Chapter 16 - The Fire
Three nights later, the Carter family woke to smoke.
The detached garage was burning.
Mark heard the alarm, grabbed Noah, and ran upstairs for June while Sarah called 911.
Flames climbed the outside wall but had not reached the house.
They escaped through the front door into cold rain.
Noah stood barefoot on the lawn, shaking.
"She did this."
"We don't know that," Mark said.
A firefighter shouted for everyone to move farther back.
The garage roof collapsed with a roar.
By dawn, investigators found signs the fire had been deliberately started.
Linda was in jail.
Calvin was in custody.
Someone else was involved.
Rebecca Lane disappeared before police could question her again.
Her apartment was empty. Her phone went straight to voicemail.
Sarah stared at Mark across the motel room where the family had been moved for safety.
"You think she set the fire?"
"I don't know."
Noah looked up from the bed.
"Maybe she was scared too."
Mark turned.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because she gave me something."
He reached into his backpack and pulled out a tiny memory card taped inside a folded note.
Rebecca had slipped it to him at the courthouse.
NOAH - IF THEY SAY I RAN, DON'T BELIEVE THEM.
Ruiz rushed the card to technicians.
It contained a video recorded in Calvin's office.
Rebecca was arguing with him.
"I'm done hiding this," she said.
Calvin answered, "Then Linda will burn everything before she lets you testify."
A third voice came from outside the camera frame.
A man's voice.
"Then we make sure Rebecca never gets to court."
Mark listened again.
He knew that voice.
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It belonged to his mother's younger brother, Uncle Raymond.
The man Noah had trusted every Christmas of his life.
