Page 11 of Silent Echo

CHAPTER TEN

T he following day, Charlotte was back at it, methodically going through the profile of every Nora Watson on Facebook.

Some profiles had more public information available than others, and she narrowed it down to three women who might be related to Penelope.

If only she had access to all their photos, she could see if there were any older ones of Penelope.

Maybe Nora was married and her profile was under her married name, which Charlotte didn’t have.

She debated sending them all friend requests then thought better of it.

Even if she found Penelope’s sister, who knew if she could be trusted?

Next, she went to search the death records in Maryland to see if Penelope was listed.

Eli and she had had to request a death certificate for the insurance company, and one was provided pretty quickly after the investigation when it became clear that there were no survivors.

Navigating to the vital records website, she initiated a search for Penelope Watson’s death certificate.

It took her to an online order link. She typed in the information, but when she reached the end, she found that only the decedent’s mother, father, spouse, or child could order a copy.

She picked up her phone and called the school. “Hi, Misty. It’s Charlotte Fleming. How are you?”

“Oh, hi, Charlotte. It’s nice to hear your voice. What can I do for you?”

Charlotte had always liked Misty. She often brought Misty coffee in the morning and spent extra time chatting with her.

She was the first line of defense at the office, and Charlotte knew many of the parents could be difficult and downright rude at times.

Misty handled the encounters gracefully, but Charlotte could see it took a toll at times. “I need some information.”

“What is it?”

“I have a friend who wants to apply to teach at the school. I told her what a wonderful place it is. But she’s getting out of a difficult marriage and needs a job with good benefits. Do you mind giving me an overview of the benefits package?”

“Well, we have a 401K plan, good health insurance, and life in- surance.”

“That’s great. Do you know who the life insurance is through? Her husband works for one of the insurance companies, and let’s just say she wants to make sure he can’t find her.”

“Oh, my. I see. Hold on, let me take a look. Um, here it is. Provident Casualty.”

“Great. Thanks so much, Misty. You take care.”

“You too, Charlotte.”

She looked up the number for Provident and asked for one of the claims adjusters.

“James Whittaker. May I help you?”

“Yes, Mr. Whittaker. My name is Charlotte Fleming, and I’m calling because I suspect a claim you settled might be fraudulent.”

“Which claim is that?”

“It concerns that terrible bus accident on the Bay Bridge last November. There were three or four employees of the Windsor School whose policies would have been paid out. One of them was Penelope Watson. But I believe Ms. Watson is still alive. I wanted to make sure that a death benefit wasn’t paid out to her sister. ”

She could hear keys clicking. “Watson with one t?”

“Yes.”

More clicking. “I see that there were two claims from that accident but nothing for Ms. Watson.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, quite sure.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Another indication that Penelope hadn’t been on that bus.

Her sister would have claimed the death benefit if Penelope had died.

She needed to find Nora Watson. Charlotte still hadn’t heard back from the woman she’d sent a Facebook message to about the birthday party.

She’d decided to take matters into her own hands.

She’d gone earlier that day to the police department to tell them her theory.

A kind detective listened patiently, his face impassive, not betraying what he was thinking.

“I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through, Mrs. Fleming. It’s unimaginable. You say the picture you saw took place in a bookstore in Florida?”

She nodded.

“If there’s any credence to your theory, you would need to get the FBI involved. I can give you the number of the local field office.”

She’d gone home and made the phone call, and the agent answering the phone took down the information.

“I’ll forward this report to the appropriate squad. An agent will reach out to you shortly.”

Now all she had to do was tell Eli.

Harper was doing homework at a friend’s and wouldn’t be home until around nine.

As soon as Eli walked in, Charlotte handed him a glass of wine and told him they needed to talk.

She’d put out an assortment of cheeses and nuts and opened his favorite cabernet, hoping to put him in a more receptive frame of mind.

She’d even lit some candles and put on some soft background music.

“What’s this all about?”

“I want to end the cold war,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

He took a sip of the wine and sat down at the island.

“There’s no war, honey. We’re on the same side,” he said.

“I know. Listen, I found out some things today that support my suspicions that Sebastion is alive.”

“What things?”

“For one thing, Sebastion’s teacher called both of us from her cell phone about an hour and a half before the accident occurred. I didn’t even notice the missed call because I had all those calls from school, and then the news …”

“Hmm, I’ll admit that’s weird.”

“Did you talk to her that day?”

“What? Of course not. I would have told you.”

“Well, did she leave you a voicemail? The phone records show an eleven-second call.”

His face paled. “Charlotte, what is this? Why are you rehashing all this now?”

She continued. “I thought maybe Sebastion got sicker that day, and Penelope was calling to let us know he couldn’t go on the field trip.

She could have told the bus driver to go without them and taken him to an urgent care or something.

” She didn’t mention that she’d already called all the ones in the immediate area to no avail.

“But if she didn’t reach us, she would have had to go ahead and get back on the bus. I mean, she wouldn’t have the authority to take him anywhere on her own. Plus, she wouldn’t have had a car,” he said.

“I thought of that too, but she could have called an Uber. But that’s not all. I found out that the life insurance on her was never paid out.”

“How did you—”

“I called Misty at the school, and she gave me the name of their insurance carrier. So, I called them to check. Anyway, don’t you think it’s suspicious that the benefit wasn’t paid?”

“I don’t know. Did Penelope have a family? If no one called to make a claim—”

“She has a sister. I’m trying to locate her.

I looked over the accident report. There were three teachers on that trip and three adult chaperones.

The diagram showed fatalities in all the occupied seats.

There were four empty children’s seats, and the bus driver’s seat was empty, as was one other adult seat.

I don’t think any of the other adults would have tried to get out before helping the children. What if Penelope was never on the bus?”

He blew out a breath. “That’s a lot of conjecture. Honey, this could all be nothing. I would love to believe that our boy is still alive. You’re pinning your hopes on a picture that is most likely just a boy who looks like ours. I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t you see all these red flags? The stop at McDonald’s for all that time. The phone calls to us. Something’s not right.”

He took her hand in his. “Sweetheart, this is all very far-fetched. And the phone calls were probably because she wanted to give him something for his stomachache. She and Sebastion must have been on the bus, otherwise, why wouldn’t Penelope have brought him home?”

“That’s exactly what I intend to find out. First of all, if Penelope and Sebastion didn’t get on the bus but somehow got hurt or lost, then Penelope’s sister would have assumed she died in the crash and would have claimed the money. I told you, there was no insurance payout on Penelope.”

“Who knows why the insurance wasn’t paid. Maybe Penelope’s sister didn’t know about the policy. You have to stop this. All you’re going to do is dredge up more pain, and like I said, jeopardize the insurance payout. Then where will we be left?”

She gave him a steely look. “I’m not giving up on our son, and I don’t understand how you can.”