Chapter 7 - The Unredacted File
Within three hours, David Cole had delivered on his promise. We reconvened in my high-security apartment on Michigan Avenue. Rain lashed against the towering panoramic windows, mirroring the storm from nine years ago.
David tossed a thick, yellowed folder onto my kitchen island.
“Naperville Fire Department Arson Investigation Report, Case #09-4412,” David announced. “Unredacted. My contact in the county clerk’s office had to pull it from the deep archives.”
I flipped open the cover. Photographs spilled out.
Charred beams. Melted copper wiring. The blackened shell of Eleanor Vance’s home. But as I read the lead investigator's notes, my eyes locked onto a section highlighted in yellow.
*“Accelerant detected: High-grade commercial diesel fuel and industrial hydraulic fluid. Origin point: Southwest exterior wall beneath master bedroom. Note: Commercial diesel matches the batch grade utilized by Bennett Construction fleet vehicles.”*
I gasped, my hand flying to my collarbone.
“My father burned her alive,” I whispered, nausea rising in my throat. “He used his own company’s fuel.”
“Keep reading,” David urged quietly.
I turned the page. Attached to the arson analysis was a medical examiner’s preliminary post-mortem report.
*“Victim remains: Severely compromised due to thermal damage. Dental records: Inconclusive due to destruction of cranial structures. DNA analysis: Incomplete. Note from Deputy Coroner: Body stature corresponds to an adult female, approximate height 5’2” to 5’5”. However, bone density scans indicate victim was likely under fifty years of age.”*
I froze. I reread the sentence three times.
*Under fifty years of age.*
Eleanor Vance was seventy-one years old when that house burned to the ground. She suffered from severe osteoporosis—I remembered the bottles of calcium supplements on her kitchen counter.
“David...” My voice barely functioned. “This wasn't Eleanor.”
David nodded slowly. “That’s what caught my eye. The coroner flagged the discrepancy, but forty-eight hours later, the investigation was abruptly closed by DuPage County prosecutors. Cause of death was officially ruled accidental fire due to faulty wiring, and the body was cremated without further DNA testing.”
“Who closed the case?” I demanded.
David flipped to the final page of the file. Signed in thick black ink across the closure authorization was the name of the presiding state prosecutor from 2015: *District Attorney Marcus Sterling.*
“Sterling left public office two years later,” David explained. “Now he’s the senior managing partner at Sterling & Croft—the primary legal defense firm for Bennett Construction and Apex Urban Development.”
The web was vast, sick, and deeply rooted. My father hadn't just destroyed Eleanor’s house; the local political machine had covered it up. But the central, impossible question screamed in my mind:
If Eleanor Vance didn't die in that fire, whose body was in that bedroom?
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And where was Eleanor?
***
