Chapter 9 - THE DAUGHTER OF THE CLINIC
Ellen survived the second attempt.
The syringe contained only saline, but the doctors believed the woman had intended to inject something else before Robert interrupted her.
The crescent charm complicated everything.
It matched Leah’s bracelet.
Robert called her from the hospital parking lot.
She answered immediately.
“You met Jonathan’s man.”
“My wife was poisoned.”
“I heard.”
“How?”
“I still have contacts inside the Cross organization.”
“A woman wearing your symbol entered Ellen’s hospital room.”
“My symbol?”
“The crescent.”
Leah went silent.
“Margaret gave those bracelets to three people.”
“Who?”
“Me, Grace, and someone she called the daughter of the clinic.”
“Who is that?”
“I never learned her real name.”
“Convenient.”
“You think I poisoned Ellen?”
“I think you buried evidence in my yard, broke into a wedding venue, and know more than you admit.”
“I did not enter the venue to hurt her.”
“So you were there.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Michael push his mother.”
“I was too far away to stop it.”
“You could have called the police.”
“I was carrying evidence that would have been confiscated before the officers arrived.”
“The envelope?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“The location of Samuel’s ledger.”
“You gave it to Michael.”
“I intended to give it to you.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Cassandra saw me.”
Robert leaned against the car.
“Did Cassandra poison Ellen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She met me six years ago, when Margaret disappeared.”
“You keep saying disappeared. Is Margaret alive?”
Leah’s voice softened.
“I believe she was alive until three months ago.”
“What happened three months ago?”
“I received a recording of her voice.”
“What did she say?”
“She said the daughter of the clinic had returned.”
Robert looked toward the hospital entrance.
“And that woman is dangerous?”
“She believes every family involved in the infant trafficking operation deserves punishment.”
“Even Ellen?”
“Especially Ellen.”
“Why?”
“Because Ellen left St. Matthew’s with a living child while other mothers left with empty arms.”
“That wasn’t her fault.”
“Trauma does not always care about fault.”
Robert rubbed his forehead.
“Who is the daughter of the clinic?”
“She was the only infant never assigned a payment code.”
“What does that mean?”
“She wasn’t sold. She was kept.”
“By whom?”
“Dr. Adrian Cross.”
Robert remembered the photograph of Adrian Cross standing beside Samuel and Margaret.
“Why would he keep a stolen baby?”
“Margaret believed he wanted to raise someone completely loyal to him.”
“What became of the child?”
“Her records vanished when she was eleven.”
“How old would she be now?”
“Approximately thirty-six.”
Robert considered every woman connected to the case.
“Could it be Cassandra?”
“No. Cassandra is thirty.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
Robert’s phone buzzed with a message from Ruth.
She had sent photographs of the safe deposit key.
Leah continued.
“If you want the ledger, we have to enter the Cross estate tonight.”
“Why tonight?”
“Jonathan is hosting a private dinner. Most security will be concentrated near the main hall.”
“And Cassandra?”
“She may be telling the truth about being confined.”
“You expect me to trust you after someone wearing your charm tried to enter Ellen’s IV?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised him.
Leah added, “But you need me.”
Robert looked through the hospital glass doors. Ellen was being transferred to a guarded room. Michael stood beside an officer giving a statement.
“Meet me at the east gate of the Cross estate at eleven,” Leah said.
The call ended.
Robert returned inside.
Michael had not been arrested. The security footage showed the assault, but Ellen had not yet made a formal complaint, and the officer said further investigation was required.
Michael approached his father.
“Are they going to charge me?”
“They should.”
Michael looked toward Ellen’s room.
“I want to apologize.”
“She is unconscious.”
“When she wakes.”
“That apology will be for her, not for your own relief.”
Michael nodded painfully.
Robert studied him.
“Cassandra said she was trapped at the estate?”
“Yes.”
“Show me the message again.”
Michael opened it.
The location pin included a photograph of a locked bedroom door.
Robert zoomed in.
A silver crescent symbol had been carved into the wood.
“Did you notice this?”
Michael shook his head.
Robert showed him the charm from the hospital.
Michael’s face changed.
“What does it mean?”
“It means someone wants us to connect Leah, Cassandra, and the woman who entered your mother’s room.”
“Who is Leah?”
Robert hesitated.
“Your cousin.”
Michael stared.
“What?”
“Samuel’s daughter.”
“Uncle Samuel had a child?”
“Yes.”
Michael sat slowly.
“Does she know who I am?”
“She thinks the ledger may tell us.”
Michael looked at the floor.
“You’re going after it.”
Robert did not answer.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Cassandra is there.”
“And you are a suspect in an assault.”
“She is my wife.”
“Your mother is in this hospital because of secrets surrounding that family.”
Michael stepped closer.
“I am not asking permission.”
Robert saw the stubbornness he had once admired in his son.
Now it frightened him.
“If you interfere, you could get Cassandra killed.”
Michael’s expression faltered.
Robert continued, “Stay here. Protect your mother. That is the first decent thing you can do for her.”
Michael looked through the glass at Ellen.
After a long silence, he nodded.
At eleven, Robert met Leah near the stone wall surrounding the Cross estate.
The mansion rose beyond the trees, every window glowing.
Music drifted across the lawn.
Leah handed him a security badge.
“Once we enter, do not use my name.”
“What should I call you?”
“Grace.”
“That was your mother’s name.”
“Yes.”
They reached a service door.
Leah entered a code.
The lock opened.
Robert looked at her.
“How do you know the code?”
“I lived here for three years.”
“When?”
“After my adoptive parents died.”
“Who brought you here?”
“Jonathan Cross.”
Robert stopped.
“You were raised in this house?”
“Partly.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you would not have come.”
She opened the door.
Inside, portraits lined the corridor.
One showed a younger Jonathan Cross standing beside three girls.
Robert recognized Cassandra as a child.
He recognized Leah.
The third girl was older, perhaps sixteen.
Around her wrist was a silver crescent bracelet.
Robert pointed.
“Who is she?”
Leah’s face tightened.
“Her name was Victoria.”
“The daughter of the clinic?”
“I believe so.”
“Where is she now?”
Leah looked toward the dark staircase.
“She died twenty years ago.”
A woman’s voice sounded behind them.
“No, she didn’t.”
Robert turned.
A woman in a black evening gown stood at the end of the corridor.
She was approximately thirty-six years old.
A crescent charm hung from her necklace.
May you like
She smiled at Leah.
“You always were the easiest one to deceive.”
