This was the St. Helena Orphanage case—the fire that consumed half the west dormitory, took one life, and left a city arguing over blame. It had started as a tragedy and grown into a scandal, money and morality burning together in public view.
The accused, Jacob Wells, a maintenance worker, sat quietly at the defense table, shoulders drawn in. He wasn’t the picture of guilt. He looked exhausted, a man buried beneath circumstances too heavy to lift.