan Price found the ignition device. It was a remote starter built from restoration equipment used to strip old paint. The serial number matched a unit registered to Wyatt's architectural firm.

The remote itself was discovered in the trunk of Wyatt's car.

Everett stood before the assembled guests and police with soot on his face and grief arranged carefully in his voice.

"I warned my daughter about this man," he said. "He has been obsessed with our property for years."

Wyatt stared at the remote in its evidence bag. "I have never seen that device."

Harold Vance handed Detective Mercer a folder. "Mr. Cole's firm recently lost a major Halston contract. There may be financial motive."

"You canceled that contract yesterday," Sadie said.

"Because of irregularities."

Mercer ordered everyone back. She read Wyatt his rights and placed him in handcuffs.

Sadie stepped between them. "My mother set the fire. She told me she would."

Celeste emerged from the crowd with a blanket over her cream suit. Her eyes filled with tears for the first time Sadie could remember.

"My daughter has not slept in days," she told Mercer. "Eleanor's death disturbed her deeply. Wyatt has encouraged terrible fantasies about us."

"Stop performing," Sadie said.

Celeste reached toward her. "Please let us help you."

Sadie recoiled, and cameras from arriving news crews caught the movement. Everett had summoned the press before the fire was extinguished.

Wyatt was taken away at sunrise.

By breakfast, every screen carried the same headline: Halston Heiress's Fiance Questioned in Rosemont Arson.

Sadie stood in the ruined corridor while ash fell like black snow. Daniel had told her the house kept better records than the family. The fire had destroyed the obvious cameras and the hidden network.

Then Rosa picked up a brass carriage clock from the floor. Its glass was cracked, but its hands still moved.

"Miss Eleanor gave this to the household staff," Rosa said. "She said it was for our protection."

Behind the clock face, a tiny blue light blinked.

The clock had watched the entire corridor.