Chapter 6 - THE RAIN
Celia survived partly because it rained.
The shed roof leaked along the back wall. Normally I cursed it every spring. During those six days, the leak collected in the shallow metal tray beneath an old shelving unit.
Celia drank from it.
Rainwater from a dirty roof.
Not safe.
Better than nothing.
Doreen brought water at least once daily, usually a half-full bottle, along with crackers, a banana once, and half a sandwich on the fifth day.
Why not enough food?
Celia said Doreen kept telling her:
“You’re pregnant, not starving.”
That sentence nearly sent me outside to punch something.
I did not.
My anger counselor would have been proud.
Or bored.
The medical team believed the rainwater and limited food probably prevented more severe dehydration. There was no evidence Doreen intended Celia to die.
That mattered legally.
Cruelty can be devastating without becoming attempted murder.
Then the fetal ultrasound at nineteen weeks.
Celia gripped my hand so hard I lost feeling in two fingers.
Heartbeat.
Movement.
Growth appropriate.
The technician asked if we wanted to know the sex.
We had planned to wait.
Celia looked at me.
“Tell us.”
Girl.
Celia cried.
I did too.
On the drive home, she said, “I don’t want Doreen’s name anywhere near her.”
“I wasn’t planning it.”
“I know.”
Then she laughed for the first time since rescue.
“We should name her Rain Barrel.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Barrel Norwood.”
“Divorce.”
It was dark humor.
It helped.
Then the police recorder extraction.
Most files were mundane client notes.
Medication reminders.
Calls to pharmacies.
Complaints about home aides.
Doreen talking to herself while driving.
Then one recording from seven months earlier.
Doreen speaking with an unidentified man.
“Move it through repairs. They never question repairs.”
Male voice:
“We still need invoices.”
“I’ll make invoices.”
“Doreen, that’s not what I mean.”
Who was he?
Audio enhancement and business records identified him later as Calvin Rees, a handyman who had done legitimate work for Norwood clients.
Investigators interviewed him.
Calvin said Doreen asked him to create broad invoices combining real and planned repairs. He refused to inflate amounts knowingly. Sometimes she wrote her own invoices under DN Property Services.
Did Calvin receive kickbacks?
No evidence.
Good.
Then another recording.
Doreen alone:
Hargrove — 6.3 difference.
Ames watch?
Lewis cash — cover payroll Friday.
Cover payroll.
My stomach dropped.
Norwood Home Companion had struggled eighteen months earlier when a major insurer delayed reimbursements. Payroll was tight.
I knew.
I had personally put $90,000 into the company as a short-term shareholder loan.
Apparently not enough.
Had Doreen used client money to cover payroll?
If so, she might have begun telling herself she was saving the company.
Then continued.
That motive fit her.
Protect employees.
Protect clients.
Protect family.
Rules later.
Then personal spending appeared.
DN Property Services paid:
Her condo renovation deposit.
Luxury cruise.
A jewelry purchase.
Not all client money necessarily.
The account received legitimate repair revenue too.
Forensic tracing required.
No headline yet.
Then the handwritten ledger.
Initials correlated with clients.
Columns:
Held.
Used.
Returned.
Balance.
The word “used” appeared beside several amounts.
Could mean used for authorized expenses.
Could mean something else.
Then one chilling column:
Family aware? Y/N.
Most:
N.
That was not an ordinary accounting term.
Then Celia remembered something from the shed.
“Doreen told me, ‘They’re safer not knowing.’”
“About what?”
“I thought the valuables.”
Maybe.
Maybe money.
Then Doreen’s lawyer requested access to the company’s insurance policies and bylaws.
Why?
Civil defense.
And control.
Doreen also called a shareholder meeting through counsel to demand removal of Helen Sutter, the independent compliance officer.
Her stated reason:
Helen’s audit was “destroying client confidence.”
The independent board rejected.
Doreen then filed suit claiming the board had unlawfully stripped majority shareholder rights.
Conflict moved to civil court.
She was not surrendering.
Then one of our largest referral partners paused new clients.
Not current care.
New referrals.
Revenue fell immediately.
Employees became afraid.
Rumors spread:
Norwood steals from old people.
Maybe true in part.
Maybe not company-wide.
I held a staff meeting.
I wanted to say:
My mother did this, not us.
I did not.
“We are under investigation. We do not know the full scope. Preserve records, cooperate, and do not contact clients to influence what they tell investigators.”
An employee shouted:
“Are we getting paid Friday?”
“Yes.”
At that moment, I believed it.
May you like
That answer would become important later.
Because keeping payroll going was about to become the excuse I used for my own bad decision.
