Chapter 10 - The Voice From the Missing Years
The recording was shaky, but it showed enough. Vanessa placed a blank signature page beneath an ordinary delivery acknowledgment, pressed down with two fingers, and smiled while Mom signed. It didn't prove every fraudulent page had been made that way. It proved Vanessa knew exactly what she was doing.
Chen forwarded the recording for preservation. Priya prepared an emergency application to keep disputed authority from being used. Mom went through a formal medical evaluation and told the examiner, clearly and in detail, which medications she took, what property she owned, and what she wanted. I sat outside because she had chosen Sofia to be with her.
That evening, Mom called me into the kitchen. "Daniel sent me a Christmas card three years ago," she said. "I never showed you."
"Why?"
"You would have gone looking for him angry. I needed you to go looking for him kind."
She pulled a card from her purse. There was no return address, only a hand-drawn bridge and a line: I'M STILL HERE. I'M STILL SORRY. TELL MATEO TO ASK ABOUT THE THIRD PAGE.
Inside the envelope from Dad, the first two pages had been stapled. The third was folded into its own pocket. It contained a number and a name: DAVID MORENO, RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY.
I dialed from Sofia's kitchen. A man answered after five rings.
"David?"
"Who wants him?"
"My name is Mateo Alvarez. My brother Daniel might know you."
The breathing on the line changed. I heard a door close, then a voice I hadn't heard since Dad's funeral preparations, younger than memory and older than hope.
"Mateo," Daniel said. "You have to stop using that lawyer."
May you like
I gripped the phone. "Why did you leave us?"
"Because I helped Adam cover up the first fraud," he answered. "And your father paid me to disappear after Adam threatened our family."
