Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Records
The next morning, the hospital felt like a sanctuary. The sterile smell of antiseptic and the hum of monitors provided a clarity I couldn't find at home. During my break, I bypassed the HR files and logged into the regional medical database.
I searched for Meredith’s full name: Meredith Vance. I cross-referenced it with fire marshal reports from the three cities Lily had mentioned.
The data was chilling.
City A (Five years ago): A residential fire caused by a "faulty space heater." No fatalities, but heavy property damage.
City B (Three years ago): An electrical fire in a kitchen. The home was a total loss.
City C (One year ago): A candle mishap.
In every single report, the common denominator was a female tenant who had recently entered a relationship with a high-earning partner. And in every report, there was a mention of a "distressed" child whose behavior had been a "concern" for the neighbors.
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Meredith hadn't just been in these houses; she had been the orchestrator of their destruction. She didn't burn them for the money. She burned them to erase the failures of her relationships, using the fire as a way to "restart" her life with a clean slate, while framing the child as the catalyst for the chaos.
I felt a wave of nausea. I wasn't just living with a manipulator; I was living with a serial arsonist who had perfected the art of the victim-blame.
