Chapter 8: The Filing Cabinet
The warrant came through on a Thursday.
I was at Diane's when Robert Ashby called.
"They're executing it this morning," he said.
"I want you to stay where you are.
Do not go to the house."
"Okay."
"The investigators will also be pulling financial records from Halcyon Medical Partners.
If the transfer to Vance is there, we'll have it by end of day."
I sat at Diane's kitchen table after the call and held a mug of coffee that went cold.
At 11 a.m., Diane's phone rang.
She answered it, listened, and looked at me.
"It's Carol," she said.
I took the phone.
"They found something in the filing cabinet," Carol said.
"Robert's team just called me.
I'm not supposed to know the details yet, but one of the investigators is a former colleague.
He told me there were documents inside — signed contracts between Halcyon and a private account registered under a different name."
"Whose name?"
"That's what they're working on now.
But Elena — there were also medical files in that cabinet.
Files on Grace.
Going back eight months before she was admitted."
Eight months.
Grace had turned five eight months before she d\*ed.
"He was planning this before her birthday," I said.
Carol didn't answer right away.
"It appears so," she said quietly.
I set the phone on the table.
Diane sat across from me.
She didn't say anything.
She just reached over and put her hand on my arm and left it there.
At 2 p.m., Robert called again.
"The account is registered under the name David Ellroy," he said.
"That name mean anything to you?"
"No."
"It's a shell.
But the signatory on the account documents is your husband.
His actual signature.
We have a forensic document examiner confirming it now."
"What happens next?"
"The DA's office has been briefed.
They're moving quickly because of the nature of the case.
I expect an arrest within forty-eight hours."
I pressed the phone against my ear and stared at the window.
"Robert," I said.
"Dr.
Vance.
What about him?"
"He's already been brought in for questioning.
His attorney is cooperating — which tells me Vance is going to talk.
He'll take a deal and testify against your husband."
"And Dr.
Harmon?
Our original doctor — the one who told me Grace hadn't made it?"
A pause.
"He's under investigation as well.
It appears he was aware of what Vance had done and certified the cause of d\*ath without flagging the irregularities.
Whether he was paid or coerced, we don't know yet."
I closed my eyes.
The man who had folded his hands and said *we did everything we could* had watched my daughter d\*e and signed a piece of paper.
"Thank you," I said.
"Call me when it happens."
"I will," Robert said.
"Elena — you did this.
You held it together long enough to build something they couldn't ignore.
That matters."
I didn't answer.
I set the phone down and looked at Diane.
"Forty-eight hours," I said.
She nodded.
We sat together in her kitchen while the afternoon light moved across the floor.
May you like
Neither of us spoke for a long time.
And that was all right.
