Chapter 5 - WHAT WAS NEVER HERS
By sunrise, Heather and Ava were officially missing.
Edgar denied taking them.
Kristina was in custody.
Nora had not slept.
The world looked unnaturally normal through the hotel windows.
Traffic moved along Scottsdale Road.
People walked dogs.
Coffee shops opened.
Somewhere, a seven-month-old baby who might biologically belong to Nora was missing.
Nora could not stop thinking about that possibility.
She also refused to call Ava hers.
Not yet.
Love was not established through one medical folder and a frightened phone call.
But responsibility could begin before certainty.
A child was missing.
That was enough.
Daniel entered the suite at 7:05 a.m. carrying coffee and three legal pads.
Elaine Porter followed him.
Elaine was fifty-three, tall, dark-skinned, and wore a gray pantsuit that looked as if she had slept in it.
She did not waste time with greetings.
“Start from the beginning.”
Nora did.
Again.
The snake.
Kristina’s words.
The insurance policy.
Heather.
Ava.
The stolen safe.
Sedona.
The fertility records.
The missing child.
Elaine wrote almost nothing.
She listened.
When Nora finished, Elaine asked one question.
“Who benefits if you appear unstable?”
Nora frowned.
“Edgar.”
“How?”
“Divorce.”
“More specifically.”
Nora thought.
“If I’m considered mentally unreliable, he could challenge business decisions.”
“Anything else?”
“My estate documents.”
“Anything else?”
Nora suddenly remembered.
The trust.
Her company shares were held through a family holding structure.
Edgar had limited spousal rights depending on divorce circumstances.
But incapacity created different triggers.
Nora looked at Daniel.
He understood immediately.
“The incapacity clause.”
Elaine waited.
Daniel explained.
Five years earlier, after Nora’s father developed dementia before his death, she created a continuity plan.
If Nora became medically incapacitated, temporary voting authority over certain holding-company assets passed to a committee.
The committee included Nora’s attorney.
Her operations director.
And her spouse.
Edgar.
Elaine asked.
“How much control would Edgar have?”
“Not majority.”
Nora answered.
“But enough to influence emergency decisions.”
“And if Daniel or Marcus became unavailable?”
Nora stopped.
Daniel went still.
Elaine looked between them.
“What?”
Nora whispered.
“The alternates.”
Her original succession documents listed Edgar as emergency proxy if two committee members were unavailable.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“So if Nora were incapacitated and either Marcus or I were removed, Edgar’s authority expands.”
Elaine nodded.
“Now ask yourself whether death was always the only plan.”
Nora thought of Sedona.
Something in the wine.
Violent illness.
Possible poisoning.
Not enough to kill.
Enough to weaken.
Enough to hospitalize.
Perhaps enough to establish a medical history.
A migraine.
Medication.
Stress.
Hallucinations.
A snake that could be explained as a desert accident.
If Nora survived, she could be portrayed as unstable.
If she died, Edgar inherited.
Either outcome could benefit him.
Nora felt sick.
Elaine continued.
“Who knows your corporate governance structure?”
“Daniel.”
“Marcus.”
“Board members.”
“Edgar?”
Nora hesitated.
“He has copies.”
Elaine nodded.
“And Kristina?”
“I wouldn’t have thought so.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Nora remembered years of Kristina sitting in the home office while Nora signed paperwork.
Opening mail.
Commenting on envelopes.
Asking what certain documents meant.
Nora had thought it was nosiness.
Maybe it was research.
Daniel opened his laptop.
“We change the continuity plan today.”
Elaine shook her head.
“Carefully.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever broke into the office expects certain legal structures to remain in place.”
Nora looked at her.
“You want them to think nothing changed.”
“For as long as possible.”
Daniel frowned.
“That carries risk.”
“So does announcing that we know everything.”
Nora agreed with Elaine.
“We change the documents privately.”
Daniel nodded reluctantly.
Elaine turned to Nora.
“Now tell me about the Finch Consulting loan.”
Nora explained the $1.8 million.
Elaine asked for bank access.
Within an hour, she began reconstructing transactions.
The first anomaly appeared quickly.
Nora’s $1.8 million had entered Finch Consulting.
Only $640,000 had gone toward legitimate business expenses.
The rest moved through three entities.
One was an Arizona consulting LLC.
Another was a Nevada marketing company.
The third was a trust account.
Nora stared at the name.
Perkinson Family Services.
Heather.
Elaine looked at her.
“Do you know this entity?”
“No.”
“Approximately $310,000 moved into it over three years.”
Nora felt dizzy.
“So I financed Edgar’s affair.”
Elaine did not soften it.
“Possibly.”
Daniel scrolled.
“Payments began before Heather says she met Edgar.”
Everyone stopped.
Nora looked at the date.
Three years and four months earlier.
Heather had told Nora she met Kristina eighteen months ago.
That meant money had been moving to a Perkinson entity nearly two years before the supposed introduction.
“Could it be another Perkinson?”
Daniel asked.
Elaine searched registration data.
Her expression changed.
“No.”
She turned the laptop.
Registered agent.
Kristina Finch.
Nora stared.
Kristina had created the entity.
Three years before Ava.
Before Heather supposedly knew the family.
Before Edgar’s admitted two-year affair.
Nora whispered.
“She planned Heather before Heather says she met them.”
Elaine nodded.
“Or Heather lied about when she met them.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Either way, Kristina was building financial infrastructure years ago.”
Nora thought about Kristina’s final words.
Ask Heather who chose her.
Maybe that had been literal.
Kristina had chosen Heather.
But why Heather?
Out of thousands of potential women, why her?
Elaine searched deeper.
Heather Perkinson had once worked as an administrative assistant.
Not at the pediatric therapy office.
Before that.
At Nora’s fertility clinic.
Nora stood so fast her coffee fell.
“What?”
Daniel stared.
Elaine turned the screen.
Heather Perkinson.
Patient records coordinator.
Employment dates.
Four years earlier.
Eight months.
Nora could barely breathe.
Heather had worked inside the clinic while Nora and Edgar were undergoing treatment.
She had access to schedules.
Possibly patient records.
Possibly more.
“She lied.”
Nora whispered.
Daniel looked grim.
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Nora shook her head.
“She told me Kristina found her eighteen months ago.”
Elaine continued searching.
Heather left the clinic three weeks after Nora’s final retrieval cycle.
Three weeks.
The embryo supposedly failed during storage several months later.
Nora felt nauseated.
“Find out why she left.”
Elaine made a call.
Daniel contacted investigators.
Nora paced.
At 9:12 a.m., Sergeant Alvarez called.
Kristina had requested counsel.
She was no longer speaking.
The burner phone was being processed.
Police had identified the number that sent the messages.
It belonged to another prepaid device.
Location data showed it had been near Nora’s office when the safe was breached.
Nora stopped.
“So the person messaging Kristina was the burglar.”
“Possibly.”
“Can you identify them?”
“Not yet.”
“What about Heather?”
“Still missing.”
“Ava?”
“Also.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Alvarez continued.
“There is something else.”
Nora waited.
“The wildlife specialist examined the snake.”
“And?”
“It appears recently captive.”
“How can he tell?”
“Physical condition, handling marks, and trace material.”
Nora felt cold.
“Meaning someone purchased it or kept it.”
“That’s our working theory.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We’re trying.”
After the call, Elaine received information from a former clinic employee.
Heather had not resigned voluntarily.
She had been terminated.
For unauthorized access to patient files.
Nora sat slowly.
“Whose patient files?”
Elaine looked at her.
“The clinic refused to say without legal process.”
Daniel stood.
“I’ll get the process started.”
Elaine raised a hand.
“There’s more.”
Nora waited.
“The employee remembers Heather was accused of copying restricted embryology records.”
Nora’s stomach twisted.
“Why wasn’t she charged?”
“Apparently the clinic couldn’t prove what she took.”
Nora looked at the photograph Heather sent.
The folder.
The medical records.
Ava.
Heather had not accidentally become part of this story.
She had been inside it from the beginning.
Nora’s phone buzzed.
A message from Edgar.
We need to talk before police destroy all of us.
Nora showed Daniel.
“Do not answer.”
Elaine disagreed.
“Answer.”
Daniel turned.
“No.”
“If Edgar thinks Nora is willing to communicate, he may reveal something.”
“This is my client.”
“And your client needs information.”
Nora looked at both.
“I’ll answer.”
Daniel sighed.
“Nothing in person.”
Nora typed.
About what?
Edgar responded.
Heather.
Nora waited.
Another message.
She is not who she told you she is.
Nora typed.
Where is she?
I don’t know.
Where is Ava?
I don’t know.
Did Heather work at our fertility clinic?
There was a long delay.
Then:
Yes.
Nora’s heart hardened.
You knew?
Another delay.
Yes.
Daniel cursed softly.
Nora continued.
When?
Edgar responded.
Before we met her socially.
Nora stared.
So Heather had lied.
But Edgar had too.
Why did you hide that from me?
No response.
Nora typed again.
Did she steal my embryo?
Three dots appeared.
Stopped.
Returned.
Then Edgar called.
Nora put the phone on speaker.
Elaine began recording with Daniel’s approval.
“Nora.”
Edgar sounded exhausted.
“Answer me.”
“It’s complicated.”
“No.”
Nora’s voice was calm.
“It’s criminal.”
“I didn’t know at first.”
Those words sent a chill through her.
“At first?”
“Kristina told me the embryo was legally released.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“To whom?”
“To me.”
“I never released anything.”
“I know that now.”
“When did you learn?”
Silence.
“When did you learn?”
“After Heather became pregnant.”
Nora pressed her nails into her palm.
“So you discovered she was carrying my embryo.”
“I discovered there were questions.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was scared.”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“You were scared?”
“I had already slept with Heather.”
“Of course.”
“I thought the baby might be mine naturally.”
“But when did you learn it was an embryo?”
“After the first ultrasound.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Seven months pregnant.
Nine months.
Timeline.
He had known almost a year.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Edgar began speaking faster.
“My mother said the clinic mistake would destroy everyone.”
“What mistake?”
“She said an employee mishandled records.”
“Which employee?”
“Heather.”
Nora looked at Elaine.
“So Heather stole it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said—”
“I said that was the story.”
Nora stopped.
“What do you believe?”
Edgar breathed heavily.
“I think my mother arranged everything.”
The room went silent.
Nora felt rage rise slowly.
“You attended the transfer.”
“How do you know?”
“Heather told me.”
Edgar cursed.
Nora continued.
“You knew I was going through treatment.”
“Yes.”
“You knew an embryo was being transferred to another woman.”
“Yes.”
“And you stood beside me while I believed ours was gone.”
Edgar said nothing.
Nora’s voice broke despite her effort.
“You watched me mourn a child that might have been growing inside your mistress.”
Silence.
Daniel looked away.
Elaine’s jaw tightened.
Edgar whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
Nora nearly dropped the phone.
“No.”
“Nora.”
“You don’t get to use that word yet.”
“I was trapped.”
“You were having sex with her.”
“My mother—”
“Stop blaming your mother for what your body did voluntarily.”
Edgar became quiet.
Nora continued.
“Where is Heather?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“Why did you go to her apartment last night?”
Edgar froze.
Nora knew she had him.
“She called me while you were knocking.”
Silence.
“You told her you knew she called me.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“From whom?”
“My mother.”
“Your mother was in police custody.”
“Not from my mother directly.”
Nora stopped.
“From whom?”
Edgar said nothing.
“Who else is involved?”
“You need to leave Arizona.”
Daniel immediately leaned closer.
Nora’s skin prickled.
“Why?”
“I can’t explain.”
“You’re going to explain.”
“I can’t.”
“Then tell the police.”
“I can’t.”
Nora’s anger turned to fear.
“Who is involved?”
Edgar’s breathing changed.
Then he whispered a name.
“Dr. Samuel Voss.”
Nora knew it.
Her fertility specialist.
The doctor who had treated her for four years.
The doctor who personally called to tell her the final embryo had not survived.
Nora felt the room tilt.
“What about him?”
Edgar answered.
“He knows where the embryo went.”
Then the line went dead.
Nora stared at the phone.
Elaine was already searching.
Daniel called Alvarez.
Within four minutes, they learned Dr. Samuel Voss had not reported to his clinic that morning.
His wife had not seen him since yesterday afternoon.
His car was found at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
But there was no record of him boarding a flight.
Nora looked at Elaine.
One missing doctor.
One missing woman.
One missing baby.
One stolen medical file.
One mother-in-law in custody.
One husband lying about almost everything.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“What?”
Nora asked.
Daniel held up one finger.
Then he said into the phone.
“Send it.”
A document arrived.
Daniel opened it.
He stared.
Then he handed the phone to Nora.
It was an archived laboratory report from the fertility clinic.
Her name appeared at the top.
Edgar Finch appeared beneath it.
The date matched their final retrieval cycle.
At the bottom was a handwritten notation.
Nora read it twice.
Embryo #4 transferred to special custody per S.V.
She looked at Daniel.
“S.V.”
“Samuel Voss.”
Nora continued reading.
Beside the notation were two initials approving the transfer.
K.F.
Kristina Finch.
Nora stopped breathing.
Her mother-in-law had signed custody paperwork for Nora’s embryo.
But the final line was worse.
Authorized by spouse.
E.F.
May you like
Edgar Finch.
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