Chapter 8 - Three Days Before Lily Got Sick
David’s recorded voice sounded impatient.
“We’re not touching Lily’s trust again.”
Richard answered.
“We already touched it.”
“That’s the problem.”
“You said the Sterling bridge loan would cover the gap.”
“It will.”
“When?”
“When the insurance restructuring clears.”
Richard went quiet.
Then he asked the question that made my skin crawl.
“What insurance restructuring?”
David sighed.
“Martin handled it.”
“Family coverage.”
“Two million on Lily.”
The recording crackled.
Richard’s voice changed.
“You insured your own kid?”
“It’s corporate coverage.”
“Does Maya know?”
A pause.
Then David said:
“She doesn’t need to know every technical document I sign.”
My eyes closed.
Adrian stopped the recording.
“That establishes knowledge of the policy.”
I felt strangely calm.
“Play the rest.”
“Maya—”
“Play it.”
He continued.
Richard’s voice returned.
“You realize how this looks.”
David laughed.
“Like insurance.”
“No.”
“Like a desperate man putting a number on his daughter’s life.”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
Then David said something that made every person in the room freeze.
“If anything happened to Lily, two million dollars wouldn’t fix my life.”
“But it would keep the company alive.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the speaker.
Nobody spoke.
Finally Nina leaned forward.
“There is no evidence at this time that David caused Lily’s illness.”
I looked at her.
“Then why are you saying that like you need me to remember it?”
“Because grief can connect facts that are not connected.”
I understood.
They did not want me to believe David had killed her.
Not without evidence.
I forced myself to breathe.
“Lily had bacterial meningitis.”
Adrian nodded.
“The medical team has no indication it was deliberately caused.”
“So he didn’t make her sick.”
“There is currently no evidence of that.”
“But he knew about the policy.”
“Yes.”
“And when a hospital called him repeatedly, he blocked the number.”
“Yes.”
My voice became hollow.
“Then he didn’t have to cause anything.”
Neither investigator responded.
A knock came at the door.
An agent stepped inside and whispered something to Adrian.
Adrian looked at me.
“What now?”
I asked.
“David’s attorney has arrived.”
I almost smiled.
“I assume that isn’t unusual.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then why do you look worried?”
“Because he brought something.”
“What?”
“A notarized document dated eight months ago.”
Nina’s face tightened.
Adrian continued.
“It claims you authorized David to make all decisions involving Lily’s financial estate.”
I stared at him.
“I never signed that.”
“We know.”
“How?”
“Because according to the notary log, you signed it in downtown Chicago on January eighteenth at 2:10 p.m.”
“So?”
Adrian slid a second document across the table.
It was a hospital appointment record.
On January eighteenth at 2:10 p.m., I had been sitting beside Lily in a pediatric surgeon’s office in Evanston.
There were cameras.
Credit card receipts.
Medical records.
I could prove it.
Which meant someone had built a paper trail around a forged document months before anyone expected it would matter.
May you like
And that meant the fraud was not improvised.
It had been planned.
