Chapter 8 - The Boy Without a Name)
Laura called the police while Thomas remained in the foyer.
He did not resist.
Perhaps he knew that running would make everything worse.
Perhaps he had finally realized there was nowhere left to go.
Margaret stood ten feet from him.
"Who is the boy?"
Thomas looked at Emily.
"His name is Jacob."
"Jacob what?" Emily asked.
"Jacob Hale."
Michael came down the stairs.
He froze when he heard the name.
Emily noticed.
"You know him."
Michael nodded.
"Jacob Hale is an investigative journalist."
Thomas gave a humorless laugh.
"Not by accident."
Margaret frowned.
Thomas explained.
Twenty two years earlier, Jacob had been born at St. Catherine's to a seventeen year old mother who intended to place him for adoption.
Marianne Vale was arranging the adoption.
During the fire, records were chaotic.
Richard Ashford saw an opportunity.
He needed Margaret's daughter to disappear without a body.
Marianne changed the identification numbers.
Jacob was recorded under the Ashford infant's medical file.
Emily was moved under the temporary name Elizabeth Ward.
Later, Richard arranged for an empty coffin and a closed funeral.
"What happened to Jacob?" Emily asked.
"He was adopted legally after the records were repaired."
"Then why does he matter now?"
Thomas looked at Michael.
"Because twelve years ago he started researching Marianne Vale."
Michael's eyes widened.
"The article."
Thomas nodded.
Emily asked, "What article?"
Michael answered.
"Jacob wrote an investigation into illegal private adoptions. It was never published."
"Why?"
Thomas looked away.
Margaret said, "You stopped it."
He did not deny it.
Emily felt disgust rise.
"How many people did your family threaten?"
Thomas looked at her.
"More than I can justify."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
Thomas seemed older than he had the night before.
"You want the truth? My father designed what happened after the fire. I was twenty six. I had just joined the company. I was terrified of losing everything."
Margaret stared at him.
"Our daughter."
Thomas looked at her.
"I know."
"No. Don't say that."
Margaret's voice rose.
"You do not get to stand inside the house where I mourned her and tell me you know what you did."
Thomas lowered his head.
Emily asked the question that mattered.
"Did you ever see me after the fire?"
Thomas did not answer.
Emily stepped forward.
"Look at me."
He did.
"Did you see me?"
"Yes."
Margaret stopped breathing.
Emily felt the word physically.
"When?"
"At the Hartford facility."
"How old was I?"
"Twelve days."
Emily's voice became quiet.
"And you left me there."
Thomas's eyes filled for the first time.
"Yes."
Margaret slapped him again.
This time Thomas stumbled.
Michael moved closer but Margaret did not strike again.
She simply stared at the man she had married.
Thomas wiped blood from the corner of his lip.
"I told myself you would be adopted."
Emily whispered, "I wasn't."
"I know that now."
"I lived in five foster homes."
Thomas looked down.
"I know."
Emily stared.
"You know?"
Thomas's silence confirmed it.
"How long have you known?"
"Six years."
Margaret's face became horrifyingly still.
Thomas continued.
"My investigators found your state records."
Emily could barely breathe.
"You knew where I was six years ago."
"Yes."
"And you still didn't tell her."
He looked toward Margaret.
"No."
Emily laughed once.
It contained no humor.
"I spent six years saving money for investigators while you already had the answer."
Thomas said, "I was afraid."
"Of prison?"
"Of everything."
Emily stepped closer.
"You weren't afraid when I was a baby."
Thomas's eyes filled.
"No."
"You weren't afraid when she buried an empty coffin."
"No."
"You weren't afraid when I turned eighteen alone."
"No."
Emily nodded.
"Then you don't get to use fear now."
Police sirens approached outside.
Thomas glanced toward the door.
Margaret asked, "Why did you come tonight?"
Thomas pushed the file toward Emily.
"Because Jacob Hale contacted me."
Michael picked it up.
"When?"
"This morning."
"What does he want?"
"The truth."
Emily said, "So do we."
Thomas shook his head.
"You don't understand. Jacob has the original Vale ledger."
Michael went still.
"The payment ledger?"
"The complete one."
Laura stepped closer.
"Original documents could prove criminal conspiracy and financial fraud."
Thomas nodded.
"He says Marianne gave it to his adoptive mother before she died."
Margaret asked, "Where is Jacob?"
Thomas looked toward Emily.
"On his way here."
A knock sounded at the front door.
Everyone froze.
Michael looked through the glass.
A man in his twenties stood outside holding a weathered leather folder.
Thomas closed his eyes.
"That's him."
Emily stared at the stranger.
May you like
For twenty two years, their names had been connected by one criminal decision made during a night of fire.
Now Jacob Hale had come to return them to the truth.
