Chapter 10 - the mother ledger
Julian placed both hands on the desk.
“You already found the ledger. Why do you need me?”
Marcus looked toward the leather cover.
“It has a biometric lock.”
A thin metal strip ran along its edge. Julian had not noticed it beneath the dust.
His mother stood perfectly still, but her eyes moved toward the cracked mirror behind him.
Julian understood the warning.
Someone else was in the room.
“Open it,” Evelyn said.
Elena moved closer to Nora.
“You cannot use what is inside. Every government agency will hunt you.”
Evelyn’s laugh was bitter.
“Governments used what is inside.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know the woman who trained me received protection from three countries.”
“Who trained you?” Julian asked.
Evelyn looked at Elena.
“Our mother.”
Nora’s face tightened.
“You said your mother was dead,” Julian said.
“Elena’s mother died,” Evelyn replied. “Mine survived.”
Elena stared at her sister.
“We have the same mother.”
“Do we?”
Evelyn’s words silenced the room.
She nodded toward the old recording.
“Open the ledger, and perhaps we will finally learn which one of us was born Evelyn.”
Julian placed his thumb against the metal strip.
A needle touched his skin. The lock flashed green.
The leather cover released.
Inside were hundreds of pages divided by years and identification numbers. Some entries listed infants, original names, purchased names and destination families.
Others contained photographs of older children beside detailed personality records.
Julian turned to the section marked 1998.
He found two photographs of the twins.
Subject E-17.
Subject E-18.
Their original names had been covered with black ink.
One had been assigned the identity Elena Voss.
The other had been assigned Evelyn Vale.
“Vale was not our family name,” Elena whispered.
Evelyn moved closer despite herself.
Julian turned the page.
A third photograph appeared.
Subject E-19.
The girl had dark hair and pale eyes, but her face had been cut from the page.
Beside the empty photograph was a handwritten note.
TRIPLET SEPARATION APPROVED.
Elena gripped the edge of the desk.
“There were three of us.”
Evelyn’s confidence disappeared.
“No.”
Marcus stepped toward the ledger.
“This changes nothing.”
“It changes everything,” Elena said. “Someone separated us, gave us different histories and made us believe there were only two.”
Nora looked toward the cracked mirror.
“Someone is behind there.”
Everyone turned.
The mirror moved outward.
Mrs. Bell emerged from a narrow opening with two police officers behind her.
Marcus released Victoria and reached inside his jacket.
One officer drew his weapon.
“Do not move.”
Marcus froze.
Evelyn grabbed the ledger.
Julian caught the leather cover before she could pull it away. Pages tore free and scattered across the nursery.
Evelyn pushed the desk toward him and ran into the tunnel.
Elena followed.
“Wait!” Julian shouted.
Nora broke from Claire’s arms and ran after them.
Julian pursued all three.
The tunnel divided near the blue room. Evelyn went left, toward the basement. Elena and Nora followed.
By the time Julian reached the locked basement room, Nora was inside and Elena was striking the steel door.
“Evelyn took the photograph,” Nora cried from within.
Julian forced the door open.
Nora sat against the far wall while Evelyn stood near the hidden panel.
Elena entered behind Julian.
The two sisters faced each other.
“You don’t have to run,” Elena said.
“You still think you are the good sister.”
“I think Nora deserves to be free of both our lies.”
Evelyn looked at the child.
Something almost human entered her expression.
Then the wedding music upstairs stopped.
A heavy lock clicked behind Julian.
The moment he had feared began exactly as Nora had warned.
Evelyn slipped through the hidden panel.
Elena remained outside the basement door.
But in the darkness and confusion, Julian had seen only a white gown.
Nora pulled the folded photograph from beneath her dress.
“She isn’t Elena,” she whispered, believing Evelyn was still outside.
Julian looked from the child to the woman beyond the door.
For several terrible seconds, he did not know which sister he was facing.
Then Elena spoke.
“You told me you hated those cuff links.”
Julian released the door.
“Elena.”
She stepped inside and knelt beside Nora.
The child threw her arms around her.
Police officers entered the basement behind them.
Evelyn was gone.
But Marcus was in custody, the ledger had been recovered and the hidden nursery had been opened for the first time in decades.
Julian believed the worst was over.
Then one of the officers handed him a torn page from the ledger.
It listed Nora’s name.
May you like
Her assigned identity had not begun at birth.
It had begun only three years earlier.
