Chapter 6 - The Arson Plot
Todd cursed loudly as he stumbled over a loose piece of concrete in the dark.
"I am telling you, Dad, the old man's vault has to be down here somewhere."
Frank clicked on a heavy-duty lantern, casting a harsh yellow light across the dusty basement.
"We are out of time, Todd, the Vegas guys are flying into Dallas tomorrow morning."
Vanessa pressed her back against the cold concrete wall, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
"If we don't find the coins tonight, we have to proceed with plan B," Frank continued, his voice cold and emotionless.
Todd kicked a cardboard box, sending it flying across the room.
"Plan B means we have to burn the whole place down with Melissa inside to get the life insurance payout."
Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the urge to gasp out loud.
Her brother-in-law was not just a degenerate gambler and a fraud.
He was actively planning to murder her sister to cover his debts.
"Melissa is a liability anyway," Frank muttered, unscrewing the cap on the red gas can.
"She asks too many questions and she is too close to her sister."
"Make it look like an electrical fire caused by the bad wiring in the demolished kitchen," Todd instructed.
Frank began pouring the gasoline along the wooden support beams of the basement ceiling.
The pungent, sickening smell of fuel quickly filled the small, enclosed space.
Vanessa slowly pulled her phone from her pocket, making sure the screen brightness was turned all the way down.
She hit the record button, capturing their voices perfectly in the quiet basement.
"Go upstairs and make sure Melissa takes her sleeping pills," Frank ordered his son.
"I will finish drenching the basement and set the timer on the space heater."
Todd turned around and trudged heavily back up the wooden stairs.
Frank kept his back turned to Vanessa, humming a cheerful tune as he splashed gasoline onto the concrete floor.
Vanessa knew she had exactly one chance to get out alive.
She waited until Frank walked to the far corner of the room to splash the electrical panel.
Moving as silently as a ghost, Vanessa slipped out from behind the boxes and rushed up the stairs.
She reached the kitchen door just as Todd was walking into the living room.
She slipped outside into the humid night air, closing the door softly behind her.
She sprinted across the dark lawn, gasping for fresh air as she reached the safety of her car.
Once inside, she locked the doors and immediately played the recording back.
The audio was crisp, clear, and undeniably damning.
But as she reached for the door handle to run to the police, she realized a terrible truth.
If she called the police now, Frank and Todd would just say they were trying to run a generator, and the police might take hours to get a warrant.
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In that time, they could easily light the match and kill Melissa.
Vanessa needed to stop the fire herself, right now.
