Brooke Breaks Procedure

By noon, the video had left Tessa's phone and become everyone's problem.

Not viral. Briar Glen did not go viral; it circulated. The clip moved through parent groups, donor texts, hospice staff chats, and finally into Harbor Union's legal department, where Brooke was summoned to a conference room without windows.

Martin Kells played the last ten seconds twice.

For now, dear.

He stopped the video. "Did you coach Nora Vale?"

"No."

"Did you attend a public confrontation involving an active fraud claimant?"

"Yes."

"Do you hear yourself?"

Brooke folded her hands. "I also heard Judith Vale threaten a living hospice patient in a room full of donors."

"You heard tone."

"I heard leverage."

Kells looked tired then. Not angry, not corrupt in the easy way. Tired. That worried Brooke more.

"There are internal politics on this file," he said.

"That sentence is where ethics go to die."

"That sentence is me warning you."

He slid a document across the table. It was a temporary access restriction. Brooke's credentials for legacy claim archives were suspended pending review.

"Who requested this?"

"Legal."

"Which lawyer?"

Kells did not answer.

Brooke signed because refusing would only make the door close louder.

Outside, she called Nora.

"You need to assume Harbor Union is compromised at least at archive level."

Nora was in her car outside Sophie's school, watching mothers pick up children as if normal life had not become a foreign country.

"What does that mean for my claim?"

"It means the claim is bait."

"For who?"

"For anyone who wants the first death and the second death never compared."

Nora saw Judith's silver SUV turn into the school lot.

Sophie was not due out for eight minutes.

Judith parked near the entrance and got out holding a visitor badge.

"Brooke," Nora said, already opening her door, "she's at my daughter's school."