Chapter 16 - Fire in the Winter Room
Sterling Mansion filled with smoke.
The fire began exactly where Evelyn had hidden her first evidence.
Lucas and Nora entered through the east corridor before firefighters sealed the wing.
The winter room was already burning.
Inside the desk, Nora found one final envelope hidden behind a loose panel.
Rose had placed it there years after Evelyn died.
Nora grabbed it.
A section of the ceiling collapsed behind them.
Lucas pulled her through the doorway seconds before the room disappeared in flames.
Investigators initially blamed Martin.
Impossible.
He was already in federal custody.
Arthur was locked up too.
Grant was under guard.
Then exterior cameras revealed the arsonist.
Dr. Stephen Cole.
The physician who claimed guilt had finally forced him to tell the truth.
Cole had lied again.
For eighteen years, he had received money to preserve Evelyn’s false death report.
Now he was destroying anything that could expose how deeply involved he had been.
Police traced Cole toward a private airfield.
Nora looked at Rose’s smoke-blackened envelope.
The conspiracy had almost killed everyone who carried Evelyn’s truth.
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But this time, they were no longer running from it.
They were running toward the last man still trying to escape.
