Chapter 14 - The Fire
By the time I reached the industrial park, police had blocked both entrances.
I parked three streets away and ran.
Smoke rolled above the warehouse in black waves. Firefighters dragged hoses across the pavement. Vanessa stood behind a cruiser wrapped in a gray blanket.
I grabbed her shoulders.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded too quickly.
“Where’s Daniel?”
“I saw him behind the warehouse.”
“Did police get him?”
“No.”
An officer ordered us farther back.
Vanessa kept staring at the flames.
“He did this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
She showed me a text.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
Time-stamped eight minutes before the fire call.
A detective took her phone.
Then another officer approached and asked if Daniel had access to any other properties.
Vanessa listed a storage unit, his brother’s hunting cabin, and a vacant office south of town.
I thought of the black SUV.
“What about vehicles?”
“He has a pickup registered to the company.”
The officer radioed the plate.
While we waited, Vanessa looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I almost laughed.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“That’s a lot.”
“I know.”
She wiped her face.
“I spent years thinking you were judging me.”
“I was mostly avoiding you.”
“That too.”
She managed a weak smile, then lost it.
“I liked being Mom’s favorite.”
I appreciated the honesty more than I wanted to.
“She made me feel like I was winning something.”
“You were.”
“I know.”
Her voice cracked.
“But I didn’t ask what it was costing you.”
I looked at the burning warehouse.
“No.”
“I called you selfish when you stopped lending me money.”
“Yes.”
“I told Daniel you’d always cave.”
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“I was wrong.”
I looked at her.
“You were.”
No hug.
No instant forgiveness.
Just truth.
A detective came running from the command truck.
“They found the pickup.”
“Where?” Vanessa asked.
“At an elementary school parking lot.”
My entire body went cold.
“What school?”
He checked his notes.
“Riverside Academy.”
Lily’s school.
I stopped breathing.
“She’s not there,” I said. “She’s with my neighbor.”
The detective nodded. “We know. The school is closed for winter break.”
Relief hit so hard my knees almost gave out.
Then he continued.
“But there’s something inside the truck.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“A backpack with your daughter’s name on it.”
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
It was not impossible.
Lily had left her school backpack at my parents’ house after a sleepover two weeks earlier.
Daniel had access to that house.
The detective’s expression changed.
“Ms. Morgan, there’s also a note.”
He held up a photo.
May you like
One sentence was written in black marker.
YOU TOOK MY FUTURE. I CAN TAKE YOURS.
