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The woman nodded. “She was paralyzed. Put into a coma.”
“My cousin had heart surgery. Something went wrong, too.” Jason didn’t hold back the emotion in his voice. “She died and she shouldn’t have.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Lily said it like someone who knew how painful that could be. What a far cry from how Marsha had handled their situation. The two of them looked like they could’ve been friends at their daughter’s PTA meetings, but their personalities were worlds apart. “They weren’t sure Daisy would recover. We were willing to wait. We’re lucky money wasn’t an issue. Heather hated seeing her like that, dead and alive at the same time. It wasn’t easy on any of us.”
Every question had to be asked with the utmost delicacy. Cassie laid a gentle hand on the counter between her and the other woman. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Lily dabbed at the corner of her eye with the tip of her finger. “She was on life support. The doctors couldn’t explain how her ventilator turned off without the machines alerting us. They said it was a glitch. Our lawyer recommended we sue the company for a faulty device.” She hung her head. “But I’m just so tired. I don’t want their money. I want my daughter back.”
“Were Heather and Daisy close?”
“They were very similar.” Lily’s smile was sad. “They fought a lot, but they loved each other fiercely. Heather was the one who found her. I don’t think she’ll ever forget that.”
“No one should ever have to go through that.”
“She was inconsolable,” Lily continued. “For days. She became a recluse. She stopped going to school. It devastated her.”
“Did something else happen? Something to make you two stop talking?”
“We wanted answers. We kept asking her if she saw anything, remembered anything. Our lawyer wanted to talk to her about it, to get her account of what happened. But she shut us out. She packed up and moved out the next day. Told me in no uncertain terms that she never wanted to see either of us again. I haven’t talked to her since. I lost both my daughters within weeks of each other. And somehow the worst part is that Heather is still out there. She’s just choosing not to return my phone calls.”
Cassie saw a glimmer of hope and reached for it. “She still has the same number?”
“Not anymore.”
Cassie deflated. “Do you have any way of getting in touch with her? Any idea where she might be?”
Lily looked back down at her hands. “I’m not proud of it, but I hired a private investigator to find her.” She looked up again, desperation in her eyes. “I just wanted to know she was okay. My husband thought I was crazy. I didn’t want to bother her, and I wasn’t going to reach out if she didn’t want me to. As a mother, I just wanted to make sure she was still out there somewhere.”
Cassie leaned forward. “Do you have her address?”
Lily once again looked between the two of them. “What’s this about?”
“We’re not sure yet.” At least that was partially true. “We met Heather when she was pretending to be someone named Stephanie. And we think she was also using another identity, Charli.”
Lily furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand. Why?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” Cassie looked to Jason, but it didn’t appear as though he had the right words to explain this either. “We know she’s been volunteering at multiple hospitals under these different disguises. There has been a string of deaths due to so-called complications from surgery or other procedures.”
“And you think Heather is looking into these deaths because of what happened to Daisy?”
“That’s what we’re hoping to find out.”
Lily held Cassie’s gaze for what felt like an eternity. When the woman finally looked away, she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from under the counter. She scribbled something down and handed it to Cassie. It was an address.
“I only hired the private investigator for about a month, right after our fight. This was the address he gave me. Sometimes I still drive by there, but I’ve never seen her. She might’ve moved.”
Cassie took the paper and clutched it to her chest. “Thank you so much.”
“I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Lily’s shoulders drooped. “And I h
ope she’s—” She broke off. “I don’t know. I hope she’s okay.”
Cassie didn’t know what to say. Lily got up and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose. They took that as their cue to leave. When Cassie and Jason filed through the door into the fresh air, Cassie finally felt like they were one step closer to figuring out what Heather Stephens knew that they didn’t.
34
Heather Stephens lived on the first floor of an upscale apartment complex that had its own courtyard, swimming pool, and enclosed basketball court. Every other car in the parking lot was a BMW, and Cassie couldn’t help but feel they stuck out like a sore thumb, even if Jason’s sedan was brand new just a few years ago.
