Chapter 14 - Smoke and Glass
Jason used a bronze lamp to break the window.
Cold air rushed in.
"Mia, take the files," he said. "Rachel, stay with me."
Rachel coughed. "I'm not jumping from a second floor window."
"You're not. There's a roof below the east side."
The detective outside shouted that firefighters were coming.
Smoke thickened.
Jason climbed onto the sill, then helped Rachel step onto the narrow porch roof. Mia followed with the folders pressed under her jacket.
The roof sloped toward a lower balcony.
Rachel moved one careful step at a time.
"Don't look down," Jason said.
"I wasn't planning to."
Behind them, flames licked through the study doorway.
They reached the balcony and climbed inside through a guest room window just as firefighters entered the first floor.
Ten minutes later, Rachel sat inside an ambulance wrapped in a blanket.
Castillo arrived furious.
"You were supposed to wait for my team."
Jason looked at the smoking house. "We had a detective."
"Who was hit from behind before the fire started. He's conscious. He saw a woman leaving through the trees."
Mia stared at her. "Mom?"
"He couldn't see her face."
Rachel held up the flash drive.
"She didn't get everything."
At the station, technicians opened the files.
One folder contained years of financial records.
Another held scans of forged documents related to Rachel.
Then they found a video file dated the night David died.
Jason stopped breathing.
The footage came from a small camera inside the lake house study.
David stood near the desk arguing with Vanessa.
Grant paced behind her.
"I'm going to the board," David said. "Tomorrow."
Vanessa's voice shook with fury. "You'll destroy the company."
"You stole from it."
"I protected it."
David turned toward the door.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
The video glitched.
When it returned, the study was empty.
Then Grant walked back into frame alone.
He picked up the camera.
May you like
Before the file ended, he looked directly into the lens and whispered:
"She didn't mean to do it."
