Chapter 14 - A Fire in the Hallway

Tess smelled gasoline before she saw the smoke. "That's not a kitchen fire."

Mara shoved everyone toward the rear staircase. Naomi grabbed her mother's notebook and the recorder. June scooped up her laptop. Claire had already called the fire department.

The hallway outside the office was filling with black smoke. Someone had poured fuel along the stairwell door and set it alight. Flames climbed the paint. Naomi pulled back, coughing.

"The back roof," Mara said. "The bakery has a ladder to the next building."

They moved fast, crawling beneath the worst smoke. Through an upstairs window they reached the roof. June helped Tess across the gap to the neighboring fire escape, then turned back for Naomi. A loud pop came from below. Heat struck Naomi's face.

For an instant, she was back outside Briar House, screaming into a phone while her mother's voice vanished.

"Naomi!" Tess shouted. "Look at me. One foot here. Then the other."

Naomi made the jump. Claire landed beside her moments later, clutching her father's folder to her chest. By the time they reached the sidewalk, Mara's office windows glowed orange.

"Somebody tried to burn us alive," June said, shaking.

Mara looked at the building, then at the people beside her. "They weren't trying to frighten us anymore."

The next morning, June received security footage from the bakery. It showed a masked figure carrying a gas can into the back stairwell. Behind the mask, nothing was visible but a dark jacket. Then a second camera caught the license plate of the vehicle that dropped the figure off.

The car belonged to a Sterling security contractor. Its largest public contract had been approved by Detective Nolan Weller.

Mara sent the evidence to prosecutors and the fire marshal, and requested witness protection.

Naomi went home with Tess and finally slept for three hours.

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