Chapter 15 - The Part Before I Entered
The investigators showed me the recovered footage after documenting it. I watched only the section necessary to identify the day and the people in the room.
Lily stood under a white light, blinking. Mara held a card beside the camera. Nolan sat beyond the frame, counting down from three.
"Tell them Daddy went away and you can't reach him," Mara instructed.
"But he called last night," Lily answered.
"Then say the call didn't help. Just look sad."
"I don't want to lie."
Mara lowered the card. "If you won't do this, the nice people won't send anything. We need help."
Lily's face crumpled. The camera kept rolling. Nolan murmured that genuine tears were better than rehearsed ones.
Then I entered, carrying groceries, and shouted for them to stop.
The footage didn't make me a saint. I looked furious; I should have found a calmer way to intervene. But it showed why I'd been angry and what the published clip had removed.
Valdez paused the recording. "We need to verify the file's history and match it with other evidence. Your lawyer will discuss what can be used in the proceedings."
I nodded, unable to speak. I was thinking about Lily staring into that light and being told honesty would cost us help.
Mara's lawyer requested another meeting about possible cooperation in the financial investigation. Anita attended with me. Mara admitted she had created the campaign, approved the children's filming, and known the medical claims were false. She said Nolan controlled the final payments and threatened to make her look like the only offender if she quit.
"I believed him," Mara whispered.
"And when Tommy got sick?" I asked.
She looked down. "I kept thinking I had one more day to fix it."
May you like
My hands went cold. "You had children. Not a deadline."
Outside the meeting room, Anita received a call. Investigators had found enough records to seek charges against Nolan and Mara. But one question remained unresolved: where had the money gone?
