Chapter 6 - The Fire Did Not Take the Truth

The smoke never reached the ballroom.

Later, the fire marshal would describe the damage as contained to two service rooms and part of the west records corridor. No one was seriously injured. The automatic systems that still functioned did enough until the local department arrived.

Standing in the conservatory with sixty frightened people wrapped in coats and table linens, I did not know any of that yet.

All I knew was that the west windows had turned gray, the alarms would not stop, and my husband had gone back inside.

“Serena.”

Rebecca’s hand closed around my elbow.

I realized I had taken two steps toward the door.

“You told him to help evacuate,” she said.

“He did.”

“And now?”

“He went to find Noah.”

“Then let him.”

I hated that she was right.

My abdomen tightened again.

I breathed through it.

Rebecca noticed.

“How far apart?”

“They’re not regular.”

“That was not my question.”

I almost smiled.

“Ten minutes, maybe twelve.”

“We’re getting you checked.”

“I am not leaving until I know everyone is out.”

“You sound exactly like every doctor’s nightmare.”

“I’m a nurse.”

“That explains it.”

The absurd little exchange steadied me.

Across the conservatory, Evelyn Dre stood with her husband, Thomas, while Cole’s guards counted guests. Fiona sat in a chair near the door, wrapped in someone else’s coat. Her face was pale.

Then she looked past me.

“Where’s Graham?”

Nobody answered.

A firefighter entered through the terrace, spoke to Cole, then moved on.

Two minutes later, Noah appeared.

His jacket was streaked with soot.

I crossed the room as fast as my body allowed.

“Matthias?”

“Fine.”

“Where is he?”

“Coming.”

“Graham?”

Noah looked toward Cole.

“Missing.”

My heart dropped.

“What happened?”

“We found his office open. The executive archive drive was on the desk.”

“So he left it?”

“No. He was trying to take it apart.”

I stared.

“Did he?”

“No.”

“Then where is he?”

“Service stairwell was open.”

Cole swore softly.

The east side of the estate connected to garages, storage rooms, and a delivery lane. In ordinary weather, someone could reach the outer road without crossing the front drive.

Tonight, snow was turning the lawns white faster than staff could clear them.

“He won’t get far,” Cole said.

Noah shook his head.

“Do not assume that.”

Matthias came through the door.

His hair was damp with melted snow and smoke. A dark smear crossed one sleeve.

He saw me and came straight over.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

“The baby?”

“I’m still pregnant.”

His eyes closed for half a second.

I almost reached for him.

My hand stayed at my side.

He noticed.

So did I.

“What did you find?” Rebecca asked.

Matthias looked at Noah.

“The drive is intact enough to recover data.”

“Enough?”

“Someone damaged the casing,” Noah said, “but the storage module looks untouched.”

Rebecca nodded.

“Good.”

Fiona stood slowly.

“Graham did this?”

Noah answered carefully.

“We saw him leaving the office. He ran when Cole called his name.”

That was not proof of everything.

But it was no longer nothing.

I turned to Matthias.

“Why would he burn the west wing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Try.”

He looked through the glass toward the house he had grown up in.

“My grandfather left voting control of the company divided between my father’s branch and Graham’s father’s branch. When Graham’s father died, those shares passed into a trust. Graham gets full voting control if he becomes chief executive.”

“Which he doesn’t while you are there.”

“No.”

“And the Hensley acquisition?”

“If it closes, the combined board structure changes. His trust loses leverage.”

Noah nodded slowly.

“So the deal he publicly supports reduces his power.”

“Yes.”

Rebecca’s face hardened.

“He also has eighteen million dollars to explain.”

Matthias looked at her.

“If Hensley closes, their compliance team audits our legacy vendors.”

“And if the deal fails?”

“The audit disappears.”

I felt the pieces move.

Missing contracts.

Fake consultants.

Threat page.

A party filled with board members.

“What was supposed to happen tonight?” I asked.

Noah looked toward the smoke-darkened windows.

“Maybe this.”

“An office fire?”

“Enough to destroy originals. Enough confusion to move people. Enough damage to delay the deal.”

I pulled the photocopy from my clutch again.

“Then why ‘collateral losses’?”

No one answered.

Fiona spoke from behind me.

“Because Rebecca was supposed to be in the archive at nine-thirty.”

We all turned.

She looked sick.

“The note.”

Rebecca’s face drained.

Fiona continued. “I didn’t send it. I only sent Serena the envelope.”

“You knew about the note?” I asked.

“No. But if someone wanted the records destroyed and Rebecca was lured into that room…”

She stopped.

No one needed the rest.

Rebecca sat down.

For the first time all night, she looked seventy-two.

Matthias’s voice became very quiet.

“He was willing to let her die.”

Noah corrected him.

“We do not know who wrote the note.”

Matthias looked at him.

“No.”

“Not yet.”

That mattered.

We were all becoming too eager for the story to have one villain because one villain would make the rest of us innocent.

I looked at Fiona.

“Who knew you had copied the threat page?”

“Graham, maybe. One of the lawyers. I left the draft room when I photographed it.”

“Could someone else have seen?”

“Yes.”

“Could Matthias?”

Her eyes moved to him.

“He was not there.”

“Could Rebecca?”

“No.”

Noah said, “We need the recovered audit data before we decide what we know.”

A paramedic approached me.

“Mrs. Dre?”

I sighed.

Rebecca had already betrayed me.

“My contractions are irregular,” I said before he could ask. “No bleeding. No fluid. Baby is moving.”

He blinked.

“Still checking you.”

“Fine.”

They settled me in a side room at the nearby guesthouse while the fire department worked. The baby’s heartbeat was strong. The contractions eased with rest and water.

Matthias stood outside the door the entire time.

I knew because I could see his shoes beneath the gap.

When the paramedic left, I said, “You can come in.”

He opened the door.

For once, he did not sit close.

He took the chair against the opposite wall.

“I’m sorry.”

I stared at him.

“For which thing?”

“All of them.”

“That is not an apology. That is a category.”

He nodded.

“You’re right.”

He rubbed his hands together.

“I should have listened to Rebecca. I should never have given Graham my key. I should have stopped the risk group. I should have told you the truth about Fiona before there was a Fiona.”

I looked away.

“Before?”

“Our marriage was bad before I cheated.”

“Our marriage was tired.”

He flinched.

“That’s fair.”

“We had three schedules. Your company. My shifts. This pregnancy. We were scared.”

“I was.”

“So was I.”

“I felt like everything I touched was a responsibility. The company. My parents. The boys’ foundation work. The baby. You.”

I looked back at him.

“Do not make me the weight that drove you into another woman’s bed.”

“I’m not.”

“Good.”

He swallowed.

“I am saying I wanted somewhere I could be the version of myself that didn’t owe anyone anything.”

“And Fiona gave you that.”

“For a while.”

I thought of the necklace.

“Did you love her?”

“No.”

“Did she know that?”

“I don’t know.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“No.”

There it was again.

Matthias surviving by not asking questions that might require him to change.

A knock sounded.

Noah entered carrying a tablet.

“I have something.”

He looked at me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He set the tablet on the table.

“We recovered the executive log.”

Matthias moved closer but stayed standing.

Noah displayed a list of approvals.

“Twenty-three suspicious vendor payments over seven months. Seventeen were authorized from Graham’s office using Matthias’s credential.”

Rebecca had joined us at the doorway.

“And the other six?” she asked.

Noah’s face remained unreadable.

“Four came from remote access nodes we need to trace.”

“And two?”

He looked at Matthias.

“From Matthias’s office while he was physically in the building.”

Silence.

Matthias stared at the screen.

“When?”

Noah read the dates.

Matthias’s face changed.

“I remember the second one.”

“What happened?” I asked.

He looked at me.

“Graham brought me a stack of Hensley integration approvals. He said legal had cleared them. I approved the batch.”

“Without reading them?”

“I reviewed the summary pages.”

Noah’s voice was flat.

“Then you did authorize at least one fraudulent payment.”

Matthias sat down.

Not framed.

Not innocent.

Not the mastermind either.

Something uglier and more ordinary.

Careless power.

Rebecca looked at him with open disappointment.

“This company trusted you.”

He stared at the floor.

“I know.”

“No. You know now.”

Cole appeared in the hall.

“We found Graham’s car still in the garage.”

Noah looked up.

“So he’s on foot?”

“Maybe.”

Cole held out a small plastic evidence bag.

Inside was a brass key with a red paper tag.

“We found this in the snow outside the service stairs.”

Matthias leaned closer.

“What is it?”

Cole looked toward the dark estate.

“The old gatehouse.”

I knew the gatehouse.

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It sat near the eastern property wall, beside the private road.

And according to the diagram in my clutch, it was the one building someone had circled twice.