CHAPTER 186: The Photograph

POV: Avalon Pierce

The woman in the photograph was standing outside the Herbst Theatre with a phone pressed to her ear and a folder under her arm, confident she hadn’t been seen.

Avalon knew her, not very well.

Her name was Sandra Cole.

She’d worked at Pierce Holdings twelve years ago, she was a junior counsel in the legal department. Competent and quiet, she was the kind of person who absorbed information without appearing to and who left the company after eighteen months without explanation or reference request.

He’d forgotten she existed until right now.

“How does she connect to the blackmail,” he said.

“Cross traced the anonymous contact back to her through the payment method,” Patricia said. “She used a cryptocurrency wallet she thought was untraceable. It wasn’t.” She paused. “Cross says she’s been building a file on the foundation for eight months. She also has connections to three of the original investors who are worried about civil liability.”

“She’s working for them,” Avalon said.

“Probably,” Patricia said. “Or independently, selling information to whoever will pay. Cross isn’t certain yet.” She looked at him. “But the blackmail is real. Two hundred thousand dollars or she releases what she has on Selene.”

“What does she have?” he asked.

Patricia was quiet for a moment.

“Cross says it’s about the first pregnancy,” Patricia said. “About the hospital and how the classification was made.” She looked at him carefully. “She has medical records she shouldn’t have access to and someone must have given them to her.”

“Elena,” Avalon said. The first Elena. Her name in his mouth feels different now. She has been weaponised by someone who had never met her and didn’t care about her.

“Yes,” Patricia said.

He looked at the photograph.

“I need to make a call,” he said.

He called Selene from Patricia’s car.

She answered immediately.

“Tell me,” she said.

He told her everything.

Selene was quiet for a long time after he finished.

“She has Elena’s records,” Selene said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Someone gave them to her,” Selene said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Who has access to those records?” she asked.

“That’s the question,” he said. “The hospital, Dr Adeyemi, Dr Okafor and maybe others.”

“None of them,” Selene said immediately.

“No,” he agreed.

“Then someone accessed them illegally,” she said. “Or—” She stopped.

“Or what?” he asked.

“Or someone who knew about Elena told her,” Selene said. “Someone we told.”

The car was very quiet.

“We haven’t told many people,” he said carefully.

“No,” she said. “We haven’t.”

“Selene—”

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t start with my name like that. Say what you’re thinking.”

“Diana knew,” he said.

A long silence.

“Diana knew,” Selene said.

“She was cooperating with the federal prosecutor,” he said. “Everything she knew was disclosed, including things we told her in confidence before we understood what she was.”

“She wouldn’t,” Selene said.

“She gave Henderson our financial records,” he said.

“Under duress,” Selene said.

“Yes,” he said. “But she gave them.”

Another silence.

“Call Margaret,” Selene said. “Find out if Diana’s cooperation disclosure included anything about Elena. Find out exactly what she told them and whether any of it could have reached Sandra Cole through the federal file.”

“Federal files are sealed,” he said.

“Most things are sealed until they aren’t,” she said. “Call Margaret, tonight.”

“I’ll call her now,” he said.

“And Avalon,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Come home first,” she said. I need you here.”

He started the car.

“Twenty minutes,” he said.

“Drive carefully,” she said.

“Always,” he said.

“You ran a red light the night Elena was born,” she said.

“That was an emergency,” he said.

“This feels like an emergency,” she said.

“This is manageable,” he said. “I promise you this is manageable.”

“Come home and tell me that in person,” she said.

“Twenty minutes,” he said again.

Selene was at the kitchen counter when he walked in.

Maya was there too, Elena in her arms, and the two sisters were in the middle of a conversation that stopped when he came through the door because they both read his face simultaneously the way sisters apparently did.

“How bad?” Maya asked.

“Manageable,” he said.

“That’s not an answer,” Maya said.

“It’s the honest one,” he said.

He crossed to Selene.

Everything they needed to say to each other in that look and none of it requiring words because they’d been learning each other’s language for two years and this was fluency, this was what fluency looked like, two people who could say everything in a glance and save the words for when words were the only option.

“Okay,” she said.

“Maya looked between them.

“You two are unsettling,” she said. “You know that right?”

“Thank you,” Selene said.

“It wasn’t a compliment,” Maya said.

“I know,” Selene said. “It still felt like one.”

Margaret called at eight.

He put her on speaker so Selene could hear.

Maya had taken Elena to the nursery, giving them the kitchen, and he sat across from Selene at the table with the phone between them.

“Diana’s cooperation disclosure,” Margaret said. “I’ve been through it. It was extensive. It was everything she knew about the Hale operation, the board and the company’s vulnerabilities.” She paused. “And yes, there's a section about personal disclosures and things she knew about Selene specifically.”

“Elena,” Selene said.

“Yes,” Margaret said quietly. “She disclosed what she knew about the first pregnancy. The circumstances. The hospital.” Another pause. “The federal file was sealed but sealed files move through systems and systems have people in them and people talk.”

“Sandra Cole has a contact inside the federal prosecutor’s office,” Avalon said.

“That’s what I think,” Margaret said. “I can’t prove it yet tho.”

“Can you find out?” he asked.

“Give me twenty four hours,” she said.

“You have twelve,” he said.

Margaret said nothing for a moment.

“Twelve,” she said. “I’ll try.”

She hung up.