Chapter 13 - The People Who Counted Beds
I thought an arrest would come immediately. It didn't. Investigations took statements, verified dates, and moved slower than my anger.
Instead, I went with Daniel to Eli's next visit. Lily carried a paper bag filled with colored pencils. She had chosen them carefully and counted them four times.
Eli watched us from a chair by the window. His eyes kept finding the exit. I sat where he could see both the door and my hands.
Lily sat beside him. “I made a picture, but you can draw on the back if you don't like it.”
The paper showed three stick figures and one empty space. Eli looked at it for a long time before filling the space with a smaller figure wearing a blue wristband.
Daniel asked whether Eli liked trains. Eli said he liked taking broken things apart to see why they stopped working. Daniel was an electrician; within minutes they were discussing why a model locomotive needed clean contacts. It was the first time I heard Eli laugh.
The sound was tiny and startling, like a window opening in a dark room.
After the visit, Amanda told Naomi investigators had interviewed two former Horizon employees. One described pressure to report beds occupied so contracts would be renewed. The other remembered June asking why case plans contained Vivian's address instead of hers.
My mother had been designated a point of contact for notices that should have gone through proper channels.
That night a lawyer representing Horizon sent a letter demanding I stop making “false and damaging statements.” Naomi read it, smiled without humor, and filed it with the rest of our documents.
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Then another letter arrived, this one addressed by hand.
Claire, it said. Your mother isn't the only person who knew the boy was being neglected. Ask who signed the charity checks.
