PART 24
Aunt Carina whispered.
“Selina.”
My mother snapped.
“Stay out of this.”
Carina answered.
“No.”
“I think I’ve stayed out of enough.”
That surprised me.
She looked at me.
“I knew Phedra was sick.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Carina began crying.
“I didn’t know how bad it was.”
“Selina told us Phedra refused treatment.”
“She said Phedra became unstable.”
“She said she wasted money.”
I looked at Selina.
My mother shouted.
“She did.”
Carina shook her head.
“Then why was she sleeping outside?”
Selina had no answer.
Godfrey said.
“She was impossible to live with.”
Carina looked at him.
“You ate the food she cooked.”
“You drove a car bought with Damian’s money.”
“You opened a shop with Damian’s money.”
“And she was impossible?”
Godfrey looked away.
PART 25
Detective Cole asked several questions.
Who controlled Selina’s account?
Who authorized transfers?
Who had access to Phedra’s documents?
Who had taken her phone?
Who had signed medical paperwork?
That last question changed everything.
Phedra had told me that Selina sometimes went into appointments with her.
Renee had requested copies of the medical records.
One document showed that Selina had represented herself as the person responsible for Phedra’s finances.
Another listed an emergency contact number.
It was Selina’s.
Not mine.
I asked.
“Why was my number removed?”
Selina said.
“The hospital made a mistake.”
Renee opened another folder.
“No.”
“Mrs. Mercer requested the change.”
My mother sat down.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
PART 26
There was more.
A social worker at the hospital had documented concerns months earlier.
Phedra appeared malnourished.
She admitted difficulty accessing money.
She said family members controlled transportation.
The social worker had offered assistance.
Phedra had refused.
Why?
Because Selina had been waiting outside.
Phedra later told me.
“She said if I embarrassed the family, she would stop feeding me entirely.”
I had to leave the room when I first heard that.
I went outside.
Put both hands on the hood of my car.
And cried.
Not loudly.
Just enough to breathe again.
PART 27
The criminal investigation moved slowly.
Real life usually does.
There was no dramatic arrest that afternoon.
There were interviews.
Records.
Statements.
Financial analysis.
Medical documents.
Business registrations.
Witnesses.
Renee warned me.
“Do not build your healing around what the police decide.”
I hated hearing that.
But she was right.
So I focused on Phedra.
PART 28
Treatment was brutal.
Some days she slept almost eighteen hours.
Some days she vomited.
Some days she could eat.
Some days she could not.
Her hair began growing back slowly.
