Chapter 15 - The Original Consent
Sarah's recording did not explain everything.
It described suspicious billing, altered documentation, and a sample taken without the authorization she believed she had given.
She urged Blake to find an independent specialist if Abigail ever developed persistent breathing problems.
Listening felt like being permitted one final conversation with a woman he had spent six years missing.
When it ended, Blake sat alone for several minutes.
Darlene waited on the other side of the room.
She did not touch the recorder.
This grief belonged to him.
The documents Rebecca had preserved were enough to open a different direction of inquiry.
One consent form contained Sarah's signature allowing a routine newborn screening sample.
A later version expanded the permission to research participation and repeated collection.
The second version had no corresponding witness entry.
Naomi arranged for both documents to be examined.
Lena compared the records with her archived procedure manual.
“The expanded form violates our own original protocol,” she said.
Blake asked the question he could not stop asking.
“Could this have caused Abigail's asthma?”
“We don't know,” Lena answered.
“It would be irresponsible to claim that without clinical evidence.”
He appreciated the honesty even though it gave him no relief.
A pediatric pulmonologist reviewed Abigail's treatment history and advised a careful investigation of possible exposure while keeping her current care uninterrupted.
That afternoon Rebecca gave a formal statement about the bank, Sarah's instructions, and the threatening stranger.
She also admitted she had sent the first anonymous message to Darlene.
Blake's face hardened.
“You made it sound like my daughter was in danger.”
“She was,” Rebecca said.
“But I shouldn't have frightened you that way.”
“Who sent the other messages?”
“I don't know.”
Investigators confirmed her account for the first message.
The later messages originated through a different service and could not be attributed to her.
Rebecca then revealed why she had chosen Darlene.
Sarah believed the Iron Queen was being kept ignorant by Thomas and Julian.
She thought exposing the abuse to Darlene might be the only way to stop it.
“She trusted you?” Darlene asked, stunned.
“She wanted to,” Rebecca replied.
“She said you looked straight at her once when nobody else would.”
The memory returned to Darlene like a physical blow.
Years earlier, a young auditor had approached her after a charity gala.
Sarah had tried to hand her a folder.
Thomas stepped between them and sent the young woman away.
Darlene had done nothing.
As she relived the moment, her phone lit up.
A live video showed the empty study of her penthouse.
May you like
Someone was already inside her home.
