The call ended, and the cabin was quiet except for the hum of the screen as the data continued to load. Lots and lots of data. Obviously, Isla had been thorough as usual.
While the screen continued cycling through the data, Delaney moved into the kitchen. She pulled sandwich fixings from the fridge and slapped together two turkey and cheese on wheat in record time. Then she grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry and tossed it onto the counter.
Eli opened the fridge and pulled out a cold Coke. He offered her one, but she shook her head and finally opened that bottle of juice she’d taken out earlier.
Earlier, before that hug that had turned hot.
A memory that Eli quickly shoved aside.
They carried everything to the sofa and sat down with their plates balanced on their laps, eyes already scanning the glowing data across the screen above the fireplace.
The first file that opened was Ava’s.
Eli chewed a bite of his sandwich and read through the summary aloud. “Sixteen. Suspended twice from school. Once for skipping too many days. Once for mouthing off to a teacher.”
Delaney swallowed a bite of chips and leaned forward. “She snuck out a lot. Lied about where shewas going. One note says she crashed a party in Austin with older kids.” He paused and then kept reading. “No arrests. No drugs. No violence. Just a pissed-off teenager acting out.”
He leaned back, his gaze locked on the screen. “Nothing here justifies her being locked up at the Hale Institute. Especially without her mother’s knowledge.”
Delaney’s voice dropped, quiet and flat. “This was the grandfather.”
Eli nodded slowly, already sensing the shape of something darker hiding beneath the surface. “Whatever his motives, they sure as hell were not about helping her.”
Delaney set her plate down and picked up the remote, flipping to the next file. “Let’s keep going.”
She clicked to the next file, and Olivia’s face filled the screen. Her hospital photo had replaced the more polished one from earlier, the deep bruise still visible on her cheek.
“Olivia Camden,” Delaney read aloud. “Turned eighteen three days ago.”
Eli scanned the notes that followed. “Says here she’s set to inherit a sizable trust fund from her mother’s side. Maternal grandparents passed a few years back. The trust was set up to transfer to her once she came of age, but the mother still needs to sign off to release it.”
Delaney raised an eyebrow. “And Vivian hasn’t?”
Eli shook his head and kept reading. “Notyet. Says here the paperwork is pending, awaiting some kind of financial advisement. That could mean anything, or nothing.”
“Or it could mean someone doesn’t want that money to move freely,” Delaney speculated. “If Vivian delays the signature, maybe someone benefits. Or maybe someone wants her out of the way.”
They sat in silence for a beat, the screen glowing faintly in front of them, the implications settling in.
Delaney leaned back, eyes still on the data. “What about their dad? Could he be behind this somehow?”
Eli gave a quick voice command. “Run file. Olivia and Ava Camden. Paternal history.”
A new window opened on the screen, pulling up a single profile. A photo of a man with dark hair and tired eyes appeared.
“Name’s Mason Camden,” Eli read. “Died last year. Car accident outside Houston.”
Delaney tilted her head. “What about before that?”
Eli scanned the summary. “Didn’t have contact with Vivian or the girls for over a decade. Divorced, disappeared, then tried to come back around a few years ago but Vivian shut that door fast.”
Delaney handed Eli the last bite of her sandwich, and he took it without a word. They were working like a real team now, synced up andlocked in.
He liked that more than he should.
She clicked over to another file, this one connected to one of the institute’s staff members. Eli was about to ask her to flag it when his phone buzzed.
Noah.
