Chapter 3 - The Envelope in Her Coat
Nathan waited until Lily’s temperature began to rise before attempting to remove the coat.
The zipper was jammed with ice. The sleeves were too stiff to pull over her arms safely. Cutting the fabric was the only option.
He retrieved trauma shears from the emergency medical cabinet while Rosa remained on the phone with the dispatcher.
“Rescue crews are moving,” she said. “But the storm is getting worse.”
Nathan began cutting along the outer seam.
Lily watched every movement.
“Mommy said you would help.”
Nathan paused. “Your mother knows me?”
“She knows your name.”
“How?”
“She had a picture.”
“What picture?”
“You were standing beside a lady with red hair.”
Claire.
Nathan’s hand tightened around the shears.
Claire’s red hair had always made her easy to recognize in photographs. But Nathan could not understand why Lily’s mother would possess a picture of them.
“What is your mother’s name?” he asked.
“Elena.”
“Elena what?”
“Kane. Before that, Elena Ward.”
The name struck something in Nathan’s memory.
Claire had once represented a woman named Elena Ward through a legal aid organization. Nathan remembered because the case had consumed Claire’s attention during the final year of her life. She had refused to discuss details, saying the client’s safety depended on strict confidentiality.
Nathan had never met Elena.
He had seen her name only once, written in Claire’s appointment book.
Nathan resumed cutting.
The shears moved through the outer fabric, then struck something harder than insulation.
A faint plastic sound came from inside the coat.
Lily turned her head toward the security monitor.
“Don’t open it near the windows.”
Nathan immediately lowered the shutters across the glass doors.
He cut through several stitches and pulled out a flat package wrapped in clear plastic. Inside was a thick envelope sealed with black tape.
Rosa ended the call and joined him.
“What is it?”
Nathan opened the package.
The first document was an emergency custody order granting temporary protection of Lily, Eva, and Noah Kane to their mother, Elena Ward Kane.
The order carried the signature of a county judge.
It had never been filed.
Beneath it were financial statements showing transfers from the Kane Children’s Foundation into private companies registered overseas. Several transfers were labeled medical supply purchases, but the recipient businesses did not appear to produce medical equipment.
There were photographs of a warehouse.
Copies of hospital invoices.
A list of patient identification numbers.
And a handwritten statement signed by Marcus Kane.
Nathan read the opening lines.
I authorized the relocation of restricted medical devices through affiliated charitable entities. All documents are to be destroyed after reconciliation.
Rosa stared at him.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“It looks like a confession.”
“Why would he sign it?”
“Maybe he didn’t know what it would be used for.”
Nathan turned the page.
Several names appeared beneath Marcus’s signature.
One of them was Dr. Victor Hale, the director of St. Catherine’s neonatal research program.
Another was Philip Mercer.
Nathan stopped breathing.
Rosa saw the name.
“Your brother?”
Philip Mercer was Nathan’s older brother, a corporate attorney who had spent the last decade representing medical companies. They had not spoken in nearly three years.
Nathan searched the remaining papers.
A page had been torn from the back of the packet.
Only the top corner remained beneath the staple.
“What’s missing?” Rosa asked.
Lily struggled to look at the documents.
“Mommy said the last page proved why the babies were born.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
The security alarm beeped.
Headlights appeared beyond the gate.
Three vehicles stopped outside.
May you like
A man stepped into view of the camera and looked directly into the lens.
Marcus Kane had arrived.
