Chapter 13 - The Statement I Never Received
Grace's insurance benefit had been structured to require a quarterly report to the alternate custodian. I had never received one. Ethan said he thought his accountant had sent them. The accountant said Vanessa had requested a new mailing address months earlier.
A rented mailbox in Paige's business name had been collecting the statements.
Carla helped the court-appointed financial reviewer assemble the records. Withdrawals had paid Paige's fictitious treatment bills, personal travel, and part of a down payment on property I had never heard of. The total was still being verified. Nobody was allowed to declare the whole case solved from a single bank statement.
But I could see why someone had wanted Lily out of sight.
Vanessa called Lily dangerous. Residential placement could hide the invented treatment costs. She had also tried to discredit me, the person most likely to notice the missing money.
Ethan listened as Carla explained it. "She said Margaret was trying to take our son," he whispered.
"Noah isn't a bargaining chip," I said. "Neither is Lily."
At home Noah tore one of Lily's paper stars. She flinched, but I helped her tape it together.
"It's not ruined," I said.
"Vanessa says ruined things go in the trash."
"People aren't things, honey. And paper can be mended."
That night a technician called Shah. The cameras had been installed by a security subcontractor who kept an automatic backup for thirty days. The backup hadn't been included on Vanessa's recording unit.
It might contain the moments somebody had deleted.
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Shah gave me only one warning: "Margaret, whatever is on that server, please don't ask to see it. Let us make a proper record first."
Then she said, "We found footage from the day Grace's memorial photograph was taken off Lily's wall."
