Autopsied by My Mother

Chapter 4 Shattered Denial

The technician held out the report. My mother stared at the name near the top.

Julian took it and read the result to the officer. “DNA match confirmed. 99.99% probability. The victim is Harper Lancaster.”

My mother’s knees gave way. She landed on one hip.

A thin, tearing sound came from her throat. She looked down at her gloves. My blood had dried in the seams around her fingers, and the cuff of her white coat had brushed the open incision.

Her mask hung loose from one ear. She had just opened her own daughter’s body.

“No.” She crawled toward the steel table, dragging her white coat through the dirt near the cabinets. “No. My baby. Harper.”

She caught the edge of the gurney and pulled herself up. Her gaze moved from my face to the Y-incision and the scalpel beside it. She covered her mouth too late to stop the cry.

“Mommy’s sorry.” Her tears landed on my shoulder. “Harper, open your eyes. Please, baby. Mommy was wrong.”

Behind the glass, my father gripped the observation ledge until his knuckles went white. Then he turned on Victor.

“Victor.” He struck the glass with the heel of his hand. “I’ll find that son of a b***h. I will use every unit in this city if I have to. I want his head on a platter.”

“He will pay for this. I swear on my life.”

He demanded officers, warrants, vehicles and weapons. Five minutes earlier, he had expected me to crawl home over a canceled card. Now he wanted every badge in the building chasing my killer.

He headed for the door.

“Sir.”

Julian stood between him and the hallway.

“Before you mobilize a tactical unit, look at this.”

My father turned. “What matters more than finding the man who did this?”

Julian held a tablet against the observation window. “Financial crimes flagged one of Victor’s offshore accounts. Three days ago, a seven-figure wire transfer entered a slush fund he controls.”

My father read the amount twice. “So? He’s a crime lord. He moves money.”

“This transfer came through a shell corporation created last month,” Julian said. “It bypassed all his usual channels.”

Julian enlarged the registration record. My father leaned closer to the glass, then stopped breathing.

Julian pointed to the listed manager.

“The shell corporation is registered to the charity fund managed by Chloe.”