Chapter 17 - The Last Fire She Planned
We reached Willow Lane as firefighters cleared the cottages. Mrs. Alvarez stood on the sidewalk with Noah and two shopping bags. She saw my face and knew before I said anything.
"Again?" she whispered.
"Not this time," I told her.
The fire marshal found a leaking container beneath the rear deck and a length of oily cloth stuffed into a vent. Nobody had lit it. Cameras at a nearby store showed a Northline subcontractor arriving before sunrise. Marcus had officers take him in for questioning.
At nine, I walked into the county courthouse wearing a borrowed navy dress and flat shoes. Juliette's attorney was waiting. She told the judge my death was legally recorded, my memories were unreliable, and I had no right to challenge the land transfer.
Marcus's attorney for the state presented the fingerprints, the questionable death filing, the original hospital records, and a sworn statement from Pike. My own lawyer asked Dad one question.
"Mr. Ashford, who is seated beside me?"
"My daughter Caroline," he said. His voice shook, but he did not look away. "And I failed her."
Juliette's lawyer stood. "You signed the documents transferring the estate."
"I signed a form after a funeral because a man I trusted said it was necessary. I did not sign to keep my living daughter in a locked room."
The judge ordered a temporary halt to further transfers and directed the vital-records office to begin correcting the certificate under expedited review. For the first time in four years, a government official had called me Caroline Ashford without adding the word alleged.
Then Evan hurried into the corridor with his phone against his ear.
"The filing went through at eight-oh-one," he said. "Northline recorded a new lien before the court order. They've already moved the debt to a different company."
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"Does that mean they can still take the cottages?" I asked.
He looked at the families waiting beyond the glass doors. "It means we have one more fight, and the clock is moving."
