Chapter 6: The Boy They Forced to Take the Blame
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Detective Harris looked from Sloane to Caleb.
“Are you saying your eleven-year-old brother signed a confession?””
Sloane nodded, tears running down her face.
“Dad told him it was just a statement. He said it was something the insurance company needed.””
Caleb stepped backward.
“No.””
I turned toward him.
“Caleb?””
He shook his head.
“I didn't know what it said.””
My heart began pounding.
“Sweetheart, what happened?””
Caleb looked at our father.
Dad's attorney immediately stepped forward.
“My client will not answer any further questions without legal counsel present.””
Detective Harris raised one hand.
“I'm not questioning your client right now. I'm speaking with a minor who may have been manipulated into signing a fraudulent document.””
Dad's expression hardened.
“Caleb, come here.””
My brother didn't move.
“Son. Now.””
Caleb grabbed my hand.
“I don't want to.””
I squeezed his fingers.
“You don't have to go anywhere with him.””
Dad stared at me.
“Stop interfering.””
I turned toward him.
“You've interfered with enough of our lives.””
His face darkened.
“You have no idea what I've done to keep this family together.””
I almost laughed.
“Keep it together? You locked your daughter in a bedroom during a fire, blamed her for the disaster, and made your son sign a confession.””
“Watch your mouth!””
“No.””
My voice surprised even me.
For eighteen years, I had lowered my eyes whenever my father raised his voice.
Not anymore.
“You don't get to frighten us into silence again.””
Detective Harris asked Caleb whether he remembered signing anything after the fire.
Caleb nodded reluctantly.
“It was at the hospital.””
I felt my stomach tighten.
“When?””
“Three days after June woke up.””
I remembered those days.
I remembered the machines.
The bandages.
The pain medication that made everything feel distant.
I remembered Caleb visiting with a stuffed dinosaur and sitting beside my bed.
I hadn't known he'd been carrying something worse.
“Who brought the paper?”” Detective Harris asked.
“Dad.””
“Was anyone else there?””
Caleb looked at Mom.
She lowered her eyes.
“Mom was there.””
The detective asked him to explain.
Caleb took a shaky breath.
“Dad said the insurance company needed to know how the fire started. He said June had been playing with something in the cottage and that I needed to confirm what happened.””
I knelt in front of him.
“Did you tell him you hadn't seen me start anything?””
Caleb nodded.
“I told him I was asleep.””
“What did he say?””
Caleb's voice became smaller.
“He said if I didn't help, the insurance company wouldn't pay for your medical bills.””
My eyes burned.
“He told you that?””
Caleb nodded.
“He said the hospital would stop treating you.””
I pulled him into my arms.
“Oh, Caleb.””
“I didn't want you to die.””
He began sobbing.
“I signed because I wanted you to get better.””
I held him tightly.
“You were a little boy. You were trying to save me.””
He shook his head against my shoulder.
“I lied about you.””
“You were frightened into signing something you didn't understand. That's not the same thing.””
Detective Harris crouched beside us.
“Caleb, do you remember what happened to the paper afterward?””
“Yes.””
“What?””
“Dad took it.””
“Did he explain why?””
“He said he'd send it to the insurance company.””
Sloane suddenly spoke.
“He didn't send it.””
Everyone turned toward her.
She wiped her face.
“He kept it in his office.””
Dad's attorney stepped between them.
“Miss Hayes, you should stop speaking.””
But Sloane ignored him.
“I saw it last week. Dad was looking through the old files. He said he needed to make sure nobody could connect the fire to him.””
Dad's expression changed.
“You're lying.””
Sloane shook her head.
“You told me the confession was destroyed.””
“I told you to stop talking!””
She flinched.
Detective Harris looked toward the officers.
“Secure the office and preserve every document.””
Dad's attorney objected.
The detective calmly explained that the officers were seeking the necessary legal authorization to preserve evidence and investigate the suspected fraud.
Then he turned back to Sloane.
“Why did you tell your brother to take the blame?””
Sloane looked at Caleb.
“I didn't.””
“You just said your father made him sign.””
“I know.””
“Were you involved in arranging it?””
She hesitated.
That hesitation told me there was something else.
Finally, she whispered, “I was the one who told Dad Caleb had seen the bottle.””
My blood ran cold.
Caleb looked at her.
“You told him?””
Sloane began crying.
“I thought he'd just talk to you.””
“You told him I saw the bottle?””
She nodded.
Caleb stepped away from me.
“Why?””
Sloane covered her mouth.
“Because I didn't want Dad to know I had touched it.””
I stared at her.
“You sacrificed your little brother to protect yourself?””
“I was sixteen!””
“So was I!””
Her shoulders collapsed.
I continued.
“You were sixteen when you put that bottle near the fireplace. I was sixteen when I ran into the smoke to save Caleb. And he was eleven when you helped make him believe he had to lie to keep me alive.””
Sloane had no answer.
For the first time that night, she looked at my scars without turning away.
Then she whispered something I wasn't expecting.
“I didn't think you'd survive.””
The words landed between us.
I stared at her.
“What?””
She looked down.
“I thought you'd get scared and run outside. I didn't think you'd go upstairs.””
Caleb started crying again.
I felt Detective Harris move closer.
“Sloane, are you admitting that you deliberately started a fire?””
She shook her head.
“I didn't light it.””
“But you placed a flammable substance near the fireplace?””
She nodded.
“I thought it would just make a mess. I wanted June to be blamed for something.””
Detective Harris asked her to repeat that statement clearly.
She did.
And this time, there were nearly two hundred witnesses listening.
My father looked toward the driveway.
An officer stood beside his car.
Another was examining the garage.
He was no longer the man controlling the room.
He was a suspect waiting for answers.
Then Detective Harris's phone rang.
He listened.
His expression became serious.
“What do you mean, another signature?””
He glanced at me.
“Where was it found?””
A pause.
“Don't touch anything else.””
He ended the call.
I approached him.
“What happened?””
He looked at Caleb.
“Your brother's confession wasn't the only document in your father's office.””
“What else did you find?””
“A second statement.””
“Whose?””
Detective Harris took a breath.
May you like
Then he said:
“Your little brother signed away something else that night. Something your father had no right to take from him.””
