Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN ACROSS THE STREETHelen Warren had known Evelyn Monroe for twenty-three years.
They had never been friends.
Friendly, perhaps.
Christmas cards.
Polite conversations at neighborhood events.
Occasional coffee after homeowners’ meetings.
Helen described Evelyn with one word.
“Controlled.”
Detective Bennett asked what she meant.
“She doesn’t do anything without thinking first.”
They were sitting in Helen’s living room across from the Monroe house.
Helen looked through the window at the damaged roof.
“That’s why that night bothered me.”
“What did you see?”
“Evelyn outside.”
“After the fire started?”
“I saw smoke first. Then her.”
“Was she panicking?”
“No.”
“Calling for help?”
“No.”
“Did she mention Caitlyn?”
Helen hesitated.
“Yes.”
Laura leaned forward.
“What did she say?”
“I asked if the little girl was inside.”
“And?”
“She told me Caitlyn wasn’t home.”
“Exact words?”
“Something like, ‘No, thank God, she’s with Megan.’”
Laura wrote it down.
“Before firefighters arrived?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her?”
“I wanted to.”
Helen looked uncomfortable.
“But I remembered Megan leaving alone.”
Laura stopped writing.
“You saw Megan leave?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“A little before nine.”
“Was Caitlyn with her?”
“No.”
“Could the child have left another way?”
“Possibly. I don’t watch them every minute.”
“Of course.”
Helen folded her hands.
“But Caitlyn’s bedroom light was on earlier.”
Laura looked up.
“What?”
“I saw the lamp.”
“After Megan left?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
Laura took a breath.
“Mrs. Warren, did you see Evelyn inside before she came out?”
Helen looked toward the house.
“Once.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs hallway.”
Laura’s pen stopped.
“How could you see that?”
“The side window at the landing faces my house. Curtains were open.”
“What was Evelyn doing?”
“Standing.”
“Where?”
“I couldn’t tell exactly.”
“Could you see Caitlyn’s bedroom door?”
“Part of that hallway, yes.”
Helen looked troubled.
“I remember thinking she was just checking on the girl.”
“What time was this?”
“Before the smoke.”
“How long before?”
“Maybe five minutes. Maybe ten.”
Laura asked her to draw the view.
Helen sketched the Monroe second floor from memory.
Her mark placed Evelyn near Caitlyn’s door.
It did not prove she locked it.
But it supported Caitlyn.
Later, Helen called Megan.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should have gone over there.”
“You called 911.”
“I believed Evelyn when she said Caitlyn wasn’t inside.”
Megan closed her eyes.
“You saved my daughter.”
“I didn’t.”
“You called.”
“That brought the firefighters.”
Helen began crying.
“I keep thinking about what if that passage hadn’t been there.”
“So do I.”
After the call, Megan found Caitlyn sitting on the floor with Caroline’s dog.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Can Grandma come here?”
“No.”
“Never?”
Megan sat down.
“I don’t know about never.”
Caitlyn looked disappointed and relieved at the same time.
“Does she know where we are?”
“Yes.”
“Can she lock this door?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Caitlyn leaned against her.
That evening, Laura arrived with an update about Victor Hale.
“He’s cooperating.”
Megan raised an eyebrow.
“That was fast.”
“He says Evelyn retained him to explain trust structures.”
“And?”
“He claims he had no knowledge of any plan involving the fire.”
“Do you believe him?”
“We verify everything.”
“What did they talk about?”
Laura opened her notebook.
“Evelyn wanted to know what would happen financially if she became Caitlyn’s guardian.”
Megan stared.
“Financially?”
“Access to funds for housing, education, healthcare. Trustee authority. Whether she could sell the house.”
Megan felt cold.
“She asked if she could sell my house?”
“Caitlyn’s trust owns the house.”
“I know.”
“She also asked about management fees.”
“What management fees?”
“A trustee can sometimes receive reasonable compensation.”
Megan laughed bitterly.
“So she wanted to know if she could pay herself.”
“That’s one interpretation.”
“And the call during the fire?”
Laura paused.
“Victor says Evelyn called him.”
“What did she say?”
“She told him there had been ‘an emergency at the house.’”
“That’s all?”
“He says she asked a strange question.”
Megan waited.
“What question?”
“Whether a trustee transition would happen automatically if something happened to you.”
Megan stared at her.
“During the fire?”
“Yes.”
“But I wasn’t in the house.”
“We know.”
Megan felt the room become very quiet.
“Did she think I was coming home?”
Laura said nothing.
Megan remembered telling Evelyn she would be back before eleven.
Had the fire been meant only for Caitlyn?
Or was Evelyn expecting Megan to return to a burning house and rush inside?
The possibility made Megan nauseated.
Laura closed her notebook.
“There’s one more thing Victor told us.”
“What?”
“Evelyn sounded frustrated.”
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“About what?”
“Apparently she said, ‘This isn’t how it was supposed to happen.’”
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