Chapter 8 - the ledger beneath the founder)
The ledger was not taken to the police station.
Detective Hart objected.
Daniel refused to release it until an attorney representing him personally could copy every page.
Hart eventually agreed to a supervised scan.
The first twenty pages appeared ordinary.
Hospital expenses.
Private room charges.
Charitable donations.
Then the entries changed.
Dates.
Initials.
Payments.
Infant sex.
Receiving household.
Origin household.
Thirty two entries over seventeen years.
Claire felt sick.
"This cannot mean what it looks like."
Hart said nothing.
Daniel turned pages slowly.
October 14 appeared near the middle.
Two entries.
Infant M.
Infant F.
Daniel pointed.
"Male and female."
Claire looked at the receiving columns.
The male infant had one set of initials.
RM.
The female infant had another.
Unknown.
The origin household for both entries had been blacked out.
Daniel stared at the page.
"RM. Robert Mercer?"
Margaret was brought into the library.
Her lawyer accompanied her.
Hart placed a copy of the page on the table.
"Do you recognize this?"
Margaret's face gave nothing away.
"No."
Daniel watched her.
"You're lying."
Voss said, "Daniel."
Daniel ignored him.
"Was I the male infant?"
Margaret's jaw tightened.
"I don't know."
"Who was the girl?"
Silence.
Claire looked at Evelyn.
She had arrived twenty minutes earlier.
She stared at the ledger like it was a weapon.
"Evelyn?"
Evelyn whispered.
"I had one baby."
Margaret laughed quietly.
Everyone turned.
Evelyn's face changed.
"What?"
Margaret shook her head.
"You still don't know."
Evelyn stood.
"Know what?"
Voss said, "Margaret, do not answer."
Margaret looked at her sister with something close to hatred.
"You were sedated."
Evelyn's face lost color.
Claire's stomach tightened.
Margaret continued.
"You remember seven minutes."
"Seven minutes with Daniel."
"Seven minutes with one baby."
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Daniel stared at Margaret.
"What are you saying?"
Margaret's lawyer stood.
"This conversation is over."
Margaret ignored him.
"You had twins."
The room went silent.
Evelyn's knees gave way.
Claire caught her before she hit the chair.
"No."
Margaret's voice became strangely soft.
"A boy and a girl."
Evelyn shook her head over and over.
"No."
Daniel stared at his mother.
"Where is she?"
Margaret looked at him.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I don't."
"Where is my sister?"
"I don't know."
Evelyn began sobbing.
Margaret looked at her as if this grief irritated her.
"Father arranged it."
"Who took her?" Evelyn cried.
"I said I don't know."
Hart leaned forward.
"Who handled the transfer?"
Margaret looked at the ledger.
"Peter may know."
"He claims he doesn't."
"Then Michael might."
Daniel's eyes sharpened.
"Why Michael?"
Margaret realized she had spoken too quickly.
Claire saw it.
"So Michael knew there were twins."
"No."
"You just suggested he might know who took her."
Margaret looked toward Voss.
He stepped in.
"My client is done answering questions."
Daniel slammed his hand on the table.
"She is my sister."
Margaret flinched.
"Daniel..."
"Thirty five years."
He pointed at Evelyn.
"You let her believe she had one child."
Then at himself.
"You let me believe she was my aunt."
His voice broke.
"And somewhere there may be a woman who has no idea she has a brother."
Margaret's composure slipped.
"You think I chose any of this?"
"Didn't you?"
Margaret stared at him.
Then she whispered.
"I chose you."
The sentence stopped everyone.
Daniel lowered his hand.
Margaret's eyes filled.
"I had lost two pregnancies. Robert was slipping away from me. Father said Evelyn's child could save our marriage."
"Children don't save marriages."
"I was twenty five."
"You were an adult."
"I was terrified."
"So you took me."
"I raised you."
"And the girl?"
Margaret shook her head.
"I didn't want two."
Evelyn made a sound Claire would remember for the rest of her life.
Not a cry.
Something deeper.
The sound of a mother learning that a missing child had existed before she had ever been allowed to mourn her.
Claire moved toward Margaret.
"Who took the baby girl?"
Margaret looked at Evelyn.
"I never asked."
Evelyn lunged.
Daniel caught her.
"Where is my daughter?"
Margaret stepped backward.
"I don't know."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Evelyn collapsed against Daniel.
He held the woman who had given birth to him while staring at the woman who had raised him.
Claire realized the family was breaking in two directions at once.
But Detective Hart had not moved.
Her eyes were on the ledger.
"There's a notation."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
Hart pointed beneath the female infant's entry.
Three letters had been written beside the transfer number.
LHP.
Margaret stopped breathing.
Claire noticed.
"You know what that means."
Margaret looked away.
Hart repeated.
"What is LHP?"
Voss put a hand on Margaret's shoulder.
"We are leaving."
Margaret allowed him to guide her toward the door.
Before she exited, Claire said one word.
"Lily."
Margaret stopped.
Claire continued.
"My daughter spent hours chained outside because you decided she didn't belong."
Margaret turned.
Claire's voice remained quiet.
"Whatever happened to you thirty five years ago, whatever your father forced you to do, whatever lie you told yourself to survive afterward, it ended the moment you put that chain around a child."
Margaret's face tightened.
Claire said, "I will never let you near her again."
Margaret left.
Hart photographed the notation.
Daniel searched online.
Nothing obvious.
Then Evelyn whispered.
"I know LHP."
Everyone turned.
"What is it?" Daniel asked.
Evelyn wiped her face.
"Lake Haven Project."
Claire frowned.
"What was that?"
"Our father's charitable maternity home."
Hart looked up.
"Where?"
May you like
Evelyn stared at the three letters.
"It burned down thirty four years ago."
