Chapter 6 - THE SECOND WHITAKER CHILD
Robert read the message three times.
“The child born to Ellen was not the only Whitaker baby,” he said. “What does that mean?”
Ellen took the letter.
Her eyes moved across the words.
“I don’t know.”
Michael leaned against the mantel.
“Could Dad have had another child?”
Robert glared at him.
“No.”
“Before you married Mom?”
“No.”
Ellen studied the handwriting.
“This looks like Margaret’s writing.”
“Could it be forged?” Robert asked.
“Yes. But the seal is hers.”
Michael paced across the room.
“Maybe she meant a relative.”
Robert thought of his younger brother, Samuel.
Samuel had died twenty-five years ago after struggling with addiction. He had never married, but he had lived recklessly in his youth.
“Samuel was in the city that year,” Robert said.
Ellen looked up.
“Your brother?”
“He was twenty-three.”
“Did he know Margaret?”
“I have no idea.”
Michael gave a bitter laugh.
“So there may be another secret Whitaker child.”
“This is not entertainment,” Robert snapped.
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
Michael looked away.
Robert picked up his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Ellen asked.
“My sister.”
His older sister Ruth lived three hours away. She had been estranged from the family for more than a decade, but she knew more about Samuel’s life than anyone.
Ruth answered on the fifth ring.
“Robert?”
“I need to ask you about Samuel.”
There was a pause.
“That is unexpected.”
“Did he ever know a woman named Margaret Vale?”
The silence on the other end deepened.
Robert’s grip tightened.
“You know the name.”
“Where did you hear it?”
“Answer me.”
Ruth exhaled slowly.
“Yes. Samuel knew Margaret.”
Ellen covered her mouth.
“How?”
“They were involved.”
“For how long?”
“A few months.”
“When?”
“The year Michael was born.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“Was Margaret pregnant?”
Another pause.
“She claimed she was.”
Michael stopped pacing.
“Did Samuel believe the child was his?” Robert asked.
“At first.”
“And later?”
“He said Margaret told him the baby belonged to someone else.”
“Who?”
“She never said.”
Robert looked at the letter again.
“Did Samuel visit St. Matthew’s clinic?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night of the storm.”
Ellen’s face went pale.
“I never saw him,” she whispered.
Ruth heard her.
“Is Ellen there?”
“Yes.”
“Then ask her what happened after Samuel found the basement room.”
Robert frowned.
“What basement room?”
Ruth’s voice lowered.
“He called me that night. He was terrified. He said there were infants in the basement who were not listed in the hospital records.”
Robert looked at Ellen.
She shook her head, shocked.
“Why didn’t he report it?”
“He tried. The police dismissed him because he had drugs in his system.”
“Did he tell you anything else?”
“He said someone at the clinic recognized him as a Whitaker.”
“What did that mean?”
“I never knew.”
Robert heard papers moving on Ruth’s side of the call.
“Robert, why are you asking about this now?”
“Because someone says there was a second Whitaker child at the clinic.”
Ruth stopped breathing for a moment.
Then she whispered, “They found her.”
“Found whom?”
“Samuel’s daughter.”
Michael moved closer to the phone.
“Who is she?”
Ruth did not answer immediately.
“Ruth,” Robert said, “who is Samuel’s daughter?”
“She called me six months ago.”
Robert felt a surge of anger.
“You never told me?”
“She asked me not to.”
“What was her name?”
“She used the name Leah.”
“Leah what?”
“She refused to say.”
“What did she want?”
“Family medical history. Photographs of Samuel. Information about the clinic.”
“Did you meet her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she look like?”
Ruth’s voice became unsteady.
“She looked like our mother.”
Robert sat down.
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That she had been raised by a family connected to the Crosses.”
Michael and Ellen exchanged a stunned look.
Robert pressed the phone tighter to his ear.
“Did she say which family?”
“No. But she showed me a bracelet. A silver bracelet with a crescent charm.”
Ellen whispered, “The woman in green.”
Robert asked Ruth to send every detail she had about Leah, including the location of their meeting and any contact information.
Before ending the call, Ruth added one final warning.
“Robert, Samuel did not die in an accident.”
Robert froze.
The official story was that Samuel had driven off a rural bridge while intoxicated.
“What are you saying?”
“Three days before he died, he told me someone from St. Matthew’s had found him.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
“I did. They said grief was making me imagine things.”
Robert looked at his family.
“Did Samuel name the person?”
“No. But he left something in a safe deposit box.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Robert’s heartbeat quickened.
“What kind of ledger?”
“A record of payments made by families who received children from the clinic.”
“Where is it?”
“The bank closed years ago.”
“What happened to the box?”
“I thought the contents were destroyed.”
“You thought?”
Ruth hesitated.
“Last month, someone mailed me the original key.”
After the call ended, no one spoke.
Michael was the first to break the silence.
“If the ledger exists, it could identify Rose.”
“And the second Whitaker child,” Ellen added.
Robert studied the letter.
“Someone wants us to find the truth.”
Michael looked toward the window.
“Or someone wants all of us in the same place.”
A vehicle door slammed outside.
Robert approached the curtain and looked through the glass.
A black sedan idled across the street.
A man inside raised a camera and took a photograph of the house.
Then the car accelerated away.
Robert caught only part of the license plate.
Michael reached for his phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Robert stopped him.
“No.”
Michael stared.
“Why not?”
“Because whoever buried this secret had help from doctors, police, and wealthy families.”
“So what do we do?”
Robert folded Margaret’s letter and placed it in his pocket.
“We find the ledger before they do.”
Behind them, Ellen’s phone rang again.
This time the voice was not distorted.
A woman spoke calmly.
“My name is Leah.”
Ellen nearly dropped the phone.
May you like
The woman continued.
“If Robert wants the truth about his brother, tell him to come alone.”
