Chapter 15 - The File Called Family
We did not insert the card into a home computer. Priya turned it over to investigators with a record of where Olivia said she had found it. Moreno explained that evidence was stronger when nobody tried to improve or interpret it first. Olivia was relieved to hand it over.
Two days later, the foundation's forensic team confirmed that the card contained copies of payment spreadsheets and email drafts. Some were encrypted, but enough were readable to establish that Ridgepoint was submitting bills for work it hadn't completed. One draft instructed Nolan to keep certain files off the foundation server.
Vanessa had named the folder FAMILY. That word made me feel sick.
Moreno and the financial investigators obtained the necessary records through legal channels. Priya told the board only that the review had identified serious discrepancies and that the evidence was being preserved. Trustees froze Ridgepoint payments and reviewed the affected housing sites. Families were notified through advocates.
Then Nolan asked to speak to investigators through his lawyer.
I wasn't in the room. I knew better than to demand a seat. Later, Moreno told Clara and me that Nolan had acknowledged deleting the camera footage on Vanessa's instruction. He also confirmed that Vanessa had asked him to arrange a confrontation that would make Clara appear unsafe around Emma. He claimed he hadn't expected Vanessa to put the baby in danger.
"That's a convenient line," Clara said.
"It's one part of the evidence," Moreno answered. "We'll check it against the rest."
Nolan also admitted paying the man who approached Olivia. He said Vanessa wanted the original recording because she feared there were more clips than the one played on the television.
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That night, Vanessa sent me a message for the first time in days. No apology. No question about Emma. Just a photograph of the two of us as children standing beside our father.
Below it she wrote: Meet me where Dad used to take us. Come alone, or you'll never see what he left behind.
