Chapter 10 - Fire in the Walls.
The first scream came from the kitchen.
The second came from the west staircase.
Within seconds, Blackthorn House filled with the smell of smoke.
Ruth ran for the servants.
Sheriff Cole sent his deputies toward the pump.
Clara turned to Elias.
"You stay here."
He looked at the smoke entering beneath his door.
"That advice has become less practical."
Jonah grabbed Elias's crutches.
"We move him to the south lawn."
Elias swung himself to the edge of the bed.
Pain tightened his face, but he did not stop.
Clara supported him under one arm.
Jonah took the other.
Together they got him upright.
For a moment, Elias stood on his remaining leg with both crutches beneath him.
His face went white.
"Do not let me fall."
Clara met his eyes.
"I won't."
The promise returned between them with new meaning.
They moved slowly into the corridor.
Smoke rolled along the ceiling.
The fire was not spreading from one room.
It was moving inside the walls.
Silas appeared through the haze.
"The west wing."
Clara shouted at him.
"Leave it."
"The ledger is there."
"We have the ledger."
Silas stopped.
For one second, relief crossed his face.
Then a crash sounded below.
Flames broke through the library doorway.
"Pike started more than one fire."
Jonah looked toward the east study.
Elias's father's remaining papers were there.
Elias saw the same thing.
"The cabinet."
Clara shook her head.
"No."
"The letter naming Daniel Vale."
"We already have part of it."
"Not the missing page."
Elias looked at Silas.
"If Pike stole it, he may have returned it to destroy everything together."
Clara wanted to argue.
Then she thought of her father.
She thought of nineteen years of shame.
"Get Elias outside."
Jonah grabbed her wrist.
"Clara."
"Two minutes."
She ran toward the east study before anyone could stop her.
The heat increased with every step.
Inside the study, smoke obscured the ceiling.
The hidden cabinet behind Gideon's portrait stood open.
Papers burned on the floor.
Clara wrapped her apron around one hand and pulled them away from the flames.
Most were already ruined.
Then she saw an envelope beneath the desk.
It bore Daniel Vale's name.
She reached for it.
A figure stepped through the smoke.
Doctor Pike.
No.
Miles Mercer.
His coat was gone.
His white shirt was streaked with soot.
On his right hand gleamed the gold Mercer ring.
"You are persistent."
Clara backed toward the door with the envelope.
"You tried to kill your brother."
Miles smiled sadly.
"Which brother?"
The question confused her.
"Elias."
"Elias was never meant to die on that road."
Clara stared at him.
"The carriage was sabotaged."
"Yes."
"You altered his medicine."
"Yes."
"But you did not mean to kill him?"
Miles's eyes were calm.
"I needed him helpless."
Clara felt sick.
"That is not better."
"No."
He took one step closer.
"But it is different."
The ceiling groaned above them.
Clara held the envelope against her chest.
"Why?"
Miles looked at Gideon's portrait.
"Because Elias has something I need."
"The estate?"
"Not the estate."
His smile returned.
"A confession."
Clara heard shouting in the corridor.
Miles moved toward the window.
"Ask Silas who truly signed the order against your father."
"Gideon did."
"Did he?"
Miles climbed onto the window ledge.
Clara stared.
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying Blackthorn has always blamed dead men because dead men cannot answer."
Then he disappeared through the window onto the lower roof.
Clara ran after him, but smoke forced her back.
A beam cracked overhead.
Someone grabbed her from behind.
Silas pulled her into the corridor as part of the study ceiling collapsed.
"Are you determined to die proving everyone else guilty?"
Clara coughed and held up the envelope.
"I found this."
Silas stared at Daniel Vale's name.
His face changed.
"Where?"
"Under Gideon's desk."
Silas reached for it.
Clara pulled it away.
"No."
They escaped onto the south lawn moments before flames burst through the west roof.
Elias sat in a chair beneath an oak tree, wrapped in a blanket.
When he saw Clara, relief crossed his face so openly that she nearly forgot the house burning behind them.
She handed him the envelope.
The paper inside was scorched along one edge.
It was the missing page from Gideon's letter.
Elias read silently.
Then he looked at Silas.
"This says my father did not sign the order accusing Daniel Vale."
Silas went pale.
Clara took the page.
The final sentence was still readable.
THE ORDER CARRIED MY NAME, BUT THE HAND THAT SIGNED IT BELONGED TO MY BROTHER SILAS.
Clara looked up.
May you like
Every person on the lawn turned toward Silas Mercer.
Behind them, Blackthorn House burned.
