Chapter 10 – Fire in the Mansion
Chapter 10 – Fire in the Mansion
The mansion's security alarm screamed through every hallway.
Jonathan sprang to his feet.
"Lock every entrance to the library," he ordered.
Michael grabbed his phone. "Already done."
Outside, rain lashed against the tall windows, turning the gardens into a blur of silver and black. Lightning flashed, illuminating the long driveway where security guards were running toward the front entrance.
Elena held Lucy tightly.
"What do we do?"
Jonathan looked around the room.
"We stay together."
"No one leaves alone."
An Unexpected Arrival
The heavy oak doors burst open.
Two security guards rushed inside, both breathing hard.
"Sir!"
Jonathan stepped forward.
"Where is he?"
The older guard looked confused.
"There was no man."
Michael frowned.
"What?"
"We saw Mrs. Hayes' car entering the gate. Another vehicle followed behind it, but before we reached the front drive, it disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"It turned off every headlight and vanished near the west gardens."
Jonathan's instincts sharpened.
"A distraction."
Michael immediately understood.
"They never intended to enter through the front."
The Darkness
Without warning, every light inside the mansion went out.
The chandeliers died.
The lamps faded.
The security monitors went black.
Only flashes of lightning illuminated the room.
Lucy gasped.
"I don't like this."
A second later, the emergency generator should have started.
It didn't.
Michael cursed under his breath.
"They disabled the backup."
Someone had planned this.
Smoke
A strange smell drifted into the library.
Not wood.
Not old books.
Smoke.
Harold sniffed the air.
"Something's burning."
Jonathan hurried to the hallway.
Gray smoke curled beneath the ceiling.
Within seconds it thickened.
A maid ran toward them, coughing.
"The west wing!"
She struggled for breath.
"It's on fire!"
Chaos
The mansion erupted into panic.
Staff members shouted from every direction.
Security officers split into teams.
Some searched for intruders.
Others rushed toward the growing fire.
Jonathan grabbed a nearby extinguisher.
"Michael!"
"I'm with you."
Harold stopped them.
"No."
Jonathan turned.
"If this fire is intentional, someone wants you away from the library."
Michael nodded slowly.
"He's right."
Jonathan looked toward the hidden safe.
The documents.
The videotape.
The will.
Whoever started the fire wasn't trying to destroy the mansion.
They were trying to destroy the evidence.
The Real Target
Jonathan raced back into the library.
Everything looked untouched.
Then Michael noticed something.
"The safe."
The hidden compartment stood slightly open.
Jonathan's heart sank.
"I locked it."
Michael hurried over.
The steel door had been forced.
Not by brute strength.
By someone who knew exactly how to bypass the mechanism.
Inside...
The passports remained.
The cash remained.
But the black folder labeled CALLAWAY PROJECT was gone.
So was the VHS tape.
Jonathan clenched his fists.
"They were here."
Vivian's Performance
Vivian suddenly appeared at the library doorway, coughing dramatically.
Her cream-colored blouse was smudged with soot.
"Nathan—"
She caught herself and corrected, "Jonathan!"
"I've been looking everywhere for you!"
She looked terrified.
"The whole west wing is burning!"
Jonathan stared at her.
"You weren't at the charity meeting."
She blinked.
"What?"
"You said you had a charity meeting."
"I did."
Michael interrupted quietly.
"We checked."
"There wasn't one scheduled tonight."
For the briefest moment, Vivian froze.
Then tears filled her eyes.
"You think I started this?"
Jonathan didn't answer.
He simply watched her.
Years ago, he would have rushed to comfort her.
Now he noticed something else.
Despite the smoke...
Her shoes were perfectly clean.
Lucy Speaks Again
Everyone hurried toward the main staircase as firefighters began arriving outside.
Lucy suddenly stopped walking.
She stared toward the grandfather clock in the hallway.
"Wait."
Elena looked down.
"What is it?"
"The lady."
"What lady?"
Lucy pointed toward Vivian.
"She came out of there."
Jonathan frowned.
"There?"
Lucy nodded.
"The little door behind the clock."
Michael immediately inspected the antique clock.
Hidden behind its wooden frame was a narrow service passage once used by household staff nearly a century earlier.
Fresh footprints covered the dusty floor.
Jonathan followed them with his flashlight.
The passage led directly...
To the library.
A second entrance.
The perfect escape route.
The Chase
"She's running!"
One of the guards shouted from downstairs.
Jonathan spun around.
Vivian had disappeared.
Michael took off down the corridor.
Jonathan followed.
The smoke grew thicker with every step.
At the end of the hallway, a window stood open.
Rain poured inside.
Outside, a dark figure raced across the gardens.
"Stop!"
Jonathan shouted.
The figure never looked back.
Security guards pursued across the soaked lawn.
Lightning flashed.
For one brief second, Jonathan saw the runner clearly.
It wasn't Vivian.
It was a tall man wearing a black raincoat.
Charles Calloway.
The Burning Evidence
Firefighters finally contained the blaze in the west wing.
Most of the mansion had been saved.
But one room had suffered catastrophic damage.
Jonathan stepped inside, surrounded by charred beams and blackened walls.
"This wasn't random."
Michael pointed toward the remains of a home office.
"This room stored your father's archived business records."
Every cabinet had collapsed.
Every file had burned.
Everything connected to Charles Calloway's partnership had been reduced to ash.
Almost everything.
Near the fireplace, something metallic glinted beneath a fallen beam.
Michael carefully pulled it free.
A small fireproof lockbox.
Its exterior was scorched but intact.
Jonathan slowly opened it.
Inside lay a single envelope.
Across the front, written in his father's unmistakable handwriting, were seven chilling words:
If they burn the house, open this.
Jonathan looked at Michael.
"They knew."
Michael nodded grimly.
"Your father expected someone would eventually try to erase the truth."
Before Jonathan could open the envelope, one of the firefighters rushed into the room.
"Mr. Hayes!"
"What is it?"
"We found someone outside."
Jonathan's heart pounded.
"Who?"
The firefighter swallowed hard.
"A woman."
"She's unconscious."
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"And she was carrying the missing black folder."
End of Chapter 10
