Chapter 3 - The Envelope in Her Purse
The baby was delivered at 4:18 p.m.
A girl.
Three pounds, eleven ounces.
She did not cry immediately.
For thirty-six seconds, Harrison stood behind a glass partition watching a neonatal team work around the tiny body of his niece.
Then a thin cry filled the room.
Harrison lowered his head.
It was the first time anyone at the hospital saw him cry.
Khloe remained in surgery for another hour.
Her daughter was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit.
Richard demanded to see the baby.
Hospital security refused.
Khloe's medical directive named Harrison as the person authorized to make decisions if she became incapacitated.
Richard was furious.
"She's my daughter."
Harrison stood across from him.
"Then start behaving like her father."
"You can't keep me out."
"I'm not."
"The hospital is."
"Because Khloe asked them to."
"She wasn't thinking clearly."
Harrison's eyes sharpened.
"Be very careful with that sentence."
Richard stepped away.
Harrison watched him leave the hallway.
Then he called his private investigator.
"Lena."
The woman on the other end answered immediately.
"I heard."
"I need everything."
"On Vanessa?"
"Vanessa and Richard."
"How far back?"
Harrison looked through the glass toward the NICU.
"Five years."
Lena was silent.
"That much?"
"Everything."
"Bank accounts."
"Hotels."
"Properties."
"Phones."
"Companies."
"Travel."
"I want to know what they ordered for breakfast if you can get it legally."
Lena exhaled.
"You think the affair is bigger than an affair."
"I know my sister."
"She changed her medical authority three weeks ago."
"She did that because she was afraid."
"Find out why."
That answer came faster than Harrison expected.
A nurse approached him forty minutes later carrying Khloe's handbag.
"Mr. Cole?"
"Yes."
"Your sister asked us to give this only to you if her husband came to the hospital."
Harrison stared at the bag.
"When did she say that?"
"Before surgery."
He took it.
Inside were Khloe's wallet, lipstick, phone, keys, and a white envelope.
Harrison's name was written across the front.
Harry.
If anything happens to me, don't believe Richard.
His stomach tightened.
He opened it.
Inside were photocopies of bank transfers totaling $2.7 million.
The money had been moved from Harrington Development Group into a company called Kensington Strategic Holdings.
Vanessa's last name.
Harrison read every page twice.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Richard thinks I don't know.
Vanessa thinks I'm stupid.
I found emails about transferring my shares before the baby is born.
They need my signature or they need me unable to object.
I'm scared.
Please don't confront them yet.
There is more.
Look in the blue nursery book at home.
Harrison folded the note carefully.
He did not show Richard.
He did not call Vanessa.
He sat in the hospital waiting room and stared at the wall for almost a full minute.
Then he called Lena again.
"I need someone at Khloe's house."
"Already sending a team."
"Don't touch anything without documenting it."
"What are we looking for?"
"A blue nursery book."
Lena paused.
"Harrison."
"Yes?"
"This sounds planned."
He looked toward the doors where his sister remained unconscious.
"I know."
Then his phone rang.
It was the Montgomery County District Attorney.
"Harrison."
"David."
"We have the courthouse footage."
"And?"
"The shove is clear."
"Arrest her."
"There may be more."
Harrison went still.
"What do you mean?"
"The camera from the east entrance caught Richard and Vanessa talking three minutes before Khloe came outside."
"What did they say?"
"No audio."
"But Richard points toward the staircase."
Harrison's fingers tightened around the phone.
Then David added the detail that turned suspicion into something darker.
May you like
"Vanessa looks down the steps."
"Then Richard checks whether the security guard has turned away."
