The Truth About the Fire

"You missed the heart," Julian said. "Bad aim."

He tried to stand up.

"Stay down!" I screamed.

"Elara," he said. "Look at me."

I looked.

He was smiling.

A bloody, grimacing smile.

"Do you smell that?" he asked.

I sniffed.

Gas.

Stronger now.

The pilot light must have gone out when the window broke.

And the valve was still open.

"The timer," he said. "It's not 8:03 AM anymore."

He reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a remote.

"It's now."

He pressed the button.

*Click.*

Nothing happened.

He frowned. He pressed it again.

*Click. Click.*

Nothing.

I laughed. A hysterical, bubbling sound.

"I cut the power," I said. "In the basement. When I rebooted the server. I pulled the main fuse."

He stared at me.

"You..."

"I'm not just a nose," I said. "I'm a scientist. I know how things work."

He roared. He lunged at me again.

I fired.

*Bang.*

The bullet hit his leg. He collapsed.

"Stop!" I screamed. "It's over!"

He lay on the floor, bleeding. Breathing hard.

"It's not over," he wheezed. "It's never over."

He looked at the window.

"Did you really think I was working alone?"

My heart stopped.

"What?"

"The receipt," he said. "The pickup. Did you check the name?"

I thought back. The receipt.

*Customer: A. V.*

Not Julian Vance.

A. V.

Aris Vance?

No. Aris wasn't a Vance.

Unless...

My phone buzzed.

I pulled it out.

A text from Sloane.

*I'm here. I'm outside.*

I ran to the window.

I looked out.

A car was idling in the driveway.

Sloane's car.

She was waving.

"Come on!" she screamed.

I looked back at Julian.

"Goodbye," I said.

I ran.

I ran out the front door. Into the rain.

I jumped into the car.

"Drive!" I yelled.

Sloane floored it.

We peeled out of the driveway.

I looked back.

The house was dark. Silent.

But then...

A light.

In the upstairs window.

A flashlight beam.

Someone was walking through the house.

Not Julian. He was on the floor.

Someone else.

*A. V.*

I looked at Sloane.

"Who is A. V.?" I asked.

Sloane frowned. "What?"

"The receipt. It was under the name A. V."

Sloane's face went pale.

"Elara," she whispered.

"What?"

"Mom's maiden name," she said. "Before she married Dad."

I stared at her.

"Vance?"

"No," she said. "Vance is *Julian's* name."

"Then who?"

"Mom's name," she said. "Was Aris."

Dr. Aris.

Dr. Aris wasn't just my doctor.

He was my uncle.

My mother's brother.

The one who had been disowned. The one who was 'unstable'.

He wasn't writing a book.

He was settling a score.

I looked back at the house.

The flashlight beam moved to the window.

It shined on us.

And then...

The house exploded.

Not from gas.

From the basement.

Where the server was.

Where the evidence was.

He had blown it.

He had erased the story.

But we were still alive.

And we knew the ending.

"Keep driving," I told Sloane. "Don't stop."

She nodded.

We drove into the night.

The rain washed away the smoke.

But the smell...

The smell of turpentine and almond and betrayal...

It would never leave me.

And I knew one thing for certain.

The fire wasn't the end.

It was just the prologue.

Because Julian wasn't the only one with a plan.

And my name wasn't Elara Vance.

Not anymore.