Chapter 7 - The File Julia Hid
For the first time in twenty years, Graham saw Sam Pike look afraid.
"Julia made me promise not to tell you unless there was a direct threat," Sam said.
"My daughter was chained to a bench today. I think we're there."
Sam closed the office door.
Two years before Julia died, she had volunteered on the audit committee of a children's charity network. Hawthorne Ridge was one of its contracted facilities.
She found billing records for therapy sessions that never happened, residential placements extended without medical cause, and trust accounts drained through inflated care fees.
One family name appeared over and over in the ownership structure.
Mercer.
Sloane's family.
Graham stared at him.
"Julia knew Sloane?"
"She knew of her. Sloane was working for the Mercer Foundation then."
Graham remembered meeting Sloane at a grief fundraiser six months after Julia's death.
He had believed it was chance.
Sam unlocked a fireproof cabinet and removed a slim red file.
Inside were copies of emails Julia had sent him.
One sentence had been highlighted.
If they learn I copied the placement ledgers, they will come through Graham or Maisie.
Ava whispered, "She predicted this."
Graham kept reading.
Julia had planned to turn the records over to state investigators.
She never got the chance.
Her car went off a wet hill road three days later.
At the time, police called it an accident.
Sam slid one final paper across the desk.
It was the service invoice for Julia's car from the week before the crash.
The repair shop had been paid by a fleet vendor.
That vendor was owned by Morrow Lane's parent company.
Graham looked at Ruiz.
"You think Sloane's family had something to do with Julia's death?"
Ruiz answered carefully.
"I think we have enough to reopen questions. Not enough to call it murder."
Then her phone buzzed.
She read the message.
"Maybe we have more than we did thirty seconds ago."
May you like
A mechanic from the closed repair shop had just contacted police.
He remembered Julia Grant's car.
