Chapter 6 - FIRE UNDER THE HOUSE
Smoke rolled up the east service stairwell before Evie reached the bottom landing.
Sebastian caught her by the shoulders and pulled her back.
“You are pregnant.”
“My mother's records are down there.”
“And you will not help her by collapsing from smoke.”
Evie fought him for one furious second, then heard a firefighter shouting for everyone to clear the corridor.
She hated that Sebastian was right.
She hated him more because he had been wrong when it mattered twenty-two years earlier.
The fire crew entered through the garden access while police moved the household into the ballroom.
Daniel sat under guard near one wall.
Lauren stood alone by a window.
Nobody spoke to either of them.
Evie paced until Helen ordered her to sit.
The baby's movements had become irregular from stress, and every quiet interval frightened her.
Forty minutes later, the fire chief entered carrying soot on his uniform.
“The fire is contained.”
Evie stood.
“The records?”
“Some damage, but most of the room was protected by a steel door.”
“Was it arson?” Sebastian asked.
“We found an accelerant.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
Sebastian noticed.
“Look at me.”
Daniel did not.
“Did you start that fire?”
Daniel looked up at last.
“I have been watched all night.”
“That was not my question.”
“No.”
Lauren suddenly spoke.
“He knew about the tunnel.”
Daniel snapped toward her.
“So did you.”
“Because you showed it to me.”
The detective stepped closer.
“When?”
Lauren folded her arms tightly across her chest.
“Three months ago.”
Evie felt sick.
“What were you doing in the tunnel?”
Lauren stared at Daniel.
He said nothing.
She answered for him.
“Moving documents.”
“What documents?”
“Old board files.”
Daniel exploded.
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I carried the boxes.”
“Because I was reorganizing archives.”
“At midnight?”
Sebastian closed his eyes briefly.
Evie understood the expression.
He had spent a lifetime teaching Daniel that power could silence consequences.
Now the lesson was being used against him.
The detective asked Lauren to describe the boxes.
She mentioned legal folders, audit records, and one locked case Daniel refused to let her touch.
“What did the case look like?”
“Black leather.”
Sebastian's eyes opened.
Evie saw recognition.
“You know it.”
Sebastian did not answer immediately.
“That case belonged to your father.”
Evie's skin prickled.
“What was in it?”
“I never knew.”
“That's becoming your favorite answer.”
Sebastian accepted the hit.
A police technician entered the ballroom carrying a tablet.
They had recovered security footage from a hidden camera in the tunnel.
The camera was old, installed during a previous renovation, but still connected to a local recorder.
The footage showed Daniel and Lauren entering the tunnel repeatedly over the last three months.
Sometimes they carried boxes.
Sometimes Brennan accompanied them.
Then the technician showed footage from that night.
At 12:41 a.m., Brennan entered alone.
At 12:47, another figure followed him.
The second person wore a dark coat and baseball cap.
The face was hidden.
At 12:53, Brennan ran back toward the garden entrance.
The second figure did not emerge.
The fire alarm began at 12:58.
“So someone may still be down there,” Evie said.
The fire chief shook his head.
“We searched the accessible route.”
“Accessible.”
The word caught her attention.
“My father designed those tunnels.”
She looked at Sebastian.
“Were there hidden branches?”
“One.”
“Where?”
Sebastian hesitated.
Evie stared at him.
“Seriously?”
“I am trying to remember.”
“No, you're deciding whether to tell me.”
He exhaled.
“There was an old wine passage leading beneath the original chapel foundation.”
“The estate had a chapel?”
“Before the north wing was built.”
The detective radioed the search team.
Minutes later, officers found a sealed iron door behind a rack in the tunnel.
It opened with difficulty.
Behind it was a narrow stone passage untouched by the fire.
At the far end they found the black leather case.
They also found Cole Brennan unconscious but alive.
His hands were tied.
He had been struck on the head.
The discovery changed everything.
If Brennan had been helping Daniel, someone had turned on him.
If Brennan had not started the fire, then the hidden figure had.
Brennan was taken to the hospital under police guard.
The black case was brought upstairs and photographed before being opened.
Inside were letters, share certificates, and an old mini-cassette recorder sealed in plastic.
Evie's hands trembled when she saw the first letter.
It was addressed to Sebastian.
The handwriting belonged to Claire Mercer.
Sebastian read the first line and sat down heavily.
Evie took the page from him.
Sebastian,
If anything happens to me, do not let Noah believe I chose to leave him and Evie.
Evie stopped breathing.
The next sentence blurred behind tears.
I am not sick, and I am not confused.
I know exactly what Graham is doing, and I know you are helping him hide it.
Sebastian covered his face with one hand.
Evie forced herself to continue.
Claire described account numbers, shell entities, and meetings.
Then the final paragraph changed everything again.
There is one more person involved.
He is the reason I am afraid to go home.
I have recorded his name.
Evie looked at the old cassette recorder.
The room went silent.
The technician found compatible equipment in the media cabinet and connected the tape.
Static crackled through the ballroom speakers.
Then Claire's voice filled the room, young and breathless and alive across twenty-two years.
“If you're hearing this, Sebastian, then I was right not to trust any of you.”
Evie covered her mouth.
On the tape, Claire began to cry.
“The man helping Graham is someone Noah loves like family.”
A door slammed somewhere in the mansion.
Every officer turned.
Daniel suddenly lunged for the media console.
A guard grabbed him.
The tape kept playing.
May you like
Claire said the name.
And Sebastian Cross whispered, “Oh God.”
