Chapter 11 - the girl with two birthdays
The wedding guests were allowed to leave after giving their statements.
By midnight, the flowers had begun to wilt.
The chapel remained sealed as police searched the passages and collected the St. Agnes records. Marcus sat in the back of a police vehicle, refusing to speak without an attorney.
Evelyn had disappeared somewhere beneath the estate.
Search teams found a tunnel leading to the forest, but heavy rain had erased any tracks.
Julian sat in the library with Elena, Nora, Claire and Victoria.
Nora slept beneath a blanket on the sofa, one hand still holding Elena’s sleeve.
Julian unfolded the ledger page.
NORA VALE had been added three years earlier. Beneath the name was another entry.
ORIGINAL SUBJECT: UNKNOWN.
AGE AT TRANSFER: FIVE.
“She remembers being younger than five,” Elena said.
“Could those memories have been taught?” Claire asked.
Elena looked down at the sleeping child.
“I don’t know.”
Victoria poured tea with unsteady hands.
“This institution operated on our land. Your father knew more than he ever told me.”
Julian placed the page beside her.
“Did he ever mention three sisters?”
“No. Near the end, he became obsessed with the eastern wing. He would wake at night and check the walls.”
Mrs. Bell entered carrying a small wooden box.
“The police found this behind the mirror.”
Inside were photographs, cassette tapes and several children’s bracelets.
Nora’s silver-moon symbol appeared on one bracelet.
Another carried the name LUCY.
A third had no name at all.
Elena examined the photographs.
One showed a five-year-old girl standing beside Mrs. Hale, Elena’s former teacher.
The child looked like Nora.
On the back was a date from eight years earlier.
“That’s impossible,” Claire said. “Nora would have been a baby.”
Elena turned the picture toward the light.
“The face has been replaced.”
A thin line surrounded the child’s hair. Someone had attached a different photograph over the original image.
Julian carefully lifted one corner.
Beneath Nora’s face was another girl.
She had bright blond hair.
Victoria recognized her.
“Lucy Bell.”
Mrs. Bell sat down.
“My granddaughter.”
The room fell silent.
“You told us she died,” Victoria said.
“That is what I was told.”
Mrs. Bell took the photograph with shaking hands.
“My daughter left Lucy with me when she was five. A woman from St. Agnes came to the house, claiming the child’s birth records were incorrect. Two days later, Lucy disappeared.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” Julian asked.
“I did. They said my daughter had taken her. Then my daughter was killed in an accident.”
Elena studied the altered photograph.
“They used Lucy’s history to create Nora’s identity.”
“Then who is Nora?” Claire asked.
A small voice answered from the sofa.
“I’m Nora.”
The child was awake.
Elena sat beside her.
“Yes, you are.”
Nora looked around the room.
“Evelyn told me I wasn’t real.”
Julian knelt in front of her.
“Your records may be false. That does not make you false.”
“She said Aunt Elena only loved me because she felt sorry for me.”
Elena took both of Nora’s hands.
“I love you because you are brave, stubborn and terrible at putting away your books. I love you because you sing when you think no one can hear you. None of that came from a file.”
Nora leaned against her.
For the first time since Julian had found her, the child allowed herself to cry.
The moment offered no answers, but it gave her something more important.
A place to remain while they searched for them.
A police officer appeared at the library door.
“We found a vehicle abandoned near the north gate.”
“Evelyn’s?” Julian asked.
“We believe so. There was blood on the driver’s seat, but no body.”
Elena held Nora closer.
“Was there anything else?”
The officer placed a white wedding veil on the table.
Pinned inside it was a note.
Julian opened it.
YOU SAVED THE WRONG ELENA.
Claire read it over his shoulder.
“She wants us to doubt you.”
Elena looked at the note for a long time.
“Perhaps.”
Julian heard uncertainty in her voice.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Elena looked toward Nora.
“Not in front of her.”
Nora pulled away.
“I’m tired of everyone deciding which truth I can hear.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Then she removed a small metal object from her pocket.
It was a key stamped with the number E-19.
May you like
“The third sister gave me this three years ago,” she said.
“She is the woman who brought Nora to me.”
