Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE RED HALLWAY
Ethan reached the second floor as Vivian disappeared around the corner.
“Vivian.”
She did not stop.
He sprinted after her.
The east hallway was dark except for emergency lights burning close to the floor.
Vivian moved surprisingly quickly.
She reached the hidden door.
Then froze.
The iron bed had been pushed against it from inside.
Vivian turned.
Her composed expression was gone.
“What have you done?”
Ethan slowed.
“What did you do?”
“This is my house.”
“That woman is not your property.”
Vivian’s face changed at the word woman.
For twenty years, Claire had apparently remained a child in Vivian’s mind.
A burden frozen at five.
An obstacle.
“You don’t know what you found.”
“I found your niece.”
“You found a deeply unstable person.”
“Who you locked behind a wall.”
“For her protection.”
Ethan laughed once.
The sound had no humor in it.
Vivian’s eyes hardened.
“You think wealth makes you qualified to judge my family?”
“No.”
“It makes me qualified to recognize financial crime.”
That hit her.
He saw it.
Vivian looked toward his coat.
“You took something.”
Ethan smiled faintly.
“Did I?”
She stepped closer.
“What did Claire give you?”
There it was.
No denial.
No surprise.
Just fear.
Ethan’s voice became cold.
“You spent twenty years telling the world she was dead.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Why?”
“Because you have no idea what will happen if this becomes public.”
“To you?”
“To everyone.”
A door opened behind them.
Grant appeared.
In his right hand was a pistol.
Ethan stopped.
Grant raised it.
Vivian turned sharply.
“I told you no weapons.”
“We’re past that.”
“Put it down.”
“He found her.”
“I can see that.”
“He has documents.”
Vivian looked at Ethan again.
“Give them to me.”
“No.”
Grant lifted the gun higher.
“Then I’ll take them.”
Ethan’s voice remained calm.
“You shoot me, and by sunrise this property will contain more investigators than furniture.”
“You have no signal.”
“I have a satellite link.”
Grant hesitated.
Vivian’s head snapped toward Ethan’s wrist.
Too late.
Ethan saw her understand.
“Who did you contact?”
“My security team.”
Grant cursed.
Vivian closed her eyes for a second.
Then something strange happened.
She seemed almost relieved.
“You should not have done that.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Grant is not the person you should be afraid of.”
A heavy impact came from behind Claire’s door.
Then another.
“Ethan!”
Claire screamed.
Not from fear of Vivian.
From inside the room.
Ethan turned.
Smoke began curling beneath the door.
Grant stared.
“What the hell?”
Vivian went pale.
“I didn’t order this.”
Ethan ran forward.
He shoved the iron bed through the partially opened door.
Heat struck his face.
Flames climbed one corner of the room.
Someone had ignited the newspapers.
Claire was trapped behind the bed.
Ethan forced his way through.
“Move!”
Claire stumbled toward him.
A second flame spread across the wooden chair.
Accelerant.
This was deliberate.
Ethan pulled Claire into the hallway.
She coughed violently.
Grant backed away.
Vivian stared into the burning room.
Then toward her son.
“You idiot.”
Grant looked shocked.
“I didn’t do that.”
“Then who did?”
A figure appeared at the far end of the hallway.
Melissa Ashford.
Grant’s wife.
She held an empty red gasoline can.
Claire looked at her.
Melissa smiled.
“I told you years ago that one day we’d have to stop feeding the ghost.”
Grant whispered her name.
“Melissa?”
She dropped the can.
May you like
Then she pulled the fire alarm.
The mansion erupted in sirens.
