Chapter 12 - The Price of Silence
By noon, the foundation's bank had frozen the remaining transfer instructions. Federal and local financial investigators were now tracing the $8.6 million that had already moved. Recovery was uncertain.
"What if it can't?" Adrian asked June.
"Then we rebuild the programs and pursue whoever took it. But first, we establish who controlled that account."
Naomi stood outside Evelyn's hospital room, reading a message from her younger brother Malik.
People are saying you got paid to fake the whole thing. Is that true?
Her fingers trembled as she typed back.
No. I'm working with the police. I'm safe. I'll call you.
A reporter had already posted a story quoting an unnamed source who accused a "disgruntled domestic employee" of manipulating Evelyn.
Adrian found Naomi in the hallway.
"I'm going to make a statement," he said.
"Don't tell them I'm a hero. Tell them what happened."
"I will."
She looked through the glass at Evelyn, asleep beneath a knitted blanket.
"My mother got treatment at one of those Lantern clinics," Naomi said. "When our insurance ran out, the nurses stayed. Mrs. Vale came to visit her. She didn't know us, but she sat there for two hours."
Adrian had never heard that story.
"I wanted to repay her," Naomi continued. "Then she hired me and spent three years telling me I didn't owe her anything."
"You don't."
"Then help me protect what she built. Not because you feel guilty. Because it's worth protecting."
Adrian nodded.
Brooks called Naomi into a conference room. Investigators had retrieved a document from Celeste's attorney containing what it called Naomi's signed confession: an admission that she had been paid to turn Evelyn against her family.
Naomi read one sentence and laughed, a terrible sound she couldn't stop.
"I never said any of this."
Brooks pointed to the signature.
The same broken stroke in the C appeared again.
"They used your hiring form," she said.
May you like
Then Naomi saw the last line.
The confession stated that Adrian had personally ordered her to lie.
