Chapter 14 - the night hawthorne ridge burned)
The generator did not start.
That was the first sign.
Samuel tested it every month.
Nora had watched him do it.
If the electricity failed, Hawthorne Ridge should have lit again within eight seconds.
Eight seconds passed.
Then twenty.
Nothing.
Calvin drew his gun.
“Everybody away from the windows.”
Marcus ran upstairs.
“My girls.”
Nora followed.
Brooke and Sophie were already awake.
“What happened?” Brooke asked.
“Shoes on. Now.”
Sophie started crying.
Marcus knelt.
“Hey. Look at me. You’re okay.”
It was the calmest Nora had ever seen him.
Calvin called from downstairs.
“Back exit.”
Gerald joined them.
Elaine carried Samuel’s banker’s box.
Nora said, “Leave it.”
“No.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
A smell entered the upstairs hallway.
Gasoline.
Nora froze.
“Calvin.”
He smelled it too.
“Move.”
They reached the back staircase.
Glass shattered downstairs.
Then flames.
Fire climbed the kitchen curtains with terrifying speed.
Sophie screamed.
Marcus lifted her.
Nora grabbed Brooke’s hand.
They moved toward the rear door.
Locked.
Calvin kicked it.
Once.
Twice.
Wood cracked.
Smoke filled the hall.
Gerald coughed.
Elaine would not release the banker’s box.
Nora grabbed it from her.
“Let it go.”
“It has Caroline’s records.”
“You cannot help her if you die.”
Elaine finally released it.
Nora threw the box toward the front room.
Calvin broke the door.
Cold night air rushed in.
They spilled into the yard.
A shot cracked.
Calvin pushed Nora down.
“Tree line.”
Another shot.
Marcus covered his daughters behind the stone garden wall.
Nora crawled toward them.
Elaine screamed.
Gerald had fallen.
For one horrifying moment Nora thought he had been shot.
Then she saw he had tripped.
Calvin dragged him behind cover.
Flames spread through the first floor.
The old house glowed orange behind them.
Samuel’s workshop windows shattered.
Nora stared.
The hidden room.
The photographs.
The ledgers still remaining.
Her father’s tools.
Her childhood bedroom.
Everything.
Marcus grabbed her shoulder.
“Do not.”
“I have to get the drive.”
“What drive?”
“Evelyn’s recording.”
“It’s on the laptop.”
“Inside.”
Marcus stared at the flames.
“No.”
“Nora.”
“No.”
She tried to stand.
Marcus pulled her down.
She shoved him.
He caught both her wrists.
“Dad is dead.”
She froze.
Marcus’s face was covered with soot.
“You cannot save every thing he touched.”
Nora stared at him.
He was crying.
“I already buried him once,” Marcus whispered. “I’m not burying you too.”
Another gunshot struck the stone wall.
Calvin fired toward the tree line.
Sirens approached in the distance.
The shooter retreated.
By the time fire engines reached Hawthorne Ridge, the roof above the kitchen had collapsed.
Nora stood barefoot in the wet grass.
She had lost one shoe.
Sophie wore Nora’s coat.
Elaine sat in an ambulance.
Gerald had oxygen beneath his nose.
Marcus stood beside his daughters.
The house burned.
Calvin approached.
“We found something.”
Nora looked at him.
“What?”
“Vehicle abandoned half a mile east.”
“Shooter?”
“No.”
“Owner?”
“Stolen.”
Nora stared at the flames.
Calvin continued.
“There was a phone inside.”
“Whose?”
“A burner.”
“Anything on it?”
“One outgoing call at 11:07.”
“To?”
Calvin’s face hardened.
“Marcus.”
Everyone turned.
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Nora looked at her brother.
His mouth opened.
“No.”
Calvin pulled out handcuffs.
“Marcus Farwell, put your hands where I can see them.”
Brooke screamed.
Marcus backed away.
“No. I did not call anyone.”
Nora stepped between them.
“Calvin.”
“The phone called him nineteen minutes before the fire started.”
“That doesn’t prove Marcus answered.”
Calvin looked at her.
“It connected for four minutes.”
Marcus’s face crumpled.
“I can explain.”
Nora turned slowly.
“You said you didn’t call anyone.”
“I didn’t.”
“Explain.”
Marcus looked at Elaine.
Then at Gerald.
Then at his daughters.
“I called a number Dean gave me months ago.”
Nora’s blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“Because I thought it belonged to someone who could buy my debt.”
“Who?”
Marcus swallowed.
“I didn’t know his name.”
Calvin cuffed him.
Marcus did not resist.
Brooke sobbed.
Nora stepped closer.
“What did you tell him?”
Marcus’s eyes filled with shame.
“That we found Evelyn’s recording.”
Nora stared at him.
“You told them.”
“I didn’t know they would burn the house.”
“You told them.”
“I thought I could trade the information for my girls’ safety.”
Nora slapped him.
Hard.
Marcus accepted it.
“I’m sorry.”
The roof of Hawthorne Ridge collapsed behind them.
A wave of sparks rose into the night.
Calvin led Marcus toward a cruiser.
Then Sophie screamed.
“Wait!”
Everyone turned.
The twelve-year-old pointed toward Samuel’s workshop.
A figure stood near the burning basement entrance.
A woman.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
Watching the house burn.
Nora stopped breathing.
The woman looked directly at her.
Then disappeared into the smoke.
May you like
Elaine whispered a name.
“Evelyn.”
