Page 120 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“Other relatives?”

Rourke nodded. “I wondered about Aunt Rochelle, Yvonne’s sister. Rochelle thought Yvonne should never get Hannah back. She said it to anyone who would listen and a few people who wouldn’t.”

“Did she want custody?”

“She wanted control. Not always the same thing.”

“Did she have access?”

“Yes.”

“After Hannah went home?”

“Enough.”

JP eyed him. “You didn’t trust her.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“She was too certain, too controlling, and Hannah didn’t really like her.”

“Could she have taken Hannah?”

Rourke held his gaze. “In the beginning, I thought yes, but the more the case unfolded, the less likely she became.”

“That didn’t make the file?”

“It made my notes.”

“Where is she now?”

“Gone.”

“Gone how?”

“Moved away years ago. No forwarding address that held. No active socials under the name I knew. She disappeared from the family’s orbit, maybe out of grief, or guilt, or a new marriage. Or she got tired of being questioned.” Rourke lifted one shoulder. “People vanish for ordinary reasons too.”

JP wondered how Rourke would know she was no longer around. “Are you still working this case?”

“I never quite recovered from all this. That little girl was so precious. She didn’t deserve the hand she was dealt.”

“None of them do.”

“Over the years,” Rourke said, “I let most of it go, until you and Sabre stirred it up again. I hope you find more answers than I did.”

“Do you think Hannah could be with Rochelle?”

“That would have been my best theory ten years ago,” he said. “A relative convinced she was saving a child from everyone else.”

“And now?”

“Now?” Rourke’s eyes met his. “I think if Hannah lived this long, whoever kept her knew how to stay boring.”

JP heard that. “Did you ever look for Rochelle after she moved?”

“I tried. Maybe not hard enough.”