Chapter 10 - The Stairwell
I reached the reception stairwell before the officers. Ruth had slipped on the wet steps. Bernard stood over her, holding the briefcase in one hand and a broken wooden banister post in the other.
"Move aside, Caroline," he said. "You've already ruined enough lives."
"You stole mine."
He laughed without humor. "I kept you breathing. That was more than Juliette wanted."
For a heartbeat, I heard only the old fire crackling behind my ears. Then I saw Ruth's hand move. She pushed her phone along the step toward me, its recording light glowing red.
"Say that again," I told Bernard.
His eyes dropped to the phone. He raised the wooden post. I stumbled backward. Marcus came through the door, caught Bernard's arm, and drove him against the wall. The post struck the railing and split. Officers rushed in and took Bernard to the floor.
Ruth sat up, wincing. "Did it record?"
I picked up the phone. It had. Bernard's voice was clear enough to understand every word.
Outside, the wedding crowd gathered beneath the chapel's stone arch. Firefighters found no fire. Someone had pulled the alarm and cut a service breaker. Juliette was gone, and so was her white gown, abandoned in a dressing room.
Marcus opened Bernard's briefcase with an evidence officer watching. Most of the documents were copies. The original Ravenwood admissions ledger was missing.
"She took it," I said. "Juliette knew we'd come."
Marcus's phone rang. He listened, the muscles in his jaw tightening.
"What is it?" I asked.
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"Someone sent a photograph to the county clerk," he said. "It shows you walking into Blackthorn House with a fuel can just before the fire. Juliette is claiming you set it yourself."
He held out the screen. The woman in the grainy image had my face.
