Chapter 6 - The Son With Real Responsibilities
Miles finally called after learning police had searched their mother’s house.
“What did you tell them?”
Claire sat in a temporary hotel room provided by the Red Cross.
“The truth.”
“You’re trying to send Mom to prison.”
“She set my apartment on fire.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“They found my documents in her trunk.”
Miles went silent.
Then he said, “She was only trying to protect the family.”
Claire closed her eyes.
That sentence revealed more than he intended.
“What did she promise you?”
“Nothing.”
“Miles.”
He began crying.
Margaret had promised to use the insurance payout and rental-property proceeds to cover one hundred twenty thousand dollars he owed after a failed restaurant investment.
He knew she planned to retrieve documents from Claire’s apartment.
He claimed he did not know about the fire.
His messages complicated that claim.
Three days before the fire, Margaret wrote:
Once the papers are gone, Claire has nothing.
Miles replied:
Just make sure she can’t prove what Grandma wrote.
He later testified that he thought Margaret intended to steal the folder, not burn the apartment.
That distinction mattered legally.
It did not matter much to Claire.
Her brother knew someone planned to enter her home and erase evidence.
He said nothing because the result benefited him.
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The family had not failed to protect Claire.
They had calculated that protecting Miles mattered more.
