Chapter 12 - The Night Grant Couldn’t Remember
Grant drank heavily in those years.
Not daily.
Binges.
Stress.
Expansion.
His father had recently died.
He lived like consequences were invoices someone else would process.
The charity gala that night had open whiskey.
Grant remembered leaving.
Barely.
Why Ember House?
Victor called him.
Said a tenant had threatened legal action over maintenance delays.
Grant drove there.
He confronted the owner in the basement office.
Shouted.
Threatened eviction.
Then?
Blank.
Aaron filled in part.
He saw Grant leave.
Angry.
He did not see Grant touch electrical equipment.
Thomas’s photograph showed him entering, not causing the fire.
So Grant may have believed for six years that he caused something without knowing whether he did.
Caroline knew his terrified call.
Why never tell him?
The next morning Victor told her Grant had simply argued with the owner.
Fire investigation blamed wiring.
Caroline chose silence.
Again, protection disguised as kindness.
Then investigators found surviving electrical photos.
The fire started in a junction panel.
Cover removed manually.
A bypass wire had been installed.
Sabotage.
Who?
Aaron admitted he had altered the panel earlier that week.
Thomas went white.
“You?”
Aaron cried.
Not to start a fire.
Victor ordered him to keep power running despite breaker trips because repairs would cost $70,000 before redevelopment.
Aaron bypassed a safety shutdown temporarily.
He intended to restore it.
Never did.
Fire followed.
No single murderer.
A chain.
Victor ordered delay.
Grant froze capital spending.
Aaron bypassed safety.
Restaurant owner kept operating.
Everyone rationalized.
Emily died inside the gaps between their excuses.
Thomas sat down.
For years he wanted one villain.
There wasn't one.
There were four men making smaller bad decisions.
That truth was uglier.
Then:
“Who poisoned Grant?”
Still unanswered.
Victor?
Derek?
Someone connected to Red Fern?
Police located Victor at O’Hare Airport.
He wasn’t fleeing internationally.
Ticket to Boston.
He surrendered without resistance.
First thing he said:
“I didn't poison Grant.”
Second:
“I know who did.”
Grant leaned forward.
“Who?”
Victor asked:
“Is Molly safe?”
Everyone looked at her.
“Yes.”
Victor exhaled.
“Then Laura’s mistake finally caught up with us.”
Molly’s dead mother.
“What mistake?”
Victor explained.
Laura Reed had not been Red Fern’s only successor.
Charles appointed two protectors.
Laura.
And someone inside the Mercer family.
Identity sealed.
After Laura died, Molly inherited her side.
The other protector remained active.
Who?
Victor refused over the phone.
“Not until Grant answers one question.”
Grant shouted:
“What?”
Victor’s voice became cold.
“Why did your father change his will three hours before he died?”
May you like
Grant froze.
He had never known the will changed at all.
