Chapter 9 - THE FIRE AT DONOVAN AUTO
Lucas stepped from the car wearing a dark hooded jacket.
He did not see the unmarked police vehicle parked across the street.
Detective Brooks had ordered surveillance after Richard’s threats.
Lucas walked toward the rear office while Richard remained inside the service bay.
He poured gasoline across the wooden storage room where Michael kept the original notebooks.
Richard saw him through the glass partition.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending this.”
“You were supposed to frighten him.”
“I am tired of everyone deciding how far I can go.”
Michael moved toward the emergency alarm.
Lucas struck him with the empty gasoline container.
Michael fell against a workbench.
Richard froze.
For the first time, he saw his son’s violence without a wife standing between them.
Lucas pulled a lighter from his pocket.
Police officers entered through both service doors.
“Drop it.”
Lucas held the flame above the gasoline.
“If I burn the originals, he has nothing.”
Michael pushed himself upright.
“The originals are not here.”
Lucas stared at him.
Michael had moved every document to secure legal storage before filing the lawsuit.
The notebooks in the office were copies.
Lucas had come prepared to commit arson for paper that could not save him.
Detective Brooks ordered him to lower the lighter.
Richard spoke softly.
“Lucas.”
“Listen to them.”
Lucas turned toward his father.
“You told me to protect the family.”
“I told you to control Willow.”
“I did.”
The words silenced the garage.
Michael looked at Richard.
The hidden camera captured everything.
Richard’s expression changed as he understood what Lucas had admitted.
“You idiot.”
Lucas laughed.
“Now you care because there are cameras?”
He dropped the lighter.
An officer extinguished it before the flame reached the floor.
Lucas was arrested for attempted arson, assault, evidence destruction, and violation of Willow’s protective order.
Richard was questioned about his role.
He claimed he only requested a conversation.
Lucas accused him of ordering the intimidation.
Father and son began blaming each other before leaving the parking lot.
Michael suffered a cut above his eye and two bruised ribs.
Willow reached the hospital while he was being examined.
She stood in the doorway.
“I almost lost you because of them.”
Michael opened one arm.
“You did not lose me.”
She sat beside him.
For years, each had waited for the other to cross the distance pride created.
Lucas’s violence had finally burned through it.
Detective Brooks entered holding evidence bags.
Inside Lucas’s car, officers found the gasoline can, gloves, a second lighter, and a passport.
They also found a signed property deed transferring Willow’s gallery building to Celeste Warren.
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The date was two weeks before the anniversary.
Lucas had planned to remove Willow from the gallery regardless of what happened at the party.
