Light glowed under Nora’s bedroom door. She was already awake.
I knocked softly.
“Come in,” she called.
She sat cross-legged on the bed with her laptop open, hair piled messily on top of her head.
“You’re awake,” I said.
“So are you.”
“I saw something.”
She patted the bed beside her. I sat and showed her the zoomed photograph.
Nora’s face changed slowly.
“That looks like the bracelet.”
“Or a similar one.”
“Lily.”
“I know.”
She leaned back against the headboard. “Vanessa tried to give it back yesterday. Did you notice she didn’t actually let you take it?”
I had noticed. At the time, I thought it was because Evan appeared.
Now I wasn’t sure.
My phone vibrated with an email notification.
Legal Aid Family Services: Appointment Confirmation
I opened it. The clerk had apparently forwarded my information yesterday, and an attorney named Priya Raman could meet by phone at ten.
For the first time in days, relief loosened something in my chest.
“I have an appointment.”
Nora squeezed my shoulder. “Good.”
At ten exactly, Priya Raman called.
Her voice was calm, low, and precise. She asked questions in a way that made me feel less like a disaster and more like a person with a case.
She listened as I explained the hearing, the folder, the messages, Vanessa’s warning, Briar Lake, Anna Moretti, and the possible signature copies.
She did not gasp. She did not rush me. She took notes.
When I finished, she said, “You did several important things right.”
I closed my eyes.
No one had said that to me in a very long time.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Now we protect the custody order, prepare for the evidentiary hearing, and avoid chasing every lead personally. The storage unit matters if it contains forged documents or records prepared to misrepresent your medical condition. But you should not go there. Not directly.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Nora, standing nearby, gave me a look.
I ignored her.
Priya continued. “I can send a preservation letter regarding potential evidence. If necessary, we can request discovery through the court. As for Anna Moretti Hayes, she may be relevant if there is a pattern of similar conduct, but we need to approach carefully.”
“She might not want to be found,” I said.
“Exactly. And she may have nothing to do with this.”
“But the message said to remember her.”
“Which means someone wants you looking in that direction,” Priya said. “That can be helpful, or it can be a trap.”
