Chapter 23 - Rachel’s Memory Went on Trial Again
Arden’s lawyers attacked the accounting.
Then Rachel.
She expected it.
That did not make it easier.
The civil deposition began at nine.
By eleven, opposing counsel had mentioned her brain injury six times.
“Mrs. Carter, you experienced significant memory impairment?”
“Yes.”
“You were administered sedating drugs?”
“Yes.”
“You continue to have memory gaps?”
“Yes.”
“Headaches?”
“Sometimes.”
“Periods of confusion?”
“Not currently.”
“You were legally declared dead?”
“That was not due to my confusion.”
Daniel almost smiled behind counsel.
The lawyer continued.
“So your personal perception of Hale-related events is influenced by severe trauma.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you participated in reconstructing Ms. Ward’s financial history.”
Rachel folded her hands.
“I reconstructed bank transactions.”
“Using your judgment.”
“Using statements.”
“Your interpretation.”
“Arithmetic.”
The attorney stopped.
Rachel’s lawyer hid a smile.
Several hours later, the questions became sharper.
“You want Arden connected to Victor Hale.”
“No.”
“Mrs. Carter—”
“I want to know whether it was.”
“You have spent years focused on Victor.”
“I spent seventeen months living under a false identity because of Victor.”
“Exactly.”
Rachel nodded.
“Which is why every number in my report was independently verified by two accountants who were never kidnapped by anyone.”
Silence.
Daniel looked down so he would not laugh.
The deposition lasted seven hours.
Rachel returned home exhausted.
Sophie ran toward her.
Rachel flinched.
Not from Sophie.
From the speed.
Sophie stopped instantly.
“Mom?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“I’m okay.”
Daniel picked Sophie up.
“Mom had a long day.”
Rachel hated needing that sentence.
Then stopped herself.
Recovery was not a performance.
“I need ten minutes,” she said.
Sophie nodded.
“Okay.”
Rachel went upstairs.
Dark room.
Quiet.
Breathing.
No locked door.
No medication.
No one deciding what her symptoms meant.
Ten minutes later she returned.
Sophie was sitting on the floor.
She held out a crayon.
“Green?”
Rachel smiled.
“What am I drawing?”
“A horse.”
“Obviously.”
They colored together.
Two weeks later Arden’s attorneys withdrew their challenge to Rachel’s calculations.
Independent auditors reached substantially the same numbers.
That mattered more than winning the deposition.
Rachel told Daniel:
“I don’t want people believing me because I survived Victor.”
“Good.”
“I don’t want them disbelieving me because I survived him either.”
“Also good.”
She looked at the final report.
“Check the work.”
That became her rule.
Check the work.
Not the reputation.
Not the diagnosis.
Not the tragedy.
The work.
The records showed Arden executives had ignored warning signs.
Not all had participated knowingly.
One had.
Chief compliance officer Martin Sloan had received three internal reports questioning Victor’s patient identities.
He closed all three.
One email explained why.
Dr. Hale is too valuable a referral source to antagonize without definitive evidence.
Rachel stared at that sentence.
There it was.
Not another mastermind.
Something more ordinary.
Money.
Convenience.
Cowardice.
May you like
Martin Sloan had not created Victor Hale.
He had simply decided asking another question was too expensive.
