“Brenda met us at the gate and told us everything was prepared.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“My nephew slipped on the wet steps and hit his forehead.”
Daniel gripped his pen.
“Was he seriously hurt?”
“He needed stitches.”
“The hospital asked for insurance information.”
“Brenda gave us a certificate bearing your name.”
Daniel looked down at his notebook.
“She sent that to you?”
“Yes,” Elena said.
“Then she called me three times and told me not to mention the party to anybody.”
Elena explained that Brenda had promised to refund the booking if the family signed a short release.
The release stated that the property owner and guests had agreed the injury occurred outside the rented area.
Elena refused to sign it.
The refund never came.
“I found your number through a contractor who worked on the house,” she continued.
“I thought you should know what was happening.”
Daniel thanked her and asked permission to share the documents with his attorney.
Elena agreed.
She also mentioned a detail that unsettled him more than the forged insurance certificate.
“One guest said the lifeguard had stepped away for an hour.”
Daniel frowned.
“What lifeguard?”
“The woman with the red polo shirt,” Elena replied.
“Brenda said she was licensed.”
Daniel pulled up the camera recordings from that Saturday.
The red-shirted woman appeared for less than five minutes.
She unlocked the equipment shed, took a folding chair, and left through the back gate.
The camera never showed her returning.
During the next hour, eleven people entered the water.
Elena’s nephew slipped after his aunt carried him toward the steps.
Daniel did not watch the impact twice.
He turned off the recording and called Priya.
“This is bigger than trespassing,” he said.
Priya asked him to preserve the file and send Elena’s statement through a secure link.
“Do not publish any footage of the children,” she warned.
“We’re going to find out who issued that policy, and we’re going to do it carefully.”
Chapter 5: A Name on the Certificate
The insurance company had a regional office near Daniel’s workplace.
He drove there Monday morning with the copy Elena had supplied.
A claims representative named Morgan Ellis checked the policy number while Daniel waited in a narrow conference room.
The representative returned with a concerned expression.
“This number belongs to a policy issued to an unrelated business,” Morgan explained.
“It doesn’t cover your address.”
Daniel had expected as much.
What he did not expect was the policyholder’s name.
The business was called Collins Event Holdings.
