Chapter 8 - The Cabin Fire
The cabin was mostly gone by the time they arrived.
Black timber.
Steam rising from snowmelt and hose water.
Firefighters moved through the wreckage while state police blocked the road.
Lucy stood beside Mark wrapped in a borrowed coat.
Jack had been left with Mark’s sister at a nearby motel.
He had argued.
Loudly.
But this was no place for him.
A fire investigator approached Ruiz.
“Accelerant in two rooms. Definitely set.”
“Anybody inside?”
“No body so far.”
Lucy stared at the collapsed porch.
“Keller kept a floor safe under the study.”
The investigator nodded.
“We found a safe.”
Mark’s heart jumped.
“Contents?”
“Still hot.”
They waited three hours.
The safe survived.
Most paper inside did not.
But one waterproof envelope had been packed beneath a stack of legal pads.
Inside was a flash drive.
Ruiz held it like something explosive.
Lucy whispered, “That’s his backup.”
At the state police office, forensic technicians copied the drive.
Files appeared.
Commitment records.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Audio.
Then video.
A hidden-camera recording from Keller’s office.
The date was eight months earlier.
Diane sat across from Dr. Keller.
Pike stood near the door.
Victor Shaw paced behind them.
Keller said, “I will not certify a woman I have never evaluated as dangerous.”
Victor replied, “You already accepted the money.”
“That was a consulting fee.”
Pike laughed.
“Call it whatever helps you sleep.”
Diane leaned forward.
“She is going to destroy everything.”
Keller asked, “What does she actually know?”
“Enough.”
“Then deal with the financial case. Do not put her in my hospital.”
Diane’s face became cold.
“I don’t need her in your hospital forever.”
Mark stopped breathing.
Keller asked, “How long?”
“Long enough for Mark to believe she left.”
Pike said, “And long enough for abandonment to help us in family court.”
Lucy shut her eyes.
Mark felt as if someone had driven a fist into his chest.
The recording continued.
Victor said, “Once Diane has access to Mark’s accounts and the city contracts, we clean the books.”
Keller stared at them.
“You’re talking about destroying a family.”
Diane answered quietly.
“I’m talking about saving mine.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Ruiz opened the next file.
A spreadsheet.
Payments to Pike.
Payments to Keller.
Payments to a family-court clerk.
Payments to a city procurement officer.
And one line that made Mark lean toward the screen.
NOLAN MECHANICAL — CONTINGENCY TRANSFER — SATURDAY.
Saturday was tomorrow.
Amount: $1.8 million.
Mark stared.
“What transfer?”
Ruiz looked at him.
“That’s what we need to find out before morning.”
— — —
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