Her father’s.
Her sister’s.
Willow’s.
“Yes,” Gabriela said.
Vanessa gasped as though struck.
Ronald’s jaw clenched.
Janice’s face twisted. “You’ll regret this.”
Officer Miller turned to her. “That sounded like a threat.”
Janice shut her mouth.
They were escorted out of the building under the cold hallway lights, Vanessa weeping loudly enough for neighbors to peek through their doors.
But Gabriela did not feel triumph.
Only exhaustion.
After the police left, she bolted the door again and sat on the floor with Willow in her lap until her daughter’s sobs became hiccups.
“I’m not going with Grandma?” Willow whispered.
“No.”
“Promise?”
Gabriela kissed her hair. “Promise.”
Later, after Willow finally fell asleep, Gabriela picked up the paper Janice had shoved under the door.
She read it once.
Then again.
It listed her as emotionally unstable.
Financially negligent.
Unfit.
It claimed Willow lacked proper care.
It claimed Vanessa and Ronald had provided “consistent support” since birth.
Gabriela laughed once, a sharp, ugly sound.
They had given her nothing but shame.
At the bottom, beside Janice’s neat handwriting, was a sticky note.
Gabriela almost missed it.
Call Mr. Harlan first thing. The child must be secured before probate hearing.
Probate.
Gabriela stared at the word.
Why would a guardianship petition have anything to do with probate?
Her hands began moving before her mind caught up. She searched the name “Mr. Harlan” on her phone. Three results appeared nearby. One of them was an estate attorney.
Arthur Harlan.
Her chest tightened.
The name was familiar.
Years ago, when Gabriela was little, there had been an older woman who visited at Christmas with silver hair and a laugh like wind chimes. Aunt Elise. Ronald’s older sister. She had stopped coming after a terrible fight with Vanessa, and Gabriela had been told never to ask about her again.
Gabriela searched Elise Alvarez obituary.
There it was.
Elise Marisol Alvarez, age seventy-six, passed away three weeks ago.
Three weeks.
Before the supermarket.
Before the stolen money.
Before the guardianship petition.