00:00The storage building was still burning when my mother and I reached it with the crowd.
00:03It stood past the trees near a low pond, isolated from the main factory.
00:07Flames punched out of the structure in waves, and the heat hit my face even in the cold.
00:11My mother was limping badly, stumbling more than walking.
00:14By then she was making sounds I had never heard from her before.
00:17The police waited until the fire dropped enough for anyone to go inside.
00:20Then they found a body, burned almost beyond recognition.
00:23Still, people decided fast.
00:25Only two men were supposed to have access to that building, Gordon Hale and my father.
00:28Gordon had an alibi poker game.
00:31Plenty of witnesses.
00:32The key still on him.
00:34My father had left our house around 10, telling my mother there was a problem with an inventory entry.
00:38A young officer questioned her right there while the crowd kept watching.
00:41Why would he go that late?
00:43I don't know.
00:44Why did you let him leave without asking?
00:45She looked straight at him.
00:47When my husband told me something, I believed him.
00:49That ended the conversation better than logic ever could.
00:52People had seen my father heading toward the storage site.
00:55The body's height and build were close enough.
00:57The objects recovered from the remains fit the story everyone already wanted.
01:01By the next day, the police made it official.
01:03My father was dead.
01:05I let the sentence sit between us.
01:07Then I added, quieter this time.
01:09At least that's what they told us.
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