Cremation Authorized

Theo pulled Elise into a side office before Martin could see the photo. He shut the door and lowered the blinds with one sharp tug.

"Show me," he said.

Elise held out the phone. Her thumb had gone stiff.

The body in the picture was mostly sheet and shadow. The bracelet was clear. Name, date of birth, medical record number. Her date of birth. Her mother's old address. Her blood type.

"That is not me," Elise said.

"I know."

"Do you?"

The question landed between them. Theo had reason to hate her. Elise had left him three years ago after Vivian called him a bank clerk with ambition and nothing else. Theo had not fought Vivian. He had fought Elise, and she had chosen wrong.

His jaw moved once. "I know the woman in front of me is alive. I do not know why a dead woman has your identifiers."

Elise looked through the blind slats. Martin stood in the lobby with Claire, speaking low. Claire's face had lost its television polish. Adam was still gone.

"I need St. Agnes," Elise said.

"You need police."

"Police will hear the words insurance fraud and desperate daughter and they will look at my credit score before they look at that body."

Theo did not argue. He knew systems. He knew what got believed first.

He opened his tablet. "The claim packet hit our bank through Meridian's death-benefit feed, but the trust freeze came from HartLine's legal portal. Two lanes. Same minute."

"So someone coordinated it."

"Yes."

The door handle moved. Martin's voice came through the wood.

"Elise. Open the door."

She did not.

Theo copied the photo to a secure bank evidence folder. "If I help you, I risk my job."

"If you don't, I lose my name."

For a second he looked like the man who had once waited outside Vivian's house for two hours because Elise was crying and too proud to say why.

Then his screen chimed.

"The hospice record just updated," he said.

Elise leaned over his shoulder.

The file now showed cremation authorized.

By next of kin: Claire Hart.