Someone was still drawing her pension and using her social security number.

I needed to know if she was actually dead, or if my father had kept her identity alive for financial gain.

To find out, I needed someone with direct access to the active defense database.

I needed Claire Donnelly.

Claire was still working inside the Department of Defense fraud division.

She had the clearance I no longer possessed.

More importantly, she was the only person in the department I still trusted.

I unlocked my phone again and opened my secure messaging app.

The screen’s glow reflected off the metal railing of my bed.

I found Claire’s contact name.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard.

I needed to word this carefully.

If the department caught her running unauthorized searches, it could cost Claire her career.

But she owed me, and she knew I wouldn’t ask unless it was a matter of survival.

I began to type.

“Claire, it’s Rachel. I need a quiet favor.”

“I need you to look up a name in the federal pension registry.”

“Margaret Elaine Mitchell.”