Chapter 19 - THE DATABASE THAT LIEDJonah had built the shadow database.
That made everyone assume he controlled it.
He did not.
Someone had modified records after he left Harbor Light.
Dates changed.
Addresses changed.
Names disappeared.
Three supposedly missing children were not merely hidden.
Someone was searching for them.
Why?
Daniel found the answer inside the billing history.
The children shared one thing.
Each had been placed in a home connected to a company called Northstar Residential Partners.
Northstar owned dozens of group homes.
Harbor Light sent children.
The state paid Northstar.
Northstar paid consulting fees to Graham Shaw.
Kickbacks.
But still not enough.
Then Maya recognized a name.
“Mr. Bell.”
Thomas Bell.
Northstar regional director.
“He used to visit my uncle.”
“Why?” Lily asked.
“He brought envelopes.”
Maya had once opened one.
Inside was cash.
Her uncle had been paid.
Not to accept Maya.
To keep her.
Harbor Light had discovered a darker revenue stream.
Certain relatives were paid to take difficult placements because those placements generated ongoing services.
Children were being kept in unsafe homes because unsafe homes were profitable.
Maya had run away.
Caleb’s grandmother had taken him.
Three other children had witnessed payments.
Helen hid them.
Now Graham Shaw needed to find them before investigators did.
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The missing children were not evidence because of what had happened to them.
They were evidence because of what they had seen.
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