Chapter 4 - The Map He Saw Before the Flames
The office footage showed Preston entering with a stolen access card and a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
He remained inside for sixteen minutes.
During that time, my computer opened three restricted files.
Emergency shelter locations.
Projected evacuation routes.
And a wildfire risk map showing the driest forest corridors in the western counties.
Preston watched the video without reacting.
Grant did not.
“You stole my card.”
Preston looked at him.
“You left it on the table during Madison’s birthday dinner.”
“I trusted you.”
“That was your mistake.”
Madison entered the office in time to hear him.
“You told me Dad gave you permission.”
Preston’s patience finally broke.
“Not now.”
“No. You said he wanted you to understand Claire’s work.”
“Madison.”
“You used my father’s card?”
He turned toward her.
“Everything I did was to secure our future.”
My sister’s expression weakened.
For years, she had confused expensive gifts with devotion. Preston gave her designer clothes, paid for trips, and promised to make her the public face of his new company.
She never asked where the money came from.
Outside, a helicopter passed over the ridge.
The sound shook the office windows.
I opened the risk map Preston had downloaded.
Three parcels had been circled digitally.
Nora compared them with Apex Emergency Solutions’ corporate records.
“His company holds purchase options on all three.”
“What does that mean?” Madison asked.
“It means Apex can buy the land at a fixed price,” I said.
The properties were worth nearly forty million dollars before the fire.
If they burned, frightened owners might sell quickly. Insurance disputes and damaged infrastructure would push the price lower.
Vale Alpine planned to build a clean energy corridor across the region. The burned parcels sat directly along the proposed route.
Preston had positioned himself to buy them cheaply and sell access to Elias’s competitors.
Elias studied the map.
“You knew where the evacuation roads were weakest.”
Preston’s mouth tightened.
“I made business decisions using public information.”
“These maps were not public.”
“You cannot prove I caused a fire.”
I had not accused him of that.
His answer placed the possibility in the room.
A state fire investigator named Daniel Reeves arrived before sunset. He carried photographs from the first ignition site.
The fire had begun in four separate locations over a distance of two miles.
Lightning had not struck the area.
No power lines had fallen.
Someone had placed chemical fire starters beneath dry brush.
Madison sat down.
“Are you saying Preston started the wildfire?”
Reeves looked at him.
“I am saying the fire was deliberate.”
Preston laughed.
“You cannot question me without an attorney.”
“Then call one.”
“I am leaving.”
Elias’s security team did not stop him.
The state troopers entering the courtyard did.
Preston reached into his pocket.
I thought he was removing his phone.
Instead, he threw a small drive toward the open fireplace.
Madison caught his wrist.
The drive fell onto the carpet.
For a moment, they stared at each other.
“You were going to let them blame Claire,” she whispered.
He shoved her away.
“You have no idea what your sister has done to this family.”
Madison struck the wall but remained standing.
“What has she done except survive us?”
The question surprised all of us.
Preston was escorted outside for formal questioning.
He had not yet been arrested.
The evidence connected him to stolen files and fraudulent contracts, but not directly to the ignition sites.
I picked up the drive.
It contained photographs of the three land parcels, financial projections, and messages between Preston and an unknown contact saved as E.M.
One message had been sent the morning before the fire.
Once Claire signs the emergency order, the eastern ridge burns first.
The reply came from E.M.
She will not sign willingly. I prepared another way.
I looked toward my mother.
Evelyn Mercer’s initials were E.M.
She stared at the message and shook her head.
“That is not me.”
Nora searched the remaining files.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Evelyn meeting Preston beside the eastern ridge two weeks earlier.
May you like
She was holding a folder marked with the seal of my government office.
Continue to the next part: Claire finds restricted evacuation maps hidden inside her mother’s purse and realizes the venue theft was designed to distract her from the fire.
