Chapter 16 - THE WIRE CUTTERS
The cutters still carried trace residue.
Copper.
Insulation.
Fire debris.
Forensic comparison could not prove they cut the exact extension cord.
The jaw pattern, however, was consistent with marks found on the conductor.
Consistent.
Not unique.
Frank said Greg gave them to him after the fire.
Greg denied it.
Then investigators found a photograph on Frank’s old phone.
Timestamped the next morning.
The cutters on the passenger floor beside demolition papers.
Metadata survived.
The case strengthened.
But the largest break came from Greg’s own smartwatch data.
The device had been seized in the property-fraud case.
Old cloud backups remained.
On the night Emma died, Greg’s heart-rate and location data placed him near the workshop for more than twenty minutes before the fire was reported.
He had disabled phone location.
He forgot the watch.
The data still did not show what his hands did.
Then Dale changed his testimony again.
That usually damages credibility.
This time he explained why he withheld part.
Greg had called him before the fire.
“He said Emma was in the workshop and wouldn’t leave.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him to walk away.”
“What did Greg say?”
“He said she was about to ruin everything.”
Dale denied hearing a threat.
No direct confession.
Prosecutors presented the total evidence to a grand jury.
Weakened cord.
Greg at the workshop.
Emma planning disclosure.
Post-death phone use.
Search for the red toolbox.
Early demolition.
False timeline.
The grand jury indicted Greg for murder under a theory that he intentionally created the electrical fire knowing Emma was inside.
That was an accusation.
Not a conviction.
Rebecca cried when Detective Ward told her.
Leo was nine by then.
His therapist recommended telling him before classmates did.
Rebecca said:
“Police believe your dad may have caused the fire that killed Mom. A court has not decided that yet.”
Leo went silent.
Then:
“Did he?”
“We don’t know what a jury will decide.”
“Do you think he did?”
Rebecca could not hide behind procedure forever.
“I think the evidence is serious.”
Leo nodded.
“I already thought he did.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad hated the red box.”
Children build conclusions from emotional facts long before legal ones.
Rebecca made sure he understood:
“Thinking something is not the same as proving it.”
May you like
Leo hated that distinction.
One day, he would value it.
