Chapter 6 - FIRE ON THE EAST WALL
Travis Kline’s threat became part of the evidence file, but legally it was still only a threat. Deputy Price took a report. The county tightened restrictions around Rachel’s visits. Huck installed new exterior cameras despite insisting the Riders were not turning the clubhouse into a fortress. Marlene reminded everyone not to discuss case details around Daisy. Life tried to continue.
For thirteen days, nothing happened.
That almost made Eli more nervous.
He had learned in his old apartment that long silence often came before breaking glass.
On the fourteenth night, he woke to smoke.
At first he thought he was dreaming. The hallway light outside his room had turned orange, and somewhere beyond the wall a metallic alarm shrieked. Then Marlene shouted his name.
Eli launched from bed.
“Daisy!”
He reached her room as Marlene did. Smoke seeped through the vent, thin but visible. Daisy sat upright crying.
Marlene lifted her. “Shoes later. Move.”
Eli ran beside them down the back stairs to the residence exit. In the yard, cold air hit his face. Riders poured out of the clubhouse. Someone yelled that the east exterior wall was burning. Flames crawled up stacked pallets beside the garage, licking at the brick and catching an old banner.
Huck grabbed an extinguisher.
Rooster pulled the emergency hose.
Tiny called 911.
Eli stood barefoot in wet grass, heart hammering as Daisy clung to Marlene. He could hear a motorcycle alarm blaring and smell melting plastic.
Then he saw a dark sedan accelerating away from the alley.
“Car!” he shouted.
Huck turned.
The sedan disappeared toward the industrial road.
Fire crews arrived within minutes and contained the flames before they reached the main structure. The damage was limited to the outer storage area and part of the garage wall, but the investigation changed everything. Security footage captured a hooded figure pouring liquid near the pallets. Another camera caught part of a license plate.
It matched a vehicle registered to Travis Kline.
Rachel was questioned the next morning.
She denied knowing anything about the fire, then admitted Travis had been angry about the custody case. He had accused Iron Vale of humiliating him. He had told her he was going to “make the bikers understand.” She claimed she did not think he meant violence.
Eli listened to Ms. Carver explain this and felt something inside him go strangely cold.
He did not feel fear first.
He felt guilt.
If he had never come to Iron Vale, the fire would not have happened.
That thought infected everything.
He stopped going to the garage. He stopped sitting at the long clubhouse table. He asked Marlene whether the county had another placement for Daisy.
She stared at him. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Just asking.”
“No, you’re not.”
He looked away.
Marlene closed the folder in front of her. “Say the real sentence.”
Eli’s eyes burned. “People here could get hurt because of us.”
“Huck could get hurt. Rooster could get hurt. You could get hurt.”
“Yes.”
“So you think leaving fixes it?”
“Maybe.”
“For whom?”
He had no answer.
That afternoon, Huck found him packing his backpack.
The old biker leaned against the bedroom door.
“Going somewhere?”
“No.”
“That looks suspiciously like luggage.”
Eli kept folding a sweatshirt.
Huck stepped inside. “The fire wasn’t your fault.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Eli shoved the shirt into the bag. “He came because of us.”
“He came because he chose to commit a crime.”
“If we weren’t here—”
“If you weren’t here, he would still be who he is.”
Eli’s hands stopped.
Huck continued. “You’re doing that thing.”
“What thing?”
“Taking responsibility for every dangerous adult in the room.”
“I’m trying to keep people safe.”
“No. You’re trying to control what cannot be controlled because control used to be the only thing between Daisy and chaos.”
Eli glared at him. “You don’t know that.”
Huck’s face changed.
“No,” he said. “But I know something close.”
He sat on the edge of the desk.
“After Annie died, I spent years replaying the crash. What if I’d picked her up from school? What if I’d called my wife five minutes earlier? What if we had lived on the other side of town? Grief loves the word if. It uses it like a knife.”
Eli looked at him.
“Responsibility has borders,” Huck said. “Learn them now, or you’ll spend your life apologizing for storms you didn’t make.”
The next court hearing came three days later.
Travis had been arrested on charges connected to the arson attempt. Rachel’s visitation was suspended pending a safety review because investigators found messages showing she had told Travis where the children were and when the Riders usually left for their weekly charity meeting. She insisted she had not expected violence.
Judge Wynn listened without interrupting.
Then she asked Rachel a question.
“Why did you give him that information?”
Rachel cried.
“Because he said he only wanted to talk to them.”
“Did your son tell you he was afraid of Mr. Kline?”
“Yes.”
“Did the county tell you not to disclose the children’s placement details?”
“Yes.”
“Then you made a decision.”
Rachel covered her face.
Eli felt no victory.
Only sadness.
The court extended emergency guardianship another ninety days and ordered a full permanency review. Rachel was required to complete residential treatment before any unsupervised contact could be considered.
Outside the courthouse, reporters waited because the fire and the unusual guardianship had become local news. Huck refused interviews. Marlene refused photographs of the children. Rooster threatened to hide behind a tree if anyone put him on television.
Eli stood on the courthouse steps while rainwater from the roof dripped beside him.
Deputy Price approached.
“They found accelerant in Kline’s trunk,” he said quietly to Huck. “Case is solid.”
Eli stared across the street.
For once, the dangerous man was being held responsible by adults.
Not by him.
That night, Iron Vale members gathered to rebuild the damaged east wall. No one asked Eli to help.
He went anyway.
He carried small boards. Swept ash. Sorted screws.
Near midnight, Huck handed him a clean work glove.
“You staying?”
Eli looked at the blackened bricks, then at the men rebuilding around them.
May you like
“Yeah,” he said.
It was the first time the word staying sounded like a choice instead of an accident.
