Chapter 17 - The House Fights Back
The garage door was open when I arrived. Water streamed down the driveway, turning to ice at the curb. Inside, the ceiling sagged in three places. A plumber hurried past me carrying a wet toolbox.
"Don't go into the basement," he warned. "We shut off the main, but the stairs aren't safe yet."
The house smelled like soaked wood and cold dust. I could hear water dripping inside walls I'd known since I was a child.
The neighbor, Mr. Harlan, stood on the porch in his slippers and a borrowed coat.
"I saw the garage light on all night," he said. "Then water came under the door. I called your folks, but nobody answered."
I thanked him and called Maya, the insurer, and an emergency repair crew.
The plumber returned with a grim expression. "Heat was off long enough for the pipes to freeze. Someone turned the thermostat all the way down. The damage didn't happen in an hour."
"Can you document that?"
"Sure can."
My mother arrived while a crew was carrying fans through the front door. She stood by the curb, her face hard.
"What did you do to my house?" she demanded.
"I called people to keep it from falling apart."
"You probably shut the heat off when you stopped paying our bills."
"The gas account is active. The thermostat was turned down inside."
She looked away too quickly.
"You can't blame me for old pipes."
"I'm not guessing. I'm documenting."
Rachel climbed out, filming. "Look at this. She's destroying the family home."
I looked into her phone and said, "Please film the plumber's truck, the wet walls, and the emergency crew. My insurance adjuster may appreciate the footage."
Rachel lowered the camera.
By evening, the damage was contained. I could not prove who'd lowered the thermostat, but I wasn't going to pretend it was an ordinary coincidence.
Maya met me outside the house. We stood in the cold, watching equipment hum behind the fogged windows.
"I don't want this place anymore," I said. "Not the house. Not the fights. None of it."
"Then we'll work toward a lawful sale as soon as the title issue allows one."
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The next afternoon Dad came with June, after the doctors discharged him. The hospital wristband was still on his wrist. He stared at the restoration trucks, then at the soaked doorway.
He looked at the flooded house and said, "Claire, I have one last thing to confess. I was here when Elaine turned the heat down."
