Chapter 5 - the room that had remained locked
Miriam survived the attack with a fractured wrist and a deep bruise along her shoulder.
By the time Claire reached the hospital, police officers were already outside her room.
Detective Lena Torres met Claire in the corridor.
“Your foster mother says the man was looking for a box.”
Claire closed her hand around the brass key inside her coat pocket.
“Did she describe him?”
“Black jacket, average height, face partly covered. She believes she had seen him before but cannot remember where.”
“Can I speak to her?”
“In a few minutes.”
Claire looked through the glass window.
Miriam lay awake, staring toward the door.
Richard arrived ten minutes later.
He moved quickly down the corridor, concern arranged perfectly across his face.
“Claire.”
She stepped back when he tried to embrace her.
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into Miriam’s house.”
“I know. You sent me the hospital location.”
“I didn’t send you anything.”
Richard stopped.
Claire checked her phone.
A message had arrived from his number twenty minutes earlier.
I heard what happened. I’m coming to Saint Catherine’s.
Richard took out his phone.
There was no outgoing message.
“Someone copied my number,” he said.
“Why would they do that?”
“To make you suspicious of me.”
“You knew I wasn’t at home.”
“Because you lied.”
“You told me not to wear my bracelet around Eleanor Waverly.”
Richard’s expression remained still.
“What does that have to do with Miriam?”
“She worked at the hotel.”
Something moved in Richard’s eyes.
Claire saw it.
“You already knew.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“Claire, this is not the place.”
“That’s what people say when they don’t want to answer.”
Detective Torres approached them.
“Mrs. Vale, your foster mother is asking for you.”
Richard started to follow.
“Only Claire,” the detective said.
Inside the room, Miriam looked toward the door until Claire closed it.
“You still have the key?”
Claire nodded.
“What does it open?”
“A deposit box in the old train station.”
“Which bank?”
“No bank. The station used private storage lockers before it closed. Locker 214.”
“What is inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire stared at her.
“You said you kept everything.”
“I did. But the most important evidence was hidden by Helena before she disappeared. She mailed me the locker key two weeks after the fire.”
“Why didn’t you open it?”
“She included a warning.”
Miriam reached toward the bedside drawer and removed a folded piece of paper.
Claire opened it.
Miriam, if the child is ever found, take her to Eleanor. Do not trust Thomas. Do not trust Graham. Do not trust anyone who knows what the bracelet contains.
Thomas Waverly had been Eleanor’s husband.
Claire looked up.
“Why would Helena warn you about the child’s father?”
“I don’t know.”
A soft knock sounded.
Richard stood outside the glass.
Miriam’s breathing quickened.
“He knows,” she whispered.
“What?”
“He knows who you are.”
Claire looked toward him.
Richard gave her a reassuring smile through the window.
Miriam grabbed Claire’s hand.
“He came to my house before your wedding.”
Claire felt the room tilt.
“When?”
“Three days before.”
“What did he want?”
“The bracelet.”
Claire turned toward Richard again.
He was no longer smiling.
He had seen the paper in her hand.
That night, Claire did not return to the apartment.
She booked a room at a small hotel under Miriam’s surname and waited until morning.
At sunrise, she drove to the abandoned central train station.
The main building had been converted into offices, but the underground storage hall remained.
Locker 214 stood at the end of a narrow corridor.
Claire inserted the brass key.
It turned.
Inside was a leather document pouch, a cassette tape, a photograph, and a second silver bracelet.
Claire stared at it.
Her own bracelet had a rose engraved on the clasp.
The second bracelet carried a crescent moon.
On top of the pouch rested a note.
May you like
There were two children in the nursery that night.
Only one was reported missing.
