Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY HOUSE BURNED
At 4:40 the next morning, Sarah’s house caught fire.
The flames began in the upstairs office and spread through the roof.
Fire crews arrived before the entire structure collapsed.
The pool, the cage, and the underground chamber remained intact.
Almost everything inside Jason’s office was destroyed.
The timing was not accidental.
Police had removed the computers, the memory card, and most of the documents.
But Ortiz believed something critical had remained hidden.
A firefighter found evidence of forced entry through the attic vent.
Jason had returned while officers were stationed at the front of the property.
He used the neighboring roofline to avoid them.
Mrs. Harris saw a shadow cross her garage but assumed it belonged to a firefighter.
By sunrise, television crews filled the street.
Reporters called the case the Pool House Prison.
Emily’s name was not released.
Mine was.
An anonymous source sent photographs of my old arguments with Sarah to a local news station.
A recording surfaced online.
My voice could be heard shouting, “I’ll take Emily away from you.”
The recording was real.
It had been made during a custody exchange after Sarah prevented me from seeing Emily for three weeks.
The rest had been cut away.
In the missing section, I had said, “I’ll take Emily away from danger if you don’t start listening to her.”
The edited version spread faster than the truth.
Strangers called me a violent ex-husband.
Some claimed I had staged the rescue.
Others suggested Lucas did not exist.
By noon, a crowd gathered outside the hospital.
Ortiz moved Emily to a secured pediatric unit under another name.
My employer placed me on administrative leave.
I wanted to scream at everyone.
Instead, I sat beside Emily and helped her color a paper butterfly.
She chose blue for the wings.
“Are people mad at you?” she asked.
“Some people don’t know the whole story.”
“Jason said nobody believes fathers.”
I put down the crayon.
“I believe you.”
Her eyes filled.
“I should have told you sooner.”
“No.”
“You were the child.”
“I was supposed to notice.”
A nurse entered with a package addressed to Emily.
There was no return name.
Security opened it in a protected room.
Inside was the red-covered library book.
Every page had been carefully glued together.
A rectangular space had been cut into the center.
The space was empty.
On the final page, Jason had written a message.
MICHAEL HAS THE COPY.
At first, I thought it was another threat.
Ortiz saw something else.
“He’s telling Paul that you have evidence.”
“Why?”
“To make Paul come after you.”
May you like
She closed the book.
“Jason is destroying his own partner.”
