Chapter 9 - The Girl With Two Names
Anna was taken into emergency surgery at a nearby hospital.
Her wound was serious but survivable. The bullet had entered below her ribs and narrowly missed her liver.
Mark waited outside the operating room with Leo asleep against his shoulder.
Across the corridor, the teenage girl sat beside Evelyn. She had given police the name Claire Shaw, not Elise Harrison.
Vanessa was under guard in another wing.
Gerald remained missing.
Detective Moreno approached Mark shortly before dawn.
“We confirmed the girl’s identity through fingerprints in a missing-person database,” she said.
“Who is she?”
“Claire Evelyn Shaw. Born fourteen years ago.”
Mark looked at Evelyn.
“She is your daughter?”
“Yes,” Evelyn said.
“Then where is Elise?”
Evelyn’s face showed exhaustion.
“I don’t know.”
Mark stood carefully so as not to wake Leo.
“You told me Claire was Elise.”
“I needed you to save her.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected my child.”
“By using mine?”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened.
“Vanessa has spent years hunting every girl connected to Bellweather. Claire was taken because Gerald believed she could be Elise.”
“Why would he believe that?”
“Because I changed the birth records.”
Mark felt rage building.
“Start telling the truth.”
Evelyn looked toward Leo.
“Anna asked me to separate the identities. After Elise was born, Bellweather registered her as my biological daughter. When Claire was born later, I reversed parts of the records so no one could determine which child carried Harrison DNA.”
“You used your daughter as a shield.”
“I gave both girls a chance to live.”
“Where did you send Elise?”
“With a family who knew nothing about Bellweather.”
“Which family?”
“I don’t know their current name.”
Mark stared at her.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Anna handled the final placement.”
The operating room doors remained closed.
Only Anna knew where Elise was.
Moreno opened a folder.
“We also learned more about Vanessa. Her legal identity is Vanessa Laurent Harrison. Before that, records show Vanessa Laurent attended school in France and died in a boating accident at nineteen.”
Mark looked toward the guarded corridor.
“So the woman I married stole a dead person’s identity.”
“Yes.”
“Who is she really?”
“We found partial Bellweather employment records under the name Elise Shaw.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“She was never my child.”
“Then why did she use your surname?”
“Because Bellweather assigned surnames to recruits. Shaw was common.”
Mark remembered Anna’s warning.
Vanessa had been recruited as a teenager.
“Her first name was really Elise?”
Evelyn nodded.
“She became obsessed with the child after learning Richard Harrison intended to protect his biological granddaughter through a secret trust.”
“Protect?” Mark said bitterly. “My father tried to erase her.”
“Richard changed near the end of his life.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“He discovered Gerald was planning to kill both heirs and seize the company. Richard created an additional document giving full control to whichever child could prove Bellweather’s crimes.”
Moreno frowned.
“That would be a powerful motive.”
Evelyn continued.
“Vanessa believed she could impersonate the missing daughter, marry you and eventually control the trust.”
“That makes no sense. She is older than Elise.”
“She did not plan to claim she was the child. She planned to produce a girl under her control.”
Mark understood.
Vanessa needed the real Elise or a convincing substitute.
Leo stirred in his arms.
A surgeon emerged.
“Mr. Harrison?”
Mark crossed the corridor.
“Anna is stable. She lost significant blood, but the procedure was successful.”
“Can I see her?”
“In a few hours.”
Relief nearly brought him to his knees.
The surgeon’s expression remained serious.
“There is something else. We found evidence of repeated intravenous drug use and older surgical injuries. She appears to have been held and medically sedated for a long period.”
“How long?”
“Years.”
Mark looked toward Evelyn.
“You said you helped Anna escape.”
“I did.”
“What happened afterward?”
Evelyn’s eyes lowered.
“We separated to protect the children.”
“And then?”
“She was captured.”
“You knew?”
“Not for certain.”
“You left her.”
“I had Claire with me.”
Mark’s anger sharpened.
“Everyone used someone else as an excuse while Anna suffered.”
Evelyn looked as if he had struck her.
Before she could respond, alarms sounded in Vanessa’s wing.
Moreno reached for her weapon.
A nurse ran into the corridor.
“The prisoner is gone.”
They rushed to the guarded room.
One officer lay unconscious on the floor. The window was open, and a rope made from bedsheets hung down the exterior wall.
On the pillow was a note.
Mark unfolded it.
You still do not know which child is yours.
Ask Anna why Leo’s blood does not match.
Mark looked through the window into the darkness.
May you like
Vanessa had escaped again.
But this time, she had left behind a question more dangerous than any weapon.
