Chapter 8 - The Signature
Ben met Alvarez in a conference room, not an interview room. He appreciated the distinction even while he hated what she showed him.
"Your mother's signature may be genuine," Alvarez said, "but the purpose listed on the form is suspicious. The signature could have been obtained for something else. We haven't confirmed it."
"My mother has Alzheimer's," Ben said. "She can't explain a document from nearly thirty years ago."
"Do you have another family member who can?"
"My aunt Ruth. She was there when Samuel disappeared."
He called Ruth from the hallway. Her silence lasted so long he checked the connection.
"Ben," she finally said, "I told your mother not to sign."
"Sign what?"
"A paper that promised Samuel treatment at a specialist clinic. He'd had seizures. We couldn't afford the care. They said the county could help."
"And then?"
"Then a man arrived and said the program had gone wrong. He told us Samuel was dead. Your mother never believed it, but she had signed. They threatened to say she'd given him away."
Ben leaned against the wall.
"Who was the man?"
"His name was Harlan."
The name from Vale's false credential struck him like a blow. Director Harlan now oversaw the county family support office.
Alvarez joined him. Ben repeated the conversation word for word, including Ruth's uncertainty about dates. Alvarez instructed him not to approach Harlan or make independent inquiries.
"This is bigger than your family," she said gently. "You can help most by not compromising it."
Ben nodded. For the first time since the porch, he felt completely useless.
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Then his phone buzzed with a message from a number he did not recognize: Ask Nora why she changed the water samples before she reported them.
An image followed. It showed Nora alone in a laboratory, breaking the seal on a testing container.
