Chapter 4 - What They Wanted Eli to Tell Them
Detective Harris asked Natalie whether Eli might know something valuable.
She almost said no.
Then she remembered the red folder.
Two weeks earlier, Eli had returned from Linda’s home carrying a small plastic dinosaur.
Inside its hollow body, Natalie found a folded bank receipt.
It showed a transfer of forty-eight thousand dollars from an account belonging to Natalie’s late father.
The account should have been closed years ago.
Natalie called Linda immediately.
Linda said the receipt was old and meaningless.
Rachel later visited Natalie’s apartment and asked whether Eli had “brought home anything unusual.”
At the time, Natalie thought she meant a toy.
Now the question felt different.
Natalie told Harris about the receipt.
His expression sharpened.
Linda had managed Natalie’s father’s estate after his death.
She claimed medical debts consumed nearly everything.
Natalie inherited only a few thousand dollars.
If the receipt was genuine, Linda had lied.
Harris asked where the dinosaur was.
Natalie’s face fell.
It had disappeared from her apartment the day after Rachel visited.
There had been no forced entry.
Only three people had keys.
Natalie.
Her landlord.
And Linda.
Eli may have seen who took it.
He may also have hidden something else.
Something important enough for Linda and Rachel to lock him in a dangerously hot shed.
But why would a six-year-old understand financial evidence?
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The answer came when Eli woke again and whispered:
“Grandpa made a movie.”
