The Fire at the Old Grain Office
Chapter 12 - The Fire at the Old Grain Office
Victor did not go far.
His car was found near the old grain office at the edge of Bellweather.
Daniel arrived to find smoke pouring from a rear window.
Men formed a bucket line.
Inside, boxes of Hale family records had been dragged into a pile.
Some were burning.
Daniel pushed toward the door, but Clara grabbed his arm.
"Don't be stupid."
"Those records prove everything."
"You can't prove anything if you're dead."
The townsmen contained the fire before it spread.
Most documents survived.
Victor did not.
Not because he had died.
Because he had fled.
In the ashes, Daniel found a metal document case that had protected several papers from the flames.
Among them was the original correspondence between Harold Hale and the Mercer family.
Daniel's adoptive father had written:
We have been told the mother is deceased and the father consents. We will provide any amount necessary to ensure the child is safe.
Daniel sat on the ground.
His adoptive parents had not purchased him knowingly.
They had been lied to too.
For years, Daniel had resented them for hiding Clara.
Now he understood that Harold Hale had manipulated everyone.
Everyone except himself.
Victor had grown up knowing enough of the truth to recognize the danger.
Mrs. Bell found Clara watching Daniel from a distance.
"Go to him."
"He needs time."
"He has had seventeen years of time."
Clara walked across the dirt.
Daniel held out the letter.
"They thought you were dead."
"I know."
"I accused them too."
"You were a child when the lie started."
"I wasn't a child when I kept believing it."
Clara sat beside him.
"You don't have to apologize for surviving the story you were given."
Daniel lowered his head.
For the first time, Clara placed a hand on his hair the way she had when he was small.
He did not move away.
That night, federal marshals arrested Victor Hale at a train junction two counties east.
But before he was taken, Victor made one final claim.
"The Mercer fortune exists because of Hale money."
May you like
Daniel heard the report and went silent.
Because if Victor was telling the truth, the empire Daniel built might have begun with stolen land.
