Chapter 9 - The Woman in Hannah's Photo
The photograph was stored in the old phone.
Claire stood on Daniel's front porch wearing different hair and glasses.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Laura sat down.
"She knew Hannah before she met you."
Daniel remembered the story Claire told on their first date. She said they had met by chance at a museum fundraiser eighteen months after Hannah's death.
Detective Ortiz ran Claire's background again.
Claire Sutton.
"She chose me."
Laura answered softly.
She had volunteered for a grief nonprofit Daniel donated to.
She knew he was widowed.
She knew Sophie had a trust.
She knew Hannah had investigated Brightwood.
Daniel whispered, "I brought her into Sophie's room."
Rebecca took his hand.
"You were deceived."
"I still brought her in."
Laura did not give him an easy escape.
"Then your job now is to deal with what that means, not drown in it."
He nodded.
Ortiz traced Hannah's old complaint to the state medical board.
It had disappeared from the formal system.
But an email archive showed who received it.
Deputy Director Paul Mercer.
Mercer now sat on Brightwood's advisory board.
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
"So the regulator joined them."
"After retiring," Ortiz said. "And he approved three emergency placement waivers involving the families on Melissa's list."
Ava Brooks finally answered.
The former nurse contacted Laura through an encrypted email.
One sentence.
I WILL TALK IF SOPHIE IS SAFE.
They arranged a meeting at a police building.
Ava arrived with a banker box full of copied records.
She looked at Daniel and said, "Your daughter is lucky you came home when you did."
Daniel's stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
Ava opened a file.
Inside was a pre-admission plan for Sophie.
Start date: Monday.
Special instruction:
NO UNSUPERVISED CONTACT WITH FATHER FOR FIRST 21 DAYS.
Then Ava turned the page.
A medication order had already been prepared.
May you like
Signed by Dr. Malcolm Rusk.
Three days before he had ever met Sophie.
