Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN JANET TRIED TO PAY TO DISAPPEAR
Elena had not taken the ten thousand dollars.
That was the first thing Nathan asked.
She almost slapped him.
“No.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
Nathan stopped.
Elena stood outside the nonprofit housing office with both arms folded.
“You wanted to know whether I was bought.”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
The word landed harder because she gave it willingly.
“What did Janet say?”
“She came to the motel.”
“What motel?”
“The county put us at one near I-95 after Harbor View.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Of course.
They had been displaced already.
Elena continued.
“Ruby was asleep.”
“Did Janet know where you were?”
“She ran the foundation.”
“What did she want?”
“She said the accident had traumatized everyone and reporters might turn Ruby into a spectacle.”
“That part sounds like Janet.”
“She said she could help us relocate.”
“Ten thousand.”
“Cashier’s check.”
“From where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you keep anything?”
Elena nodded.
“The envelope.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because when rich people tell you to disappear, you keep paper.”
He almost smiled.
“Fair.”
The envelope had Janet’s personal stationery.
Inside Elena had written the date and time herself.
She also retained a photograph of the cashier’s check because she considered calling a lawyer.
She never cashed it.
Payor:
JCP Family Holdings.
Janet’s private investment entity.
Nathan sent the image to Rachel.
“What did Janet ask you to sign?”
“A confidentiality agreement.”
“Do you have it?”
“No.”
“I tore it up.”
Elena looked at him.
“Sorry.”
“I’m not grading your evidence preservation.”
“You look like you are.”
“I’m trying not to.”
She smiled for the first time.
Barely.
Then her expression changed.
“There was another thing.”
Nathan waited.
“Janet asked whether Sophie gave Ruby anything.”
“The key.”
“Yes.”
“The drive?”
“I said no.”
“Was that true?”
Elena looked toward the door.
“Yes.”
Nathan heard something in it.
“Then why did you hesitate?”
“Because Sophie did give Ruby something else.”
“What?”
“A notebook.”
Nathan’s pulse jumped.
“Where is it?”
“I threw it away.”
He stared.
Elena immediately held up a hand.
“Not after the accident.”
“When?”
“Months later.”
“Why?”
“Because Ruby kept reading it.”
Nathan waited.
“What was in it?”
“Mostly kid stuff.”
Drawings.
Lists.
Which library snacks were best.
A design for a treehouse Sophie wanted Nathan to build.
Then pages about Harbor View.
Names.
Rent increases.
Questions.
One page had:
ASK DAD WHY NORTHLINE = OWEN?
Another:
MOM SAID AUNT JANET THINKS FAMILY IS A REASON, NOT A RULE.
Grace’s words again.
Then Elena remembered a page near the back.
Sophie had written:
IF JANET SAYS I RAN BECAUSE DAD AND I FOUGHT, THAT IS NOT TRUE.
Nathan stopped.
“Exactly?”
“I think so.”
“Why would she write that before the accident?”
Elena looked at him.
“Because Janet had already threatened to tell you Sophie was acting out.”
The manipulation began before the crash.
Janet told Sophie:
Nathan would think she was stealing confidential records.
Nathan would be angry.
Nathan would send Ruby away.
Nathan had been the threat used against his own daughter.
And after Sophie died, Janet reversed it.
Sophie became the reason Nathan should blame himself.
Nathan’s grief had been built from both directions.
His phone rang.
Rachel.
“Nathan, I have the accident supplemental report.”
He put her on speaker.
“What did Elena tell police?”
“There is a witness notation.”
Elena went still.
Rachel read:
Unidentified adult female reported seeing family member retrieve personal property from victim area prior to EMS arrival. Reporting party left scene before full identifying information obtained.
Nathan looked at Elena.
“That’s you.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you leave?”
“Ruby was in the car alone.”
Rachel continued.
“An officer later documented contact with Janet. Janet stated she collected a red backpack to prevent it being soaked and immediately gave it to family.”
Nathan whispered:
“She never gave it to me.”
“No.”
“Police believed her?”
“It appears no one identified the backpack as evidentiary at the time.”
The delivery driver stayed.
The collision circumstances seemed clear.
Nobody knew there was financial material in the bag.
Nathan had been flying back from Boston.
The police had a grieving aunt.
An unrelated homeless witness.
A dead child.
People made fast decisions.
Not necessarily corrupt.
Just incomplete.
Rachel added:
“There is another witness.”
“Who?”
“The delivery driver.”
“He saw Janet?”
“His attorney agreed to let us contact him.”
The driver’s name was Curtis Hale.
Fifty-two.
Worked for a bakery supplier in Port Chester.
Nathan had never spoken to him.
At the time, he could not bear to look at the man connected to Sophie’s death.
Curtis agreed to a phone call.
His voice shook more than Nathan expected.
“Mr. Wells, I am so sorry.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“You stayed at the scene.”
“Yes.”
“You called 911.”
“Yes.”
“You were not charged.”
“No.”
“I’m not calling about blame.”
Curtis cried anyway.
Nathan waited.
Finally:
“There was a lady.”
“Janet.”
“I know that now.”
“What did you see?”
“She was behind me maybe twenty seconds after I stopped.”
“Did she come from a car?”
“Yes.”
“Was she following Sophie?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“She went to the little girl.”
Nathan’s breathing changed.
Curtis continued.
“I was trying to keep traffic back.”
“Then?”
“She picked up a backpack.”
“Did she say why?”
“No.”
“Did you see what she did with it?”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked at Elena.
Curtis said:
“She took something out first.”
“What?”
“Small.”
His voice strained.
“Like a flash drive.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“And then?”
“She put it in her coat pocket.”
May you like
The red folder had not disappeared.
Janet had removed the drive from Sophie’s backpack while her niece lay dying in the road.
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