Chapter 13
The missing police file on Anna appeared three days later.
It arrived in my mailbox with no return address.
Inside were photos.
Statements.
And a cassette tape.
Samuel told me not to touch it.
I already had gloves on.
The tape was from Anna’s final police interview.
Her voice was thin.
Exhausted.
But determined.
“Elaine Vance took my baby. Julian knows. Or he could know if he wanted to.”
The officer asked if she had proof.
Anna cried.
“I had video, but they took it.”
Then another voice entered.
Elaine.
Clear as glass.
“You are embarrassing yourself, Anna.”
The officer turned off the recorder.
But not before Elaine said one final sentence.
“Some women were born to be mothers. You were born to be erased.”
Lila listened once.
Only once.
Then she walked outside and screamed into the backyard until her voice broke.
Noah stood at the window crying.
I went to her.
She collapsed against me.
“She died thinking nobody believed her.”
“I believe her.”
“She never knew me.”
“She loved you.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“No,” I whispered. “It isn’t.”
We stood there under a gray sky, holding grief that belonged to a dead woman and a living daughter.
The tape changed everything.
It proved police corruption.
It proved Elaine threatened Anna.
It reopened Anna’s death investigation.
The retired detective was arrested in Florida.
He confessed within forty-eight hours.
Anna had not overdosed.
She had been drugged.
By a private doctor paid by Elaine.
Julian heard the news in jail.
May you like
He asked for protective custody.
Cowardice, at least, remained consistent.
