Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN IN THE FILE
By morning, Lily refused to let either parent leave the room.
When Daniel stepped into the hallway to take a call, she woke crying.
He came back immediately.
“I’m right here.”
“You went away.”
“Just outside.”
Her face crumpled.
“That’s what Mommy said before the door.”
Daniel sat on the floor beside the bed.
He stayed there until she slept again.
Claire watched him without speaking.
Later, while Lily ate crackers with a nurse nearby, Reyes joined them in a private room.
She placed a copy of an old report on the table.
“Your birth parents were Owen and Beth Bennett.”
Claire nodded.
“Owen worked in accounting for the company Daniel’s father ran with Warren Hale.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Warren was his partner?”
“For several years.”
He had never heard that.
His father had described building the company alone.
Reyes slid another page toward Claire.
“Your father had reported concerns about company funds shortly before the fire. We’re still verifying the details.”
Claire read her birth father’s name twice.
“My adoptive parents said it was an electrical fire.”
“That was the final ruling.”
“And the first one?”
“Undetermined.”
Silence settled over the room.
Reyes continued carefully.
“A retired hospital clerk remembered a child brought in that night. We located an intake record. The name was entered incorrectly, then amended.”
“By whom?” Daniel asked.
“A physician. The amendment itself appears routine. What we can’t yet explain is why the death report wasn’t corrected.”
Claire pushed the page away.
“So somebody knew I was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Somebody let the world think I wasn’t.”
Reyes didn’t soften the answer.
“That’s what we’re investigating.”
Daniel reached for Claire’s hand.
She moved it.
He let his own fall.
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“Then don’t say anything yet.”
He nodded.
For once, he listened.
Reyes opened another folder.
“The current transfers are clearer. Marcus had access through the consulting contract you approved.”
Daniel remembered signing it.
Vanessa had said her brother needed a chance.
“Please tell me the money can be traced.”
“We’re working with your company.”
Claire looked toward the door, where Lily’s small voice drifted in from the nurses’ station.
“What happens to us now?”
Before Reyes could answer, Daniel’s attorney called.
He stepped into the hallway.
Her voice was tight.
“Daniel, Warren Hale has just sent a letter to the board.”
“What does it say?”
“That you assaulted two family members during a mental health crisis.”
May you like
Daniel looked through the glass at Claire and Lily.
The attack had already started.
