More complicated.
Not destroyed.
But changed.
Rachel removed another item.
A sealed cream-colored envelope.
Vanessa’s name was written across the front.
On the back, Elena had added six words.
Arthur should be present when opened.
Vanessa arrived twenty minutes later.
She sat beside me.
Neither of us spoke for a while.
Then she broke the seal.
Inside was a single page.
As Vanessa read, the color slowly left her face.
“What?” I asked.
She handed the letter to Rachel.
Rachel read it once.
Then again.
“What is it?” I demanded.
Rachel looked toward me.
“Elena believed the missing medical report was only part of the problem.”
My heart began pounding.
“What else?”
Rachel placed the page before me.
At the bottom, Elena had written the date.
March 21.
Four days after Dr. Leland’s evaluation.
Above it was a sentence that changed everything I thought I understood about the hearing.
