Chapter 4 - The Digital Trail
I asked the hospital social worker for a private office and ten minutes of uninterrupted Wi-Fi.
Sitting at a cramped desk, I bypassed the hospital firewall and logged into the cloud backup of my bank accounts and the old iPad. My hands shook as the financial statements loaded.
The eighty thousand dollars I had sent was gone, drained in a series of maximum daily withdrawals and wire transfers. But people like my mother and sister didn't steal that much money to sit on it. They liked nice things. They liked to be seen.
I pulled up the location history on the iPad. For the last three days, it hadn't pinged from my mother’s suburban home. It had been sitting stationary at the St. Regis Hotel downtown.
Then I opened my mother’s sent emails from the device. I found the communication with a sleazy family law attorney.
*“Mark’s salary will increase to $250k next year,”* Diane had written to the lawyer. *“Once Emily is deemed unfit and institutionalized, I will be the primary caregiver. Mark will just direct-deposit his earnings to my account to avoid the stress. Let’s finalize the emergency custody order before he flies back in February.”*
They didn't just want a quick payday. They wanted a permanent payroll. Emily wasn't a family member to them; she was an obstacle between my mother and my wallet. Claire, drowning in credit card debt from a lifestyle she couldn't afford, was more than happy to help clear the path.
I took out my phone and dialed a number I hadn't called in four years.
“Detective Miller,” a gruff voice answered.
Miller and I used to run security audits together for the city's medical network. He owed me a favor for catching a data breach that almost cost him his pension.
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“Miller, it’s Mark Davis. I have a 10-24 in progress involving wire fraud, identity theft, and the endangerment of a newborn.” I looked through the glass window of the office. Emily was asleep in a hospital bed, an IV dripping life back into her arm. “And I know exactly what room the suspects are in.”
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