“We are your parents,” Diane said, her voice dropping the sweetness, turning cold and demanding. “We have a right to see our grandson. Your sister is here too. We drove all this way.”

“I know what you’re doing, Mom,” I said, my voice barely a whisper but steady. “I know about Grandma Margaret.”

There was a sudden, sharp silence on the other end of the line.

I could hear the muffled sound of wind and traffic in the background, suggesting she was standing just outside the hospital’s main sliding doors.

“What are you talking about?” Diane asked, her voice tight.

“She’s not dead,” I said. “You told me she died when I was twelve. But her pension is active. Richard is taking the money, and Victoria is notarizing the forms.”

I heard a sharp intake of breath.

“You need to stop this detective nonsense right now, Rachel,” Diane hissed, her voice hushed but furious. “You have no idea what you are interfering with.”

“It’s federal fraud,” I said. “I used to lock people up for exactly this.”