I did not fall apart.
I want you to know that.
Somewhere in those nine days, the woman who couldn’t leave her bedroom got up off the floor for good.
I met with two detectives from the county’s financial crimes and child welfare units.
I gave them Eli’s account — recorded properly, with a child forensic specialist, so gently that Eli thought he was just telling a nice lady about the hospital.
Ruth subpoenaed the Meadowbrook records.
And Daniel did the one thing I couldn’t do myself: he kept me from confronting Grant, every single night, when I came home and had to smile at the man who had sold our daughter to cover his debts.
“Not yet,” Daniel kept saying. “If he runs, or if he warns Vanessa, she disappears and the baby disappears with her. You hold the line, Claire. For nine days, you hold the line.”
