Chapter 13 - Warren’s Version of the Fire
Warren demanded to give a statement before police searched his property.
His attorney arrived within thirty minutes.
The man wore an expensive charcoal suit and carried no visible emotion.
They sat inside a hospital conference room.
Detective Mills activated a recorder.
Warren folded his hands.
The black bracelet was gone.
Caleb noticed immediately.
“You removed it.”
Warren’s attorney interrupted.
“My client was advised to preserve personal property.”
“Where is it?”
“Secured.”
Mills leaned forward.
“Your granddaughter identified your bracelet before saying the word furnace.”
“She is traumatized.”
“Why did you reach for her chart?”
“I wanted to protect her privacy.”
“You tried to take it after she spoke.”
Warren’s jaw tightened.
His attorney touched his sleeve.
Warren continued.
“The fire began in the old foundry. Lily must have wandered inside.”
“At night?” Mills asked.
“She was sleepwalking.”
Caleb stared at him.
“Lily has never sleepwalked.”
“You have been deployed for eleven months. You don’t know what she does.”
Caleb’s hands curled under the table.
Mills noticed.
“Major.”
Caleb forced them open.
Warren gave his version.
Meredith and Lily had stayed at the Blackwell estate because a storm knocked out power at their home.
Around midnight, Warren smelled smoke.
He found the foundry door open.
He entered and discovered Lily unconscious near the furnace.
He carried her outside.
He claimed the bracelet became hot while rescuing her.
That, he suggested, explained why it might resemble some injuries.
Dr. Foster had already contradicted that.
The patterned burns were not created by accidental contact during a rescue.
Some were weeks old.
Others were months old.
Mills asked, “Why were there repeated burns?”
Warren looked at Caleb.
“Children injure themselves.”
“Thirty-one times?”
“She is clumsy.”
Caleb rose halfway from his chair.
Mills pushed one hand toward him.
“Sit down.”
Caleb did.
Barely.
Warren’s attorney ended the interview.
As Warren stood, Caleb saw a pale pressure mark around his wrist where the bracelet had been.
The bracelet had not heated during the fire.
He had worn it long enough to leave an indentation.
And Lily had feared it long before the night of the blaze.
Outside the conference room, Warren whispered something to Meredith.
She flinched.
Caleb could not hear the words.
But he saw Meredith nod.
The same obedient nod she had given her father throughout their marriage.
👉 Warren claimed he rescued Lily from an accidental fire—but Meredith’s terrified obedience suggested she already knew the story was false.
May you like
```
```text
