Chapter 15 - Smoke in the Annex
The old annex sat behind the repair sheds, a narrow brick building that held payroll archives and paper contracts. I hadn't been inside since my accident. Audrey had ordered it locked the previous winter, claiming a roof leak.
Miriam called Bell. Priya requested preservation of the annex records through the civil case. Nobody broke in. At eight that evening, while officers waited for authorization to enter, smoke began pouring from a basement vent.
Delia spotted it from the parking lot. She pulled the fire alarm and cleared the neighboring workshop while a deckhand called 911. By the time firefighters arrived, flames were visible through a rear window.
I watched the emergency response on Delia's phone from my living room. After four nights in the hospital, I had been released with strict instructions to rest and someone to help with transfers until my bruises healed. Jonah sat beside me, both of us helpless to reach through the screen.
"Nobody goes inside," I told Delia.
"Already told them," she said. "For once, I'm taking advice."
The fire crew contained the blaze before it spread. No one was hurt. Investigators later reported signs that it had been deliberately set. Several file cabinets were damaged, but the business's archived digital backups had been stored offsite months before.
"Whoever did this thought the originals were the only copies," Priya said.
Delia's voice turned cold. "They didn't know Nora made me keep duplicates after the flood in 2016."
The next morning, Bell told us officers had recovered a security recording from the annex parking lot. It showed a vehicle arriving shortly before the smoke appeared. The registration led to a maintenance contractor who worked for Pike.
"That doesn't tell us who ordered the fire," Bell warned. "We're interviewing him."
Just after the call ended, Audrey left a voicemail on my phone.
"Dad, please listen. I never told him to burn the annex. I didn't know he'd go that far."
There was a pause, then a sound I hadn't heard from her in years.
May you like
She started to cry.
"And I didn't know he was still on the dock when I pushed you."
