Chapter 3 - The Dead Woman's Account
Rachel Kim did not believe in ghosts.
"The account is legitimate," Rachel said the next morning. "It was created by Lillian Callahan eight months before she died."
Nora sat behind the glass wall of the attorney room, still wearing yesterday's sweater.
"Why would she pay for my lawyer? She never knew me."
"She didn't."
Rachel opened a photocopy.
"The account has a trigger."
Nora read the line twice.
IF A CAREGIVER FOR SOPHIE CALLAHAN IS ACCUSED OF THEFT, ABDUCTION, OR PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT AFTER RAISING A MEDICAL OR FIDUCIARY CONCERN, RELEASE COUNSEL FUNDS.
Nora looked up.
"She expected this."
"She expected something."
A chill moved across Nora's arms.
"Then Sophie has been in danger longer than I thought."
She explained that Lillian had created three sealed instructions with an outside fiduciary firm in Boston. One activated if Sophie's caregiver was accused. Another if Sophie's trust changed trustees before her eighteenth birthday.
The third condition was unknown.
"The firm won't disclose it without a court order," Rachel said.
Nora almost laughed. "Of course not."
"There's something else."
Rachel slid a printed email across the table.
It had been sent from Nora's personal account at 4:07 a.m. two nights earlier.
I have decided to remove Sophie from the Callahan residence permanently.
Nora stared.
"I was asleep."
"Can anyone verify that?"
"Sophie woke me around three. She had another headache."
"Anyone else?"
"Celeste came into the room at three-thirty."
Nora felt sick.
"They copied my signature. They accessed my email. They planted the money."
"And if we're right, they expected police to stop looking the minute they saw a clean narrative."
Nora leaned forward.
"There is evidence."
Rachel went still.
"Where?"
Nora thought of the yellow piano.
Then of Sophie's small hands playing the same three notes every morning.
"I can't tell you yet."
Rachel's eyes hardened. "Nora, if that evidence can clear you-"
"If I tell anyone where it is before Sophie is out of that house, they may find it."
"Who is they?"
Nora met her gaze.
"I don't know anymore."
Across town, Ethan Callahan stood inside his daughter's bedroom holding a pink plastic medicine cup.
Sophie sat on the bed, knees pulled to her chest.
"Sweetheart," he said softly, "did Nora ever tell you not to take your medicine?"
Sophie shook her head.
"Did she ever tell you to lie about feeling sick?"
Another shake.
Celeste stood in the doorway.
"Ethan, she's exhausted."
Sophie looked at her father.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Why does my medicine make the room feel far away?"
Ethan slowly turned toward his wife.
May you like
Celeste's face did not move.
But the medicine cup slipped from her fingers.
