Chapter 1 - The Ghost in the HallwayThe sterile scent of antiseptic usually brings comfort, but to Evie, it smelled like a tomb. She stood in the hallway of St. Jude’s Memorial, her hospital gown stiff and oversized, her skin still smelling faintly of charcoal and pine. She didn't look like a girl who had survived an inferno; she looked like a girl who had climbed out of hell itself.
The interrogation room was cold. Evie sat across from Detective Thorne, wrapped in a blanket, refusing coffee. The hospital had been a distraction, but the police station was where the reality of the situation finally settled in.
"Tell me about the lock, Evie," Thorne said, his voice low and professional.
"It wasn't a normal lock," Evie explained, her voice steady. "My father installed it three weeks ago. He said it was for 'home security.' He told me, if I heard any noise, I was to lock myself in and wait for him. But that night? The night the fire started? I didn't lock it. I was studying. I heard the click from the outside of the door ten minutes before the alarms went off."
Thorne leaned back. "And the parents?"
"They weren't panicking," Evie said. "They were waiting."
Outside, in the observation room, Richard and Claire were frantic. Their expensive lawyer was already on the phone, but the panic in their eyes was genuine. They knew the padlock was a physical impossibility in their story. They had claimed the fire started in the kitchen due to faulty wiring. If the door was locked from the outside, it was premeditated.
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Thorne returned to them, his face a mask of stone. "Mr. and Mrs. Vance, your daughter is alive. And she has a very interesting piece of evidence. You’re not leaving this station."
As the handcuffs clicked, Richard finally broke his silence. "You don't understand," he hissed, his eyes darting toward the cameras. "If she saw what was in the basement, the fire was the only way to stop it."
