Chapter 5 - The Debt
That night, Hannah sat alone in her apartment.
The old medical record lay on the table.
She had enlarged every section.
Nothing made sense.
She called the hospital listed on the document.
The records department refused to provide information.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Then she found an old name.
Dr. Samuel Whitmore.
The physician listed as attending neonatologist the year she was born.
She searched the university archives.
Nothing.
Then she remembered her grandmother's photograph.
Her grandmother had worked at the same hospital.
Hannah opened an old storage box.
Inside were letters.
Dozens of them.
Most were addressed to her grandmother.
She found one from Samuel Whitmore.
The envelope was dated twenty-eight years earlier.
Her hands trembled.
She opened it.
The letter contained only a few lines.
I cannot keep protecting this secret.
If Richard ever learns what happened, he will destroy everyone involved.
Hannah stopped breathing for a moment.
Richard.
Her father.
She continued reading.
The truth belongs to the child.
Not to the family.
Not to the people who paid for silence.
To the child.
Hannah put the letter down.
She called Dean Grant.
He answered immediately.
"I was expecting your call."
"I found something."
"What?"
"I think my birth records were altered."
There was silence.
Then Dean Grant said something unexpected.
"I already suspected that."
Hannah sat upright.
"How?"
"Your father contacted me months ago."
"What did he say?"
"He asked whether I knew anything about your grandmother."
Hannah closed her eyes.
"Why would he ask that?"
"I don't know."
"Did he mention Samuel Whitmore?"
Dean Grant hesitated.
"Yes."
Hannah's stomach tightened.
"What did he say?"
"He said Dr. Whitmore had made a mistake."
"What kind of mistake?"
"I don't know."
Hannah stood.
"Then I need to find him."
"Samuel Whitmore died eleven years ago."
Hannah froze.
"Then who knows?"
Dean Grant didn't answer.
Hannah understood.
There was someone else.
Someone who had been alive all these years.
Someone who had watched the Barrett family maintain a lie.
She spent the next morning following old records.
By afternoon, she found the name.
Margaret Ellis.
Former neonatal nurse.
Retired.
Living two hours away.
Hannah drove there.
An elderly woman answered the door.
Hannah introduced herself.
Margaret stared at her.
Then slowly covered her mouth.
"Oh my God."
Hannah's heart stopped.
"You know me?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"I knew your mother."
"Did you know me?"
Margaret stepped backward.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Why?"
"Because if Richard knows you're asking questions..."
"What will he do?"
Margaret looked frightened.
"He'll make sure you never find the truth."
Hannah's voice softened.
"What truth?"
Margaret closed the door.
May you like
But before it shut completely, she whispered one sentence.
"You weren't supposed to go home with Linda."
