Chapter 4 - Fire in the Orchard
Claire struck the hatch with both hands.
“Open this door!”
No answer came from above.
Evelyn climbed two steps and pushed with her shoulder, but the wooden panel was secured by something heavy.
A faint smell drifted into the cellar.
Smoke.
Claire noticed it at the same time.
“Someone started a fire.”
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
The cider barn contained dry timber, old barrels, and decades of dust. If flames reached the main structure, the cellar would become an oven.
Claire took out her phone.
No signal.
Evelyn ran toward the underground room and searched the walls. Thomas would not have built a hiding place with only one exit. He was too cautious.
The smoke thickened.
Claire coughed.
“Look for airflow.”
Evelyn raised her hand near the stones.
At the far wall, beside a shelf of ledgers, she felt a faint cold draft.
Together they moved the shelf.
Behind it was a narrow opening sealed with a wooden panel.
Claire kicked the panel twice.
The old wood split.
Beyond it was a tunnel.
They crawled through on hands and knees as smoke followed them. The passage sloped upward, ending beneath the roots of an ancient oak at the edge of the orchard.
Evelyn pushed against a covering of soil and leaves.
Cold night air rushed in.
They emerged twenty yards from the barn.
Flames climbed along the western wall.
Farm workers ran from the cottages carrying extinguishers and hoses. Someone had already called the fire brigade.
Evelyn stood, struggling to breathe.
A vehicle moved on the service road beyond the trees.
Its headlights remained off.
She could see only the dark outline of a car disappearing toward the northern gate.
Claire saw it too.
“Did you recognize it?”
“No.”
But Evelyn had noticed something else.
A broken rear light.
The following morning, Daniel arrived before the fire inspector.
He embraced Evelyn tightly.
“When I heard, I thought…”
His voice broke.
For a moment, she almost believed him.
Then Melissa stepped from their car.
The right rear light was intact.
Evelyn felt ashamed of her immediate suspicion.
Daniel looked toward the burned side of the barn.
“How did it start?”
“The inspector has not determined that.”
“Were you inside?”
“Yes.”
His face went pale.
“Why?”
“I was looking for old records.”
Melissa’s eyes moved toward Claire.
“What records?”
“Family records,” Claire said.
Daniel released his mother.
“Was anything destroyed?”
“Some ledgers.”
“Anything related to ownership?”
The question was too direct.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Why would you ask that?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Because of what you said at dinner.”
“What did I say?”
“That the farm might not come to me.”
Melissa intervened.
“This is not the time.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “Let him speak.”
Daniel rubbed his hands over his face.
“I’m tired of secrets. Father left debts, guarantees, hidden accounts, and restrictions no one will explain. Every time I ask about my future, I’m treated like a criminal.”
“The future is not something another person owes you.”
“I am your son.”
“That is a relationship, not a property claim.”
Daniel stared at the burned barn.
“What did you find?”
Evelyn thought of Rose’s photograph.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
His expression hardened.
“Then why did someone try to kill you?”
Melissa turned toward him.
“Daniel.”
“What? We are all thinking it.”
Claire stepped closer.
“We do not yet know the fire was deliberate.”
Daniel pointed toward the cellar entrance, now exposed by firefighters.
“Someone blocked the hatch.”
Claire said nothing.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Mother, let me help. Give me temporary authority over the farm’s operations. I can increase security and handle the investigation.”
“By signing what?”
“A management authorization.”
“Prepared by your investors?”
“Prepared by my attorney.”
“No.”
His shoulders dropped.
“You do not trust me.”
“I do not trust anyone who asks for control while the smoke is still rising.”
Daniel turned away.
Melissa watched Evelyn with an expression that was neither anger nor concern.
It was calculation.
After they left, Claire retrieved the document box from the cellar. The fire had damaged the outer room but had not reached the iron door.
The photograph, tape, and letter survived.
Claire placed them in her car.
“What will you do with the tape?” Evelyn asked.
“Have it professionally transferred and authenticated.”
“Could Thomas’s voice still be clear?”
“Possibly.”
Evelyn looked across the orchard.
“Find Rose.”
“That could take time.”
“Start with Margaret Mercer.”
Claire hesitated.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“The trust was designed to activate only if Daniel attempted a prohibited transfer. Someone has been requesting archived records under his name for nearly six months.”
“Daniel?”
“Perhaps.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“The requests were too careful. Whoever made them knew which files to access without triggering a notice.”
Evelyn remembered Melissa standing outside the study.
“What happens if they find Rose first?”
Claire closed the black file in her hands.
“They may try to make sure she never reaches Ashbourne.”
That evening, Evelyn went to the garage to speak with the estate manager.
Near the entrance, she saw a dark sedan parked behind a hedge.
Its right rear light was broken.
The vehicle belonged to someone who had worked at Ashbourne Farm for twenty-seven years.
May you like
Someone Evelyn trusted with every key on the estate.
Her brother-in-law, Walter Ashbourne.
