Chapter 13 - A Name She Had Never Chosen
“Leah Bell?” Daniel repeated when Ortiz showed him the school inquiry. “That's not her name.”
“It was the name on the travel documents,” Ortiz replied. “We believe Vanessa intended to make the move harder to trace.”
The inquiry contained no lawful custody order, only the forged authorization. The school had not enrolled anyone. But Vanessa had been preparing to introduce Lily to strangers as Renée's daughter.
Renée finally agreed to provide her messages and testify about the arrangement. She was not excused for taking the money. Her attorney made that clear. Cooperating meant telling the truth, not erasing what she had done.
I was sitting with Lily and Noah in my backyard when Andrea called to explain the new discovery. I watched Lily show Noah how to roll a ball through the grass. Every time he laughed, she looked relieved, as though laughter meant she had done her job correctly.
I put down the phone and joined them.
“Want to teach Grandma?” I asked.
Lily rolled the ball into my shoe. I missed it on purpose. She laughed, then looked startled by her own laugh.
That was the first sound I wanted to remember forever.
The next morning, Rosa Patel called from Lily's preschool. A driver had arrived asking about a child named Leah Bell. He carried an old pickup confirmation and said he had been hired to transport a girl to the airport.
Rosa had already contacted the police. Lily wasn't at school; she remained home with me. Investigators determined that the driver was working from a reservation made before the court hearing and had not known the papers were false.
Still, the request made my hands go cold.
At bedtime, Lily asked, “Does Leah have to go?”
“No one is going,” I told her.
May you like
She stared at her shoes by the door.
“Vanessa told me Leah was the girl who'd get on the plane. She said Lily could stay if she learned how to be good.”
