Chapter 5 - THE FIRE IN THE ARCHIVE
Smoke rolled through the east hallway.
Thomas shoved Natalie and Arthur toward the rear study door.
"Outside. Now."
Arthur resisted.
"The archive—"
"Can be replaced."
"No, it can't!"
Thomas grabbed his shoulder.
"You can."
Arthur stopped.
For one moment, the billionaire disappeared and Natalie saw the lonely eighty-one-year-old from the bank.
A man terrified of losing his daughter twice.
Natalie tightened her grip around the cassette tape.
"We have this."
Arthur looked at her.
She held it up.
"Whoever started the fire didn't get everything."
That was enough.
Arthur allowed Thomas to move him toward the garden.
Outside, staff rushed across the lawn while security vehicles surrounded the house.
Firefighters arrived within minutes.
Natalie stood beside Arthur beneath a blanket somebody placed around her shoulders.
He hadn't asked for it.
Neither had she.
Arthur watched flames glow behind one upstairs window.
"I kept every letter she ever wrote me."
Natalie looked at him.
"I'm sorry."
"I spent years thinking memories were safer on paper."
He laughed bitterly.
"Apparently nothing is safe."
Natalie touched the crescent necklace beneath her shirt.
Some things survived because people carried them.
Caroline had carried Evelyn's secret for nineteen years.
Natalie had unknowingly carried part of it for nine more.
Thomas approached.
"Fire suppression contained most of the damage."
Arthur nodded.
"Cause?"
"Too soon."
"Intruder?"
"We found a service door forced."
Arthur's expression darkened.
Thomas looked at Natalie.
"There's more."
She already knew she wasn't going to like it.
"What?"
"A camera captured someone leaving the east side four minutes before the alarm."
"Who?"
Thomas held up his phone.
The image was grainy.
A man wearing a dark jacket and baseball cap.
His face wasn't visible.
But the car parked near the service road was.
A black sedan.
Thomas zoomed in.
License plate blurred.
Arthur looked frustrated.
"Can you identify it?"
"We're working on it."
Natalie stared.
Something about the vehicle seemed familiar.
Then she remembered.
The courier.
The man who delivered the envelope had walked toward a black sedan.
"That's the car from my apartment."
Thomas looked at her sharply.
"You're sure?"
"I saw it through the hall window after he left."
Thomas immediately radioed his team.
Arthur stared at Natalie.
"This started before you came here."
"No."
She shook her head.
"It started twenty-five years ago."
Arthur looked back at the mansion.
"You're right."
Two hours later, they moved to Whitmore Foundation headquarters downtown.
Arthur owned the top two floors, including a small apartment for nights when he worked late.
Natalie sat at a conference table with coffee she wasn't drinking.
Thomas entered carrying a laptop.
"We found something."
Arthur straightened.
Thomas displayed traffic-camera footage.
The black sedan passed an intersection near Natalie's building.
Twenty-seven minutes later, it appeared near Arthur's estate.
The registered owner was a shell company.
But Thomas had traced the company.
"Who owns it?" Arthur asked.
Thomas looked at Natalie.
"Mercer Strategic Consulting."
Grant.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Natalie wasn't surprised.
"Call the police."
Thomas nodded.
"Already did."
Arthur turned toward the window.
For a moment nobody spoke.
Then Natalie asked the question no one wanted to say aloud.
"If Grant tried to destroy Evelyn's evidence today, what did he do twenty-five years ago?"
Arthur's shoulders sagged.
"I don't know."
"Did you ever suspect him?"
"No."
"Why?"
"He was Daniel's younger brother. He was twenty-seven. Ambitious. Arrogant."
Arthur shook his head.
"But I never believed—"
He stopped.
Natalie understood.
We see what we can tolerate seeing.
Arthur had already lost Evelyn.
Believing another person he knew had caused it might have been too much.
Thomas sat across from them.
"There's another issue."
Arthur sighed.
"Apparently today needed one."
"The laboratory."
Natalie's stomach tightened.
"What about it?"
"The DNA test is scheduled tomorrow morning."
She had almost forgotten.
Thomas continued.
"I recommend changing facilities."
Arthur frowned.
"Because Grant knows which one we're using?"
"Yes."
Natalie stared at him.
"You think he'd tamper with a DNA test?"
Thomas's expression said he thought Grant might do much worse.
Arthur nodded.
"We choose somewhere Grant doesn't know."
"No."
Natalie surprised them both.
Thomas leaned back.
"Ms. Carter—"
"Keep the original appointment."
Arthur frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Grant expects us to use it."
Natalie looked at Thomas.
"Can we submit another sample somewhere else without telling anyone?"
Thomas's expression slowly changed.
"We can."
Arthur looked impressed.
Natalie continued.
"If Grant is desperate enough to tamper with one result, we'll know."
Thomas nodded.
"That's smart."
Arthur smiled faintly.
"She gets that from Evelyn."
Natalie looked at him.
Arthur immediately raised his hands.
"Too soon?"
"A little."
"Understood."
For the first time all day, Natalie smiled.
The next morning, the official DNA collection occurred at Hartwell Genetics.
Arthur and Natalie sat in separate rooms.
Cheek swabs.
Signatures.
Chain-of-custody forms.
Nothing dramatic.
Thomas secretly arranged a second test through a private forensic laboratory in another state.
Results from the official laboratory would arrive within forty-eight hours.
The independent test would take slightly longer.
Natalie returned home that afternoon.
A police cruiser remained outside her building.
She hated it.
Neighbors stared.
Her landlord suddenly became extraordinarily polite after realizing she had been escorted home by Whitmore security.
That bothered her even more.
Money changed people even when it wasn't yours.
Natalie entered her apartment and found three missed calls from potential employers.
She stared at the screen.
Life had somehow continued.
Rent remained due.
Jobs remained necessary.
She returned every call.
One clinic scheduled an interview.
Another said the position had been filled.
The third offered temporary front-desk work beginning Monday.
Natalie accepted immediately.
When Arthur called that evening and offered to "help," she refused before he could finish.
"I was going to offer dinner."
"Oh."
Arthur laughed.
"You assume everything is money now."
"Can you blame me?"
"No."
She sat on her couch.
"Arthur?"
"Yes?"
"Why were you changing your will?"
Silence.
Grant's accusation had stayed with her.
Finally Arthur answered.
"Because I realized I had become lazy."
"With six hundred million dollars?"
"Especially with six hundred million dollars."
He explained that his estate had been structured years earlier.
Most went to charitable foundations.
Some went to employees.
A significant portion would pass to the Mercer family because Daniel had once been his son-in-law and Grant remained chairman of several Whitmore companies.
"I no longer trust Grant."
"Because of me?"
"Before you."
Arthur's voice became firmer.
"I discovered irregularities in foundation accounts."
Natalie sat up.
"Like the ones Evelyn mentioned?"
"Possibly."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you already have enough."
"Arthur, if it's connected—"
"I know."
He sighed.
"I've spent too many years protecting people by keeping secrets."
Natalie looked toward Caroline's box on the floor.
"That doesn't seem to work very well."
"No."
Arthur's voice grew sad.
"It doesn't."
The official DNA results arrived the following afternoon.
Thomas brought the sealed report personally.
Arthur insisted Natalie open it.
Her hands trembled.
She tore the envelope.
Read the page.
Then read it again.
Arthur watched her.
"What does it say?"
Natalie looked up.
"No biological relationship."
Arthur's face collapsed.
Not dramatically.
That made it worse.
His eyes simply emptied.
Natalie felt something inside her fall too.
She hadn't realized how much she had begun to believe.
Arthur sat back.
"Of course."
"Arthur—"
"No."
He forced a smile.
"We said we wanted answers."
Natalie looked at the paper.
"It says zero percent?"
"Essentially," Thomas answered.
Arthur stood slowly.
"I'm sorry I pulled you into this."
Natalie stared.
"You're giving up?"
Arthur looked at her.
"The science is the science."
Thomas said nothing.
Natalie noticed.
"Thomas?"
His eyes met hers.
"What?"
"You don't believe this."
Arthur turned.
Thomas hesitated.
"The independent laboratory hasn't reported."
"So?"
Thomas leaned forward.
"And the official laboratory had a security incident yesterday."
Arthur froze.
"What incident?"
"One technician's access credentials were used after midnight."
Natalie's pulse jumped.
"Who accessed my sample?"
"We don't know yet."
Arthur sat again.
Thomas continued.
"The lab says it may be unrelated."
Natalie laughed without humor.
"Of course."
Her phone vibrated.
A text from an unknown number.
Now you know the truth.
Another message arrived.
Take the hint.
Natalie showed Thomas.
Arthur's expression changed from grief to fury.
Then the phone buzzed a third time.
This one contained a photograph.
Natalie's stomach dropped.
It showed her leaving work six months earlier.
A photograph taken before she ever met Arthur.
Beneath it:
Caroline should have told you we were always watching.
Natalie went cold.
Arthur whispered, "Six months ago?"
Thomas grabbed the phone.
Natalie looked at Arthur.
If the photograph was real, someone had been watching her long before that morning at the bank.
Long before Arthur asked his five-minute favor.
May you like
Which meant their meeting might have been accidental.
But the danger was not.
