Chapter 7 - The Photograph Behind the Pharmacy)
Daniel called Thomas sixteen times.
No answer.
Thomas lived outside Seattle and worked as a private cybersecurity consultant. According to his company website, he advised hospitals, banks, and pharmaceutical firms.
Claire had always thought he was successful.
Now every detail felt sinister.
His sudden move.
His reluctance to visit.
The expensive gifts he sent instead of coming to Christmas.
Daniel paced their living room.
He didn't know.
Claire said nothing.
He couldn't have known it was Emma.
You don't know that.
He's my brother.
That isn't evidence.
Daniel stopped.
Claire regretted the cruelty immediately.
But not enough to apologize.
Everything familiar had become unreliable.
Family.
Marriage.
Hospitals.
Death certificates.
Names.
The only thing she trusted now was the DNA report and the way Lily had looked at her in Greenway Market.
Detective Reed obtained a warrant for Thomas's financial records.
The first discovery arrived before noon.
Six years earlier, two days before Emma's birth, Thomas received a seventy five thousand dollar transfer from a consulting company registered in Nevada.
The company dissolved four months later.
Its authorized representative was Victor Sloane.
Daniel sat motionless when Reed showed them.
Claire asked the question Daniel could not.
What did Thomas give him?
Likely the security report.
Only that?
We don't know.
Reed opened another page.
Three days after Emma's reported death, Thomas deposited nineteen thousand dollars cash.
Daniel stood.
I need air.
Claire watched him leave.
Reed looked at her.
Do you trust your husband?
Claire hated the question.
I believe he loved our daughter.
That's not what I asked.
Claire looked through the window.
Daniel stood beside his car, both hands on the roof.
I don't know what I trust anymore.
Reed closed the folder.
We located a storage unit rented by Rebecca Hale.
Claire looked back.
Margaret didn't know about it?
Apparently not.
How did you find it?
The flash drive contained scanned receipts.
The unit was in a commercial facility behind an old pharmacy in Millbrook.
Claire and Reed arrived that afternoon.
The manager unlocked Unit 117.
Inside were six cardboard boxes.
A folding chair.
A broken camera tripod.
And a large plastic bin labeled Lily.
The first box contained children's clothing.
The second contained Rebecca's photography equipment.
The third contained journals.
Claire opened the earliest.
Rebecca's handwriting covered every page.
October 21.
Mom says Lily is mine.
I want to believe her.
But when I woke after surgery, everyone acted strange.
There was no birth certificate yet.
No photographs of the delivery.
Mom said the hospital lost some paperwork during the fire alarm.
Lily is beautiful.
I love her.
I am ashamed that some part of me is afraid to ask questions.
Claire closed her eyes.
Rebecca had suspected from the beginning.
Another entry.
November 2.
Dr. Voss came to the house.
He told me trauma can distort memory.
I told him I remembered a nurse saying my baby had no heartbeat.
He said I dreamed it.
Mom cried when I asked her.
I promised not to ask again.
Years passed in the journal.
Rebecca loved Lily completely.
She also never stopped doubting.
Then three years ago she found something.
March 16.
I found the photograph behind Mom's old pharmacy cabinet.
There are two bassinets.
One says Hale.
One says Whitmore.
Mom is standing beside both.
Dr. Voss is behind her.
I confronted Mom.
She slapped me.
She has never hit me before.
Then she said something I cannot forget.
She said, You were dying, so I gave you someone who could make you live.
Claire turned the page with trembling fingers.
March 18.
The Whitmore baby was named Emma.
I found Claire online.
She looks like Lily.
God forgive me.
Claire stopped reading.
Reed continued through the boxes.
He discovered the photograph Rebecca described.
Two bassinets.
Two babies.
Margaret.
Voss.
And in the far background, partly reflected in a glass cabinet, a man wearing a red tie.
Victor Sloane.
But another reflection appeared beside him.
A younger man.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Claire leaned closer.
Daniel?
Reed shook his head.
No.
Claire knew the face.
Thomas.
Daniel's brother had been inside the maternity corridor that night.
Not merely involved through a stolen report.
He had been there.
Claire called Daniel.
He answered immediately.
We found a photograph.
What photograph?
Thomas was at the hospital.
Silence.
Claire?
The night Emma disappeared.
That's impossible.
He's in the picture.
Daniel did not speak.
Claire heard him breathing.
Where was I?
Claire searched the image.
You're not there.
Daniel whispered.
I was.
What?
I was at the hospital all night.
Except forty minutes.
Claire's pulse increased.
Where did you go?
Thomas called me.
Claire stared at the photograph.
When?
About two in the morning.
Why?
He said someone had broken into my office.
So you left?
For forty minutes.
Claire remembered.
Her labor had become intense shortly before Emma's birth.
She remembered asking where Daniel was.
A nurse had said he had stepped outside.
Daniel had returned shortly before delivery.
You left me in labor because Thomas called you.
I thought client data had been stolen.
Was it?
No.
Claire felt dizzy.
He got you out of the hospital.
Maybe.
Why?
Daniel's voice cracked.
I don't know.
Reed took the phone.
Daniel, do not contact your brother again. We are requesting assistance from Washington authorities.
Too late.
What do you mean?
Daniel's voice became quieter.
Thomas called me ten minutes ago.
Claire and Reed exchanged a look.
What did he say?
He wants to meet.
Where?
He wouldn't tell me until I came alone.
Reed stood.
You are not going alone.
Daniel continued.
He said if police come, he'll disappear.
Reed asked.
What else?
A pause.
May you like
Daniel's voice broke.
He said he knows why Emma was chosen.
