Chapter 14 - The Unwelcome Visitor
Three days after Evelyn’s arrest, I received an unexpected visitor at the hospital.
I was in the imaging lounge finishing up my charting for the afternoon shift when the desk clerk paged me. A young man was waiting in the lobby, claiming he had urgent personal documents concerning my family.
Assuming it was a courier from Nathan Vance’s legal office, I walked out to the public reception area. Sitting on the vinyl waiting chairs was Tyler, Greg’s twenty-three-year-old son.
He looked completely out of place in the clean, sterile hospital environment. He wore clean but faded work jeans, holding a manila folder in his lap with both hands. When he saw my badge, he stood up quickly, his face flushing with embarrassment.
"Ms. Parker... Jocelyn," he said, speaking in a low, respectful voice. "I'm sorry to bother you at work. The security guard said I could only speak to you for five minutes. I promise I'm not here to cause trouble."
I maintained a cautious five-foot distance, crossing my arms over my scrubs. "How did you find out where I work, Tyler?"
"Evelyn kept your hospital schedule pinned to the refrigerator in the trailer," he admitted, looking down at his boots. "Look, I know what you must think of me. You think I was in on her scheme to crash your place. I swear on my mother’s grave, I had no idea."
"Then why were you standing on my porch with trash bags on a Tuesday night?"
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck, sighing deeply. "My dad—Greg—walked out on us three weeks ago. He didn't just leave Evelyn; he took my truck title, my savings, and whatever cash was left in the business account. He left me with nothing. Evelyn came to me crying, saying that you had reached out to her. She told me you had forgiven her, that you felt guilty about the trust money, and that you offered to let us rent the upstairs rooms for three hundred bucks a month so I could find work in Charlotte."
A cold chuckle escaped my lips. "The exact same lie she told my sister Krista fourteen months ago."
"I realize that now," Tyler said, his voice cracking with emotion. "When the deputy pulled those handcuffs out, I realized she had played me just like my dad played her. I’ve been staying at the men’s rescue mission downtown for three nights."
He extended the manila envelope toward me. "I went back to the trailer yesterday with a county marshal to get my remaining clothes before the landlord locked it up. I found this inside Evelyn’s metal lockbox. She had the key hidden in an old flour tin."
I hesitated for a moment before taking the folder from his hands. "What is this?"
"It’s Greg’s personal ledger," Tyler explained, leaning in closer. "Before my dad skipped town, he left behind a stack of corporate tax filings and bank transfers from 2017 to 2021. Evelyn wasn't just hoarding your father's trust money, Jocelyn. She and my dad were using that trust account to funnel fraudulent PPP loans and tax write-offs through Greg’s shell construction company during the pandemic. There are forged signatures in there—including yours."
My fingers tightened around the cardboard folder. My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit.
"Why are you giving this to me, Tyler?" I asked, staring into his tired, honest eyes.
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"Because my dad ruined my life, and your mother tried to use me as a battering ram against you," Tyler said softly. "I'm leaving for Atlanta tomorrow morning to work for an uncle who runs an auto shop. I don't want any part of their corruption. You deserve to protect yourself."
He turned and walked toward the hospital sliding doors before I could even offer him a word of thanks.
