She’d been preparing to blow the whistle on Jared’s embezzlement.

And then she was found dead in her home, her face unrecognizable from the violence of the attack — with her husband standing over her, holding the weapon.

Part 3 — The Trauma Drawing

While Iris connected the financial threads in Dallas, Chloe Cole was taken back to the state-supervised group home where she’d lived for the past six months.

Since the night of the murder she’d been under the temporary guardianship of her uncle, Jared.

But Chloe hated her uncle’s cold, cavernous estate. She had stopped speaking entirely after the trial, withdrawing into a silent world where her only language was charcoal drawings.

The social worker, a kind woman named Sarah, sat beside her in the home’s quiet library. Chloe stared at a large sheet of paper, a black charcoal stick gripped in her small fingers.