Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WITH THE RECEIPT
Rachel Shaw arrived carrying a laptop, a legal pad, and no patience.
She listened for twenty minutes without interrupting.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“Your brother has authority over what?”
“The foundation. Several family trusts. Some company accounts.”
“Still?”
“He managed everything while I recovered.”
“And you never took it back.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Rachel closed her pen.
“We’ll fix that.”
She called people who answered on the first ring.
By evening, Daniel had revoked Victor’s access to his personal accounts and instructed his bank to preserve all records.
The foundation was more complicated. Victor sat on its board.
“Complicated doesn’t mean untouchable,” Rachel said.
Meanwhile, Ruiz located a retired rescue worker named Evelyn Price.
Evelyn arrived at the hospital wearing a faded county jacket.
She stood in Caroline’s doorway for a long time.
“Oh, honey.”
Caroline stared at her.
“You cut my seat belt.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And you wouldn’t let me leave without that baby.”
Daniel sat forward.
“You saw them alive?”
“I handed both of them to the ambulance crew.”
“Then why does the report say they died?”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened.
“I filed an objection. My supervisor said there’d been a paperwork mix-up after the transfer. Then someone from county legal called.”
“What did they say?”
“That I was confusing victims from two separate calls.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
Evelyn reached into her bag.
“I kept my shift notes. And this.”
She laid a carbon-copy transport receipt on the bed.
CAROLINE MERCER.
INFANT MALE.
Both marked ALIVE.
Daniel read it three times.
Eleven years of cemetery visits.
Eleven years of untouched toys in a room he couldn’t enter.
Reduced to two checked boxes somebody had ignored.
“Why didn’t you find me?”
Evelyn absorbed the question.
“I called your house. Your brother said you were still confused. He said pushing this would damage your recovery.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Victor had stood between him and every open door.
Evelyn turned to Caroline.
“The baby blanket. Yellow, with little ducks. You made me wrap him twice.”
Caroline began to cry.
Noah reached for her hand.
Later, as Rachel scanned the receipt, Evelyn received a call.
She listened.
Her face drained.
“What is it?” Daniel asked.
“My garage.”
“What about it?”
May you like
Evelyn looked at the document on Rachel’s screen.
“Someone just set it on fire.”
