Chapter 12 - THE RECEIPT IN HER NAME"She took the deposit?" I asked.
Eleanor studied the receipt. "It appears so. The money may have been routed through an intermediary. We need records that stand up in court."
"She was buying herself a getaway."
"Possibly. Don't turn a suspicion into a fact before Chen can prove it."
That was Eleanor: never giving me a story to shout when what I needed was a case a judge would believe.
Back at the hospital, Mom insisted on sitting up to read the receipt. She scanned the page with a magnifying glass from her purse.
"This isn't my signature," she said. "And that's not the date they came to the house."
"Tell Detective Chen."
"I will. I'm done whispering."
Mom requested a private statement with Chen. She described Lorena laying papers over a cookbook, Carlos pressing a pen into her hand, and how the room swayed after she swallowed what Lorena called a vitamin. Mom couldn't swear which document she'd touched. She could swear she told them she would not sell.
Outside, my cousin's daughter, nineteen-year-old Ellie, waited on a bench. I hadn't seen her since Christmas.
"I know where Dad is," she whispered.
I stopped. "Ellie, have you talked to the police?"
"Not yet. He keeps calling me. He wants me to bring him a lockbox. I looked inside. There were deeds and passports and cash."
I called Chen before asking anything more. Ellie agreed to speak with her.
"He's scared," Ellie said. "He told me Lorena plans to blame him for everything."
"Where does he want to meet?"
She pressed her lips together. "At the cabin by the old quarry. Tonight."
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Her phone lit up with a new message from Carlos:
COME ALONE. AND DON'T TELL DANIEL.
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