Chapter 3 - Twelve Minutes of Darkness
The security room vanished into darkness.
Clara heard Arthur swear under his breath.
Detective Ruiz immediately drew her weapon.
“Everyone stay where you are.”
A red emergency light flickered above the steel door.
Somewhere in the mansion, an alarm began to pulse.
Not the burglar alarm.
The fire alarm.
Arthur reached for the door.
Ruiz blocked him.
“You don’t know what’s outside.”
“My sons are outside.”
He pushed past her.
Clara followed without thinking.
The corridor smelled faintly of smoke.
Staff members emerged from the service rooms, confused and frightened.
Mrs. Finch hurried toward them.
“The nursery wing,” she gasped.
“There’s smoke near the nursery stairs.”
Arthur ran.
Clara was beside him.
They reached the main foyer to find Eleanor standing beneath the chandelier.
She appeared calm, but one hand gripped the banister so tightly that her knuckles were white.
“Where are Leo and Toby?” Arthur demanded.
“With Mrs. Finch,” Eleanor answered.
Mrs. Finch shook her head.
“No, ma’am.”
Everyone turned.
“You told me you were taking them to the garden room.”
Eleanor’s face went blank.
“I did no such thing.”
Arthur’s blood turned cold.
“Leo!”
His voice thundered through the mansion.
“Toby!”
A child’s cry sounded from the second floor.
Clara recognized it immediately.
“Toby!”
She ran toward the staircase.
Smoke curled along the upper corridor.
Arthur caught up with her at the landing.
The nursery doors were locked.
He slammed his shoulder against them.
The wood did not move.
Clara grabbed the brass handle.
“Leo!”
“Clara!”
Leo’s voice came from inside.
“There’s smoke!”
Arthur struck the door again.
“Move away from it!”
He kicked near the lock.
The frame cracked, but the door remained closed.
Clara looked at the narrow glass panel above the transom.
“Lift me.”
Arthur understood.
He locked his hands together.
Clara stepped into them, and he raised her high enough to reach the upper frame.
She smashed the glass with a bronze candleholder.
Heat rushed through the opening.
Clara reached inside, found the emergency latch, and pulled.
The door opened.
Smoke poured into the corridor.
Leo stood near the bed, holding Toby’s hand.
A burning curtain had fallen against the nursery rug.
The fire was still small, but spreading.
Arthur rushed toward his sons.
A wooden beam cracked above him.
Clara shoved him aside just before a section of decorative molding crashed onto the floor.
Arthur grabbed Toby.
Clara wrapped Leo in a blanket and carried him into the hall.
They reached the staircase as the estate’s sprinkler system activated.
Water rained from the ceiling.
The children coughed and cried, clinging to Arthur and Clara.
Firefighters arrived within minutes.
The blaze was contained to the nursery and an adjacent storage room.
An investigator found that the fire had begun inside a wastebasket beneath the electrical panel.
It was not an accident.
Someone had used an accelerant.
Detective Ruiz examined the locked nursery doors.
“The lock was engaged from the outside.”
Arthur looked at Eleanor.
His mother’s satin blazer was soaked from the sprinklers.
Her makeup had begun to run, revealing the age and exhaustion beneath her carefully constructed appearance.
“You locked them in?”
Eleanor’s eyes widened.
“How dare you?”
“You knew where they were.”
“I assumed Mrs. Finch had them.”
“You lied.”
“I was confused.”
“Were you confused when you planted the necklace?”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“I would never harm my grandsons.”
Arthur pointed toward the burned nursery.
“Someone just tried.”
Toby buried his face against Clara’s shoulder.
She rubbed his back while studying the corridor.
At the far end, a shadow moved behind the service doorway.
Clara handed Toby to Mrs. Finch and ran.
“Clara!” Arthur called.
She reached the service stairs in time to see Owen disappearing around the lower landing.
“Owen!”
He did not stop.
Clara followed him through the kitchen and out the rear entrance.
Rain had begun to fall.
Owen hurried toward the security cottage near the garden wall.
Clara caught his sleeve.
“Why are you running?”
He spun around.
“I’m not.”
“You left during the fire.”
“I was checking the perimeter.”
“You were heading away from the house.”
Owen looked over her shoulder.
“Go back inside.”
“Did you delete the footage?”
His face hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re involved in.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
Clara froze.
Before she could respond, Owen pushed open the security cottage door.
The interior was dark.
He stepped inside.
A violent explosion of light flashed through the windows.
Clara was thrown backward onto the wet grass.
The cottage windows shattered.
Arthur reached her seconds later.
He pulled her away as flames climbed the wooden walls.
“Owen is inside!” Clara screamed.
Arthur rushed toward the entrance, but Detective Ruiz grabbed him.
“The roof is going!”
Firefighters dragged Owen from the rear door moments before the structure collapsed.
He was unconscious, his hands burned and blood running from his forehead.
Paramedics loaded him onto a stretcher.
Detective Ruiz knelt beside a blackened metal box found near the cottage steps.
“What is that?” Arthur asked.
“The estate’s backup server.”
Ruiz examined the broken lock.
“Someone tried to destroy the only remaining copy of your security footage.”
Clara stood beneath the rain, shaking.
Arthur removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
She looked toward the ambulance.
“Owen knew something.”
Ruiz rose.
“If he wakes up, we may learn what.”
Eleanor appeared in the rear doorway.
She stared at the burning cottage with an unreadable expression.
Then her gaze settled on Clara.
“You should leave this house,” she said.
Clara held Arthur’s jacket closed around herself.
“Is that a warning?”
Eleanor’s face was pale.
“No.”
May you like
Her voice dropped.
“It is the only mercy I have left to offer you.”
