Chapter Forty-four

"Arson?" she asked, her voice shaking. Surely she hadn't heard right.

"Yes. The fire experts detected an accelerant which definitely caused the fire right there in the living room. It burned noticeably more than everything else around it. We assume the arsonist must have broken in, set it on fire and placed it where it would spread, or thrown it in through the open window when your mother was asleep."

Her lips trembled. Someone had tried to kill her grandmother, on purpose. But why? Her grandma was the purest person she knew. She'd never hurt anyone. Unless the arsonist wasn't trying to kill her grandma, but wanted someone else - herself or the kids. But she never hurt anyone either, at least not on purpose. Who would want her dead, or at most injured?

"We have asserted the fire began around two in the afternoon and went on for over thirty minutes before the neighbor called us. Your grandmother was probably asleep and couldn't escape in time until it was too late because the first r