Chapter 9 - The Trial of Fire
Fire spread through the foyer of Blackwood Manor with terrifying speed, hungry yellow flames licking up the carved oak staircase, casting brilliant, flickering light into every dark corner of the house.
Judge Sterling tangled himself in the burning velvet curtain, rolling down the remaining steps, screaming in agony as his dark judicial robes caught fire.
Jonathan Vance ignored the judge. He lunged forward through the smoke, his eyes fixed on Leo. "You're coming with me!"
He reached out his heavy hands to grab Leo’s collar, but Leo ducked low, scrambling beneath Jonathan’s legs. As Jonathan overextended his reach, slipping on the smoke-slicked floorboards, Leo pushed against his uncle's heel with all his strength.
Jonathan lost his balance.
With a frantic, horrifying cry, Jonathan Vance pitched forward over the broken balustrade, falling thirty feet down into the roaring inferno of the grand foyer below.
Leo stood at the top of the landing, looking down through the choking black smoke at the burning ruins of his family's estate.
Outside, the shrill, wavering siren of a police motorcar pierced the sound of the storm, followed by the heavy banging of iron fists against the front doors.
"Open up in the name of the law!" a voice shouted from outside.
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It was Detective Miller—the investigator who had been sitting in the back of Courtroom Four when Leo pointed his finger. He had spent the night reviewing the land deeds at the county registry and had realized the boy was telling the absolute truth.
Leo didn't hesitate. He turned away from the flames and ran toward the servant's entrance at the rear of the manor, disappearing into the dark rain of the night.
