Chapter 12 - The Frightened One
Most of the warehouse records were saved.
The fire remained contained inside the locked room, and no one was injured. Investigators found a remote ignition device connected to a phone signal.
The call from Thomas had not been a warning.
It had been a distraction.
Yet among the smoke-damaged files, Ross recovered a list of code names associated with Project Winter.
One entry stood out.
THE FRIGHTENED ONE: DIANE MERCER.
Aunt Diane had attended Lily’s birthday party.
She had been the first relative to lower her eyes when Teresa ordered Amy to keep working.
She had also been the person quietly crying when the forged death certificate fell onto the table.
Police brought Diane in for questioning.
She sat across from Amy with both hands wrapped around a cup she never drank from.
“I wanted to tell you,” Diane said.
“You had years.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Teresa?”
“Of Malcolm.”
Diane explained that she had worked as a nurse at St. Catherine Medical Center when Rose gave birth to Amy. Malcolm arrived before the official paperwork was completed.
He brought two sets of documents.
One recorded a healthy baby girl born to Rose Ward.
The other recorded that the baby died after birth.
“Why?” Amy asked.
“Malcolm wanted control. He told Rose that if she ever left him, he could activate the death record and make you disappear legally.”
“Why did the living birth certificate survive?”
“Your grandmother took it. Evelyn confronted him in the hospital and threatened to expose everything.”
“What happened to my mother?”
Diane’s hands trembled.
“Rose escaped when you were three. Evelyn helped her. Malcolm believed she died during the escape because a car was found in the river.”
“But there was no body.”
“No.”
“Then who was the woman Teresa met?”
“I don’t know.”
Amy placed the photograph from the train station on the table.
Diane stared at it.
“That isn’t Rose.”
“Are you sure?”
“I was with Rose when you were born. I would know her.”
“Then who is she?”
Diane pointed to the woman’s hand.
“The ring belonged to Rose, but Evelyn had two daughters.”
Amy felt a chill.
“My grandmother only had one child.”
“That is what the records say.”
“Who was the other daughter?”
“Evelyn sent her away when she was sixteen. Her name was Helena.”
Mara searched the databases.
There was no Helena Ward connected to Evelyn.
Diane continued.
“Helena blamed Rose for everything. She believed Evelyn chose Rose and abandoned her. Malcolm found Helena years later and used her whenever he needed someone who looked enough like Rose to fool people.”
“The woman at the train station was my aunt?”
“I believe so.”
“Is she my surviving parent on the trust?”
“No. But Malcolm could create records saying she was Rose.”
Amy understood.
The trust amendment did not merely require her legal death.
It required a legal mother ready to receive the assets.
Malcolm had spent decades preparing Helena to become Rose on paper.
“Why were you at the birthday party?” Amy asked.
“Teresa invited me because Malcolm ordered her to. I was supposed to testify that you seemed confused.”
Amy stood.
“You watched my sick baby in that kitchen.”
Diane began crying.
“I know.”
“You watched Teresa frighten Lily.”
“I know.”
“You knew the documents were false.”
“Yes.”
“Then your fear made you part of it.”
Diane lowered her head.
“You are right.”
She reached into her bag.
The officer near the door moved forward, but Diane slowly removed a key card.
“This opens a private floor at St. Catherine. Malcolm kept patients there under false names.”
“What patients?”
“People he needed alive but legally dead.”
Amy thought of Thomas.
And Rose.
“Who is there now?”
“I don’t know. I left the hospital years ago.”
“Why keep the card?”
“Because Evelyn told me one day you might need it.”
Diane slid the card across the table.
“She also told me something else.”
“What?”
“If Malcolm ever declared you dead, you had forty-eight hours before he moved the person called Rose.”
Amy looked at the clock.
May you like
Thirty-nine hours had passed since the forged death transfer began.
They had nine hours left.
