Chapter 15 - The Baby in Celeste’s Final Photograph
Lena stared at the photograph until the nursery disappeared around her.
The woman was Evelyn.
That much seemed clear.
But the baby in her arms could not have been Lena.
Lena had been twenty-five years old when Celeste died.
“Noah.”
He stepped closer.
She handed him the photograph.
His face changed.
“You have seen this before.”
“No.”
“You recognized something.”
“The blanket.”
The baby was wrapped in cream fabric embroidered with tiny silver leaves.
Noah opened the silver box recovered from Vivian’s deposit account.
Inside lay a piece of matching fabric.
Lena touched it.
“My grandmother kept this?”
“Celeste told me it belonged to the lost child.”
“To Evelyn?”
“That is what I assumed.”
Lena looked at the photograph again.
“If Evelyn is holding a baby, then the fabric belonged to someone else.”
Noah turned the photograph toward the light.
A hospital band was visible around the infant’s wrist.
The writing was too small to read.
“We can enlarge it,” he said.
They went to Celeste’s study, where Noah scanned the image.
The first enhancement revealed only blurred letters.
The second showed a date.
Six years earlier.
The night Celeste died.
The third revealed part of a name.
Baby A.
Lena looked toward Ava sleeping in her arms.
“That does not mean anything.”
“No,” Noah said carefully. “It may be a coincidence.”
A sound came from the landline.
The protected line rang only once.
Noah answered.
No one spoke.
Then the divided-crown symbol appeared on the study’s secure monitor.
A video connection opened.
Daniel Voss sat in a dark room.
He wore the same black gloves shown in the private-club photographs.
“Mrs. Arden,” he said.
Lena held Ava closer.
“Where are you?”
“That is no longer the useful question.”
“You manipulated Grant.”
“Grant required very little manipulation. He already believed your property should rescue him from his failures.”
“You used my daughter’s identity.”
“I prevented Vivian from using it first.”
“You expect gratitude?”
“No.”
Daniel removed one glove.
A long scar crossed his palm.
“I expect you to open the inner vault.”
“No.”
“You have not asked what it contains.”
“I know enough.”
“You know what Celeste wanted you to know.”
“And you want me to believe you instead?”
“I want you to examine Ava’s hospital records.”
Lena looked at Noah.
“Why?”
“Because the child photographed with Evelyn was registered under a name beginning with A.”
“You are trying to frighten me.”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “Fear may keep her alive.”
Noah reached toward the keyboard to trace the connection.
Daniel smiled.
“The signal will disappear before you identify it.”
“What do you want?” Lena asked.
“The same thing Celeste wanted. Crown Meridian destroyed.”
“Then release your evidence.”
“The evidence behind the outer door can damage the company. The item inside the inner vault can control it.”
“The voting certificate.”
“No. Something more important.”
“What?”
“The original birth record.”
Lena’s grip tightened around Ava.
“Whose birth record?”
Daniel looked beyond the camera as though someone had entered the room.
“Evelyn was not Celeste’s only hidden child.”
The connection flickered.
Noah worked faster.
“Keep him talking.”
Lena stepped toward the monitor.
“Who was the second child?”
Daniel’s expression became serious.
“Ask Noah why Celeste chose him as trustee.”
Lena turned.
Noah stopped typing.
“What does he mean?”
Daniel continued.
“Ask him where he was the night Celeste died.”
Lena stared at Noah.
He looked genuinely shaken.
“Lena, I can explain.”
“Were you here?”
“Yes.”
“You told me she died alone.”
“I believed she did.”
Daniel leaned toward the camera.
“Open the vault, Lena. Then ask the machine to compare Ava’s heartbeat.”
“With whose?”
The connection began breaking apart.
Daniel spoke one final sentence.
“The woman in the photograph was not bringing a baby to Arden House.”
The screen filled with static.
“She was taking one away.”
The call ended.
For several seconds, the study was silent.
Then the security alarm sounded.
A black vehicle had stopped outside the estate gates.
A woman stepped from the rear passenger door.
She wore a dark coat and held the missing blue ledger against her chest.
Mrs. Ellis’s voice came through the intercom.
“Lena, she says her name is Evelyn Vale.”
Lena looked at the photograph in her hand.
The woman at the gate had the same face.
Older now, but unmistakable.
Evelyn lifted her eyes toward the camera.
Then she opened the blue ledger and held one page against the glass.
The page contained two infant footprints.
Beneath the first was Evelyn’s name.
Beneath the second was a name Lena could not fully see.
Only the final word was visible.
Arden.
Evelyn pressed the intercom.
“Do not open the inner vault,” she said.
Lena approached the screen.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked toward Ava.
“Because the vault is not waiting for my heartbeat.”
She raised the ledger higher, revealing the date beside the second infant’s footprint.
May you like
It was Ava’s birthday.
“It is waiting for hers.”
