Chapter 16 - Follow the Money
The financial trail was uglier than I'd imagined and less mysterious. The campaign had collected more than eighty thousand dollars. Part of it had paid Nolan's company, part had covered Mara's debts and studio equipment, and some had gone to accounts investigators were still tracing. Neither our mortgage nor Tommy's medical care required those donations.
"Will any of it come back?" I asked Anita.
"Possibly some. Not all. And it won't be quick."
Regina Casey, the donor who had supplied messages, asked to meet me through her lawyer. We sat at a small table in the community center. She was embarrassed and angry, but she didn't ask me for an apology I had no right to offer in Mara's place.
"I wanted that little boy to get better," she said.
"He is getting better. He was sick when I came home, but not with what the campaign claimed. I'm sorry you were lied to."
Regina nodded, then slid a folded card across the table. "This is for Lily. Don't give it to her unless you think it would help. It says none of this was her fault."
I took it home and let June, the counselor, decide how to introduce it. I was learning that good intentions weren't a substitute for protecting a child's choices.
That evening Tessa helped me calculate how long we could afford the mortgage on my reduced salary. We would need to sell the truck and postpone work on the porch. I didn't mind. I could hear the children laughing upstairs.
Then Valdez called with news about Nolan. He'd been questioned and had refused to surrender the original campaign files voluntarily. Investigators had obtained a warrant for the records and equipment at his office.
May you like
"We should know more soon," she said. "For now, keep your children away from the online story."
The next morning a local outlet reported that Quiet Harbor Media was under investigation. Nolan responded by posting a photo of our family house with the caption, "They all knew."
