Chapter 5 - The Missing Birth Record)
Daniel denied everything.
He denied it in the hallway.
He denied it in the interview room.
He denied it when Claire pushed Rebecca's letter across the table and demanded to know why his name was there.
I don't know.
Claire stared at him.
That's your answer?
It's the truth.
Your name is written beside Margaret Hale and Samuel Voss.
I can see that.
Why would Rebecca put it there?
I don't know.
Detective Reed sat between them.
Mr. Whitmore, did you ever meet Rebecca Hale?
No.
Think carefully.
I am thinking carefully.
Never.
Claire remembered Daniel's previous lies.
The meetings with Margaret.
The blackmail money.
The photographs.
You told me you never met Margaret until today.
I never said that.
You let me believe it for six years.
Daniel's voice hardened.
Claire, I did not steal our daughter.
Reed raised one hand.
Nobody has accused you of that.
Claire almost laughed.
Not yet.
Daniel looked wounded.
The expression made her angrier.
Reed opened a folder.
The hospital documents recovered from Margaret Hale's residence include a photocopy of a payment authorization from St. Catherine Medical Center dated three days after Emma Whitmore's reported death.
He slid the page forward.
Daniel looked down.
His face changed.
Claire noticed.
What?
Daniel remained silent.
Reed tapped the signature line.
The payment was approved by a company called Whitmore Risk Consulting.
Your company.
Claire turned toward Daniel.
You were doing work for St. Catherine?
Daniel rubbed his jaw.
One contract.
When?
Six months before Emma was born.
What kind of contract?
Security assessment.
Claire stared.
You never told me.
It wasn't relevant.
Our daughter disappeared inside a hospital you had been hired to evaluate and you don't think that's relevant?
Daniel looked at Reed.
The contract ended before Claire became pregnant.
Reed corrected him.
Before she gave birth.
Daniel said nothing.
Reed continued.
According to these records, the hospital paid your firm thirty eight thousand dollars for reviewing access control problems in the maternity wing.
Claire felt cold.
Access control.
Electronic doors.
Employee badges.
Camera blind spots.
How someone could remove a baby without being seen.
Daniel looked at Claire.
I didn't know.
Didn't know what?
What they were planning.
The word planning landed heavily.
Reed leaned forward.
Who is they?
Daniel closed his eyes.
Voss.
Claire stopped.
Daniel continued.
He contacted my company after two newborn abduction scares. Neither child actually left the hospital. One confused relative tried to carry a newborn into the wrong elevator. Another incident involved a mother leaving the maternity floor without completing discharge.
So you mapped the vulnerabilities.
Yes.
Including cameras.
Yes.
Badge access.
Yes.
Unmonitored exits.
Yes.
Claire stood.
I need a minute.
She walked into the hallway.
She could not breathe in the interview room.
Daniel followed.
Claire, listen to me.
Don't.
I didn't know.
You gave him the map.
I gave the hospital a report explaining how to fix the problems.
Did they fix them?
Some.
Some?
Daniel swallowed.
Not all.
Why?
Budget.
Claire laughed bitterly.
Of course.
Daniel stepped closer.
I have spent six years thinking my daughter died. You think I wouldn't have torn that hospital apart if I knew she was alive?
Claire looked at him.
I don't know what to think anymore.
The DNA test returned the next afternoon.
Probability of maternity.
99.9998 percent.
Claire sat alone in Detective Reed's office when he gave her the result.
She read the page three times.
Emma.
Alive.
The name Lily had been written across school forms, medical charts, birthday cards, and Christmas presents for six years.
But DNA connected the child to Claire.
Paternity testing connected her to Daniel.
Daniel cried when Reed told him.
Not quietly.
Claire had seen Daniel cry only twice before.
At Emma's memorial.
At Claire's mother's funeral.
This time he sat on the floor of their bedroom with the report in both hands.
She's alive.
Claire stood by the window.
Yes.
Can we see her?
Tomorrow.
Child services had arranged a supervised meeting.
Because Emma knew Claire only from Rebecca's photograph, therapists recommended a gradual process.
Claire agreed.
Everything inside her screamed to bring Emma home immediately.
But motherhood was not ownership.
Emma had lost one mother when Rebecca died.
Now Margaret, the grandmother who had raised her, had been removed.
The child had discovered her entire identity was a lie.
Claire would not become another adult who decided Emma's feelings did not matter.
The next day they met in a child services family room.
Emma sat at a table coloring.
The stuffed rabbit lay beside her.
When Claire entered, Emma stared at her for several seconds.
Then she smiled.
Small.
Uncertain.
Hi.
Claire sat across from her.
Hi.
Daniel waited outside at first.
Emma had asked to meet Claire alone.
She touched her necklace.
I got it back.
Claire smiled.
I'm glad.
Emma looked down.
Do I have to be Emma now?
The question broke Claire's heart.
No.
But that's what you called me.
When you were born.
Do you like Lily?
The girl nodded.
Then you can be Lily.
But I'm still your daughter?
Claire's eyes filled.
If you want to be.
Lily frowned.
Rebecca said I was.
Claire reached across the table but stopped before touching her hand.
Rebecca sounds like she loved you very much.
She did.
Lily's eyes watered.
Grandma says Rebecca got confused when she was sick.
About what?
The hospital.
What did Rebecca tell you?
The therapist seated nearby watched carefully.
Lily picked at the rabbit's ear.
She said Grandma took me from a lady who was asleep.
Claire struggled to remain calm.
Did she say anything else?
She said a doctor helped.
Dr. Voss?
Lily nodded.
Then she whispered.
And the other man.
Claire's heart accelerated.
What other man?
Lily drew circles on the paper.
Rebecca called him the man with the red tie.
Claire looked toward the therapist.
Do you know his name?
Lily shook her head.
She said he watched the cameras.
Claire's stomach tightened.
Daniel had worked in hospital security.
Was Rebecca talking about him?
What did he look like?
Old.
How old?
Like Grandpa old.
Relief came too quickly.
Daniel had been thirty three when Emma was born.
Did Rebecca say anything else?
Lily hesitated.
She said the red tie man paid Grandma.
Claire went still.
Why?
For keeping secrets.
That evening Claire told Reed.
He immediately searched old security department records.
There had been one hospital administrator responsible for surveillance six years earlier.
Victor Sloane.
Age fifty nine at the time.
He frequently wore red ties in official photographs.
Sloane had retired four years ago.
His current address was in Arizona.
Reed called local authorities.
The answer came two hours later.
Victor Sloane had died eleven days earlier.
Heart attack.
Claire stared at Reed.
Eleven days.
Before Lily found me.
Yes.
Do you believe in coincidences?
Reed closed the file.
Not when three people connected to the same secret start disappearing.
Three?
Rebecca died last year.
Sloane died eleven days ago.
Claire's throat tightened.
Who's the third?
Reed turned his laptop toward her.
The screen showed Samuel Voss's house.
Police tape surrounded the property.
Dr. Voss was reported missing this morning.
His car was found at the airport.
May you like
His passport was still inside his house.
And according to the security camera across the street, the last person to enter his home before he vanished was Margaret Hale.
