Chapter 4 - What My Mother Paid For
I wanted to be angry at Mom.
I was angry.
But anger became complicated when the person you wanted to yell at had to sit down every few minutes because her blood pressure kept dropping.
June brought her water.
I held up the photograph.
"Why couldn't he come home?"
Mom stared at Dad's handwriting.
"Because he thought someone was watching us."
"Who?"
"He didn't say."
"You saw him after the fire?"
She nodded.
That hurt worse than every answer before it.
"Once."
"Where?"
"A motel near Midway. He had burns on his arms. His ribs were wrapped. He looked... scared. Your father was never scared."
"And you left him there?"
"He made me."
"You always say that like it erases your choice."
She flinched.
I regretted it immediately, but not enough to take it back.
Mom opened the duffel bag.
Under the cash was a yellow legal envelope.
She recognized it.
"No."
"What?"
"I thought he destroyed these."
Inside were payment records from Halcyon Industrial.
Not payroll.
Medical settlements.
Dozens of them.
Kidney disease.
Respiratory failure.
Chemical exposure.
The dates went back fifteen years.
One name was familiar.
LINDA CARTER.
I looked at my mother.
"You worked there?"
"For six months before you were born."
I felt cold.
"Your kidney failure isn't hereditary."
She did not answer.
June whispered, "Thomas thought Halcyon had been dumping solvent into groundwater behind the old plant."
I stared at the page.
The settlement beside Mom's name showed $180,000.
I had never seen that kind of money in our life.
"Where did it go?"
Mom began crying.
"Your father refused it."
"Then why does it say paid?"
"Because somebody signed my name."
The door of the abandoned gym opened.
Dominic walked in with Mateo.
I was on him before anyone could stop me.
I shoved the paper into his chest.
"Your family poisoned my mother."
Dominic read it.
His face hardened.
"Halcyon was not ours."
"Your father financed it."
"For eighteen months. He sold his interest when Thomas brought him evidence."
June stepped forward.
"Tell her the rest."
Dominic looked at her.
"You know?"
"Thomas told me enough."
I laughed bitterly.
"Apparently everybody in Chicago had a meeting except me."
Dominic turned back to the documents.
"These settlements were processed through Whitmore Health Legal."
Vanessa's family.
My stomach tightened.
"So Vanessa knew."
"Maybe."
"She knew my mother had dialysis. She knew where I lived. She requested me for seven weeks."
Dominic's jaw flexed.
"I did not know she was requesting you."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. I expect you to verify it."
That answer stopped me.
He handed me his phone.
Messages between him and Vanessa.
Two weeks earlier:
VANESSA: I FOUND CARTER'S DAUGHTER.
DOMINIC: DO NOT CONTACT HER.
VANESSA: TOO LATE.
Then another message.
VANESSA: IF SHE'S ANYTHING LIKE HER FATHER, SHE'LL COME LOOKING.
I looked up.
"She was baiting me."
Dominic nodded.
"Yes."
"For what?"
The old burner phone inside Dad's duffel suddenly powered on by itself.
We all stared.
One unsent draft message appeared on the screen.
IF AVERY FINDS THIS, THE WHITMORES KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK LEDGER.
Then a second line.
DOMINIC DOESN'T KNOW HIS FATHER HELPED BURY IT.
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