The Fire That Stopped at the Stone Door
Chapter 07 - The Fire That Stopped at the Stone Door
Emily reached Hawthorne House before the fire department.
Flames had consumed the library curtains and part of the wooden floor.
The hidden records room survived because its door was stone-lined.
Fire investigators found traces of accelerant.
Security cameras had been disabled.
Franklin claimed vandals were responsible.
Then a firefighter found a silver cuff link beneath the library window.
It carried the initials F.C.
Franklin said it had been stolen.
Emily expected his arrest.
Instead, Grant Wallace confessed.
He told investigators he started the fire alone.
Franklin acted shocked.
Emily did not believe either man.
Grant accepted charges for arson and attempted destruction of historical evidence. His lawyers requested bail.
During the hearing, Maya noticed Grant repeatedly looking toward Franklin.
Not like a conspirator.
Like a son waiting for approval.
Franklin never met his eyes.
Emily visited Grant in jail.
He laughed when she entered.
“Come to celebrate?”
“I came to ask why you are protecting him.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“He promised to acknowledge me publicly.”
“And did he?”
“He will.”
Emily placed a copy of Franklin’s television interview on the table.
In it, Franklin denied any biological relationship to Grant and called him a dishonest developer.
Grant watched without moving.
Emily recognized the same pain she had carried for years.
The hope that Franklin might finally choose his child.
“He will let you go to prison,” she said.
Grant looked away.
“He told me the records room was empty.”
“It contained letters from families your company displaced.”
Grant’s face changed.
He had believed Franklin was hiding tax records, not evidence of stolen homes and burial grounds.
Emily stood to leave.
Grant stopped her.
“There is a storage facility near the airport. Unit 814.”
May you like
“What is inside?”
“Everything your father thought he had destroyed.”
