Chapter 12 - Fire on the Lake
Smoke filled the boathouse in seconds.
Torres fired once. The bullet struck the floor beside Celeste, forcing her back.
Daniel tucked Lily under his coat and ran for the dock.
"Rachel!" he shouted into his phone, though he had no idea whether the call had connected. "I have her!"
Behind him, Nora coughed and stumbled.
Daniel turned back.
A burning beam had fallen across her legs.
"Go!" she screamed. "Take Lily!"
He couldn't.
He handed Lily to Torres at the doorway and ran into the smoke.
"Daniel!"
He lifted the beam with both hands. Heat tore through his sleeves. Nora dragged herself free.
Then Celeste appeared through the smoke, gun raised.
"You should have left her," she said.
Nora stared at her mother.
"You really would've let me burn."
Celeste did not answer.
That answer was enough.
Nora slammed a metal hook into Celeste's wrist. The gun dropped through a gap in the dock and disappeared into the lake.
Police pulled everyone outside seconds before the roof collapsed.
Celeste was handcuffed on the shore.
Her crimson gown was black with smoke. For the first time in Daniel's life, she looked small.
Rachel arrived in a police SUV and ran straight to Lily.
She kissed every inch of the baby's face while crying so hard she could barely breathe.
Daniel wrapped them both in his arms.
"We're done," he whispered. "It's over."
Torres heard him.
"Not quite."
She held up the ledger, soaked but readable.
"Your mother wasn't just hiding debt. These transfers connect to three judges, a state senator, and someone inside St. Matthew's Hospital."
Daniel stared at her.
"The kidnapping?"
"Was bigger than Celeste."
Nora, wrapped in a blanket near the ambulance, lifted her head.
"I know who helped us get into the hospital."
Rachel turned.
"Who?"
Nora looked directly at Daniel.
"Your uncle Robert."
Daniel stopped breathing.
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Robert Ashbourne had died five years ago.
At least, that's what the family had been told.
