Chapter 11 - The Names Behind Cedar Gate
At the temporary shelter, parents waited for news about their apartments. Emily watched Lena's video of the families.
"We were supposed to help them," Emily said.
Daniel switched off the television. "We still can."
He and Lena spent the next morning arranging temporary hotel rooms and transportation for displaced residents, using private donations collected through Lena's nonprofit. Daniel paid for what he could himself, without putting a Whitmore logo on a single receipt.
June brought in Fiona Cross, a forensic accountant. The publicly filed records showed Cedar Gate Services had been created weeks before receiving its first large trust payment. Its registered office was a mailbox. The company had never held the required electrical license.
The registered agent shared an address with a firm managed by Graham Pike's sister. Fiona had also found payments labeled TENANT OUTREACH that appeared nowhere in the residents' records.
Daniel studied a list of names. His stomach turned when he reached the last one.
ROSA DELGADO - COMMUNITY RELATIONS CONSULTING - $18,500.
"Rosa didn't receive that," he said.
"Then someone used her name to justify a payment. We'll need records to establish who received it."
Emily understood why the picture of Rosa's porch frightened her so much. Someone wasn't merely threatening a witness. Someone was preparing to make her look involved.
Before June could contact Rosa, an email arrived from the trust's personnel office. It carried an attachment labeled VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION, apparently signed by Rosa the morning after Emily's fall.
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Emily read the signature and shook her head. "That's not how Rosa writes her name."
At the bottom was a line claiming Rosa had witnessed Emily attack Margaret in the kitchen.
