Chapter 10 - The Name on the Bracelet
The bracelet was old.
Thirty-four years old.
The ink had faded.
But forensic photography recovered enough of the writing.
HAYES, INFANT MALE
Room 214.
August 17.
Emma studied the image.
“If this belonged to Margaret’s biological baby, why did Rachel have it?”
Nobody knew.
Then Robert arrived from the hospital against medical advice.
His shoulder was bandaged.
He looked pale and furious.
“I remembered something.”
He placed an old wooden box on Cole’s desk.
“I found this in my mother’s belongings after she died.”
Inside were family photographs.
Letters.
A baptism certificate.
And one cassette tape.
Robert set it down.
“My father gave it to me the night before I went to prison.”
The tape contained Thomas Hayes’s voice.
Robert had never listened to the entire thing.
They found a cassette player in evidence storage.
Thomas began calmly.
“Robert, if you are hearing this, then you still believe you attacked me because I hurt Daniel.”
Robert’s jaw clenched.
“You were wrong.”
A pause.
“I was testing his memory.”
Emma looked at Robert.
Thomas continued.
“The boy remembers more than Margaret knows. If those memories return, the entire continuity structure becomes vulnerable.”
Margaret whispered, “You bastard.”
The recording continued.
“There were two surviving infants in Room 214.”
Everyone froze.
“Margaret’s son did not die.”
Margaret screamed.
“No!”
Thomas’s voice continued coldly.
“The infant death was staged because Charles Hayes was not the father.”
Margaret’s face went blank.
Robert stared at her.
Emma barely understood.
Thomas continued.
“Margaret had an affair with Dr. Samuel Wren.”
Cole swore.
Margaret collapsed into a chair.
“No.”
“Her biological child became valuable to the program because of Wren’s lineage and medical profile.”
Emma stared.
“So Thomas took his own grandson?”
Evelyn nodded slowly.
Thomas continued.
“Daniel, the Carter infant, was given to Margaret and Charles. Margaret’s biological child was placed elsewhere.”
Robert whispered, “Where?”
The tape answered.
“I will not record the receiving family.”
Then came another sentence.
“But if the Hayes child ever returns, he must not be allowed to learn what he is.”
The tape clicked.
Silence.
Margaret was sobbing.
“My baby lived.”
Emma felt no satisfaction seeing her pain.
Only horror.
Somewhere in the world, Margaret’s biological son might still be alive.
Thirty-four years old.
Raised under another identity.
Cole rewound the tape.
“Wren.”
Emma looked at him.
Dr. Samuel Wren.
One of the trustees.
Biological father of Margaret’s stolen child.
Still practicing medicine.
Still delivering babies.
Including—
Emma stopped breathing.
“He’s my obstetrician.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret stood.
“What?”
“Dr. Wren is my doctor.”
Robert cursed.
Emma reached for her phone.
Her prenatal records.
Appointments.
Scheduled induction.
She stared at tomorrow’s date.
Dr. Wren had insisted she check into Millbrook Medical Center at 6:00 a.m.
Margaret grabbed her arm.
“You cannot go there.”
Emma pulled away.
“Obviously.”
Cole was already calling state investigators.
Then Emma’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then Daniel whispered.
“Emma?”
Her knees nearly buckled.
“Daniel!”
Everyone moved toward her.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t talk.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me where you are.”
A pause.
Then Daniel said, “Mom knows.”
Emma looked at Margaret.
“Knows what?”
“The floor.”
Emma’s skin went cold.
“What floor?”
“Laundry room.”
Margaret stopped breathing.
Daniel whispered.
“Don’t let them open it without me.”
The call cut off.
Emma stared at Margaret.
The unfinished laundry room at the old Hayes farmhouse.
The room Margaret had been renovating for weeks.
“What is under the floor?”
Margaret whispered, “Nothing.”
May you like
Emma knew immediately.
Another lie.
