Chapter 31 - An Anonymous Gift
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Two weeks after the incident at the playground, the police had still not located Lauren's dark sedan. It felt as though she had dissolved into thin air after taking those photos of Emma.
Then, a strange notification popped up on my phone from our bank.
I opened our mobile banking app to review our monthly statements. When I clicked on Emma's college trust fund—the very account that Mom had worked so hard to repay—I froze.
An electronic wire transfer of exactly $1,000 had been deposited into the account three days ago.
The sender line read: ANONYMOUS TRUST DONATION.
I immediately called our bank manager, who transferred me to their fraud investigation department. After an hour of digging through routing numbers, the investigator gave us the answer.
The money had been wired from a private bank account registered to a shell company in Delaware. The ultimate owner of that company was Lauren.
"She's trying to buy her way back in," James said, staring at the bank statement printout on our kitchen island. "She thinks if she puts money into Emma's account, she can create a paper trail that links her to our daughter's life."
"It's sick," I said, feeling a wave of nausea. "She stole thousands from this exact account two years ago, and now she's depositing $1,000 like it's a gift?"
"We are rejecting the transfer," James said, grabbing his car keys. "And then we are going to see your parents."
"My parents? James, why?"
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"Because Lauren is getting money from somewhere, Sarah," James said, his voice dark and cold. "And I'm going to find out if your mother is funding her escape."
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