The hands gripping my shoulders shook.
Marian stared at me, and tears slid down her face.
"Marian, how can you not see through something this obvious?"
Frederick Delgado picked up the death certificate.
"Look. Doesn't it remind you of the one I forged for you three years ago?"
He pointed to the stamp at the bottom.
"It's not even as good as the one I made.
"See here? That's not how an official seal gets placed."
He let out a scoff and looked at me. "Mr. Graves, we've both been through this before. Trying to fool us with something like this? That's bringing a knife to a gunfight."
Marian blinked, coming back to herself.
Frederick kept pointing things out to her.
"Look at the signature. It's so stiff you can't tell? And this paper, it's obviously been aged on purpose. You went through the whole process three years ago. Mr. Graves here is actually pretty experienced. He even predicted you'd come find him today, dressed himself in rags and waited for you at the dump."
"You're full of it!"
My eyes burned red.
Marian only frowned.
After examining the death certificate front and back several times, Marian looked at me with undisguised contempt.
"You almost had me fooled."
She tossed the death certificate at me, her voice cold:
"Seems Frederick was right. You're far more calculating than you look."
"You—!"
"By the end of today, bring Freddy home. He's only six. He shouldn't be learning bad habits from a father like you."
She turned to leave.
I scrambled to my feet to stop her.
But Frederick stepped between us.
"Mr. Graves..."
His voice dropped low enough that only I could hear:
"I know Freddy's been dead for a while now."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"Want to know why Marian doesn't?"
He let out a quiet laugh. "Because I made sure every piece of news about Freddy never reached her."
My fists clenched.
"You know, Freddy really was pitiful.
"His mother had barely 'died' before he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.
"There was a donor match for him. A perfect one. But his father couldn't scrape together a single dollar. Working four jobs a day, never sleeping, and still couldn't cover the surgery.
"So little Freddy just... missed his chance."
My eyes burned red.
"But don't worry."
Frederick adjusted the cuff of his tailored sleeve. "He didn't die for nothing. His bone marrow, his kidneys, his corneas..."
The air left my lungs.
He laughed softly.