Chapter 138
The Black Money
The money was not paper.
It was a stream of numbers moving beneath the lodge floor. Accounts, transfers, premiums, settlements. Each amount connected to a patient name.
Claire saw the pattern.
The clinic did not need to own the patients. It needed to own the transactions made after a patient became unreliable.
“Insurance payouts,” Daniel said.
“Inheritance,” Tess added.
“Property sales,” Lucy said.
The manager tried to close the vault.
No one allowed him to reach the controls.
Aster stood over the numbers.
“These are not private memories.”
“They are financial records,” Claire answered.
“Then they can be public.”
Mara looked at Claire. “Only the parts that prove the crime.”
Claire separated the files. Patient details went into private. Transaction paths went into public. Names were replaced by protected identifiers.
The system accepted the distinction.
A list of banks appeared.
The first was in Michigan. The second in Nevada. The third in Delaware.
The fourth belonged to a charity called Second Memory Foundation.
“That charity funded the family court,” Daniel said.
“And the hospital,” Claire added.
The lodge manager disappeared.
Everett's voice returned.
“You are making a legal error.”
Claire looked at the accounts.
“No. We are making a public one.”
The lodge doors locked.
The trust documents burned without flame.