Chapter 9 - The Child Who Remembered the Blue Hallway)
Claire did not care about senators.
Not at first.
She cared about Lily.
A family court judge approved temporary placement with Claire and Daniel after DNA confirmation, background checks, and emergency hearings.
The decision was not full custody.
Margaret's attorney objected.
Child services remained involved.
Therapy remained mandatory.
But Lily could sleep under Claire's roof.
The night before she arrived, Claire stood inside the old nursery.
She had repainted nothing.
She had not purchased a princess bed or filled shelves with toys.
The therapist advised them to let Lily choose.
So Claire placed fresh sheets on the guest bed and put a small lamp beside it.
Daniel added a basket of colored pencils.
At four fifteen the next afternoon, Lily entered holding the stuffed rabbit.
She looked around.
Is this where I was supposed to live?
Claire knelt.
The room across the hall was going to be yours.
Can I see?
Claire opened the office door.
Lily walked inside.
She studied the gray walls.
What color was it?
Yellow.
I like yellow.
Claire smiled.
Me too.
Lily discovered the memory box.
Claire almost stopped her.
Then she decided there had been enough secrecy.
They sat on the floor.
Lily picked up the knitted newborn hat.
Was this mine?
Yes.
She touched the hospital bracelet.
That says Emma.
Yes.
Lily stared at it for a long time.
Can I keep both names?
Claire's eyes filled.
Of course.
Lily considered.
Lily Emma.
If you like it.
The child smiled.
Lily Emma Whitmore.
Daniel stood in the doorway trying not to cry.
Lily noticed.
Are you my dad?
Daniel laughed softly through tears.
Yes.
She looked uncertain.
Rebecca said my dad didn't know.
She was right.
Did you look for me?
Daniel's face fell.
I thought you died.
Lily walked to him.
Then you were sad too.
Very.
She hugged him.
Claire turned away because the moment felt too private to witness.
That night Lily woke screaming.
Claire reached her first.
Lily sat upright, crying.
Blue hallway.
What?
The blue hallway.
Claire held her carefully.
What happened in the blue hallway?
A man was carrying me.
Is this a dream?
Lily shook her head violently.
Rebecca said babies don't remember.
She said maybe I heard people talk about it.
What do you remember?
Lights.
A loud noise.
A man saying wrong room.
Claire stayed still.
Anything else?
A song.
What song?
Lily hummed.
Claire's heart stopped.
It was a simple melody.
Four notes.
A lullaby Claire's mother had sung to her.
Claire had sung it while in labor.
Again.
Lily repeated the melody.
How do you know that?
Rebecca sang it.
Who taught Rebecca?
Grandma.
Claire's fear eased slightly.
Margaret may have heard Claire singing in the hospital.
Memory passed through adults could become a child's imagined recollection.
But Lily continued.
There was a blue door.
A star sticker.
Someone said Evelyn.
Claire remembered the records worker.
Evelyn Price.
The woman Margaret claimed had helped Voss before.
What did Evelyn do?
Lily rubbed her eyes.
I don't know.
I just see her name.
The next morning Claire told Reed.
He brought photographs of former St. Catherine staff.
Lily identified no one until he showed Evelyn Price.
She pointed immediately.
Her.
Claire felt cold.
Have you seen her before?
In Rebecca's pictures.
Reasonable.
Then Lily pointed to another photograph.
Victor Sloane.
Red tie man.
Again understandable if Rebecca had photographs.
Then Reed placed Senator Elias Ward's picture among unrelated faces.
Lily stared.
Claire noticed.
Do you know him?
Lily shook her head.
But her face had changed.
What is it?
He was in Rebecca's book.
What book?
The one Grandma burned.
Reed leaned forward.
What book?
Lily described a black notebook Rebecca kept hidden above the washing machine.
After Rebecca died, Margaret found it.
She read three pages.
Then burned it in the backyard.
Did Lily remember anything written inside?
Only one thing.
A drawing.
What kind?
A tree.
Branches with names.
Claire and Reed exchanged a look.
A family tree?
Lily nodded.
At the top was Mr. Ward.
Below him were names.
How many?
Lots.
One name had a circle.
What name?
Lily closed her eyes.
Anna.
Elias Ward had one publicly known daughter.
Anna Ward.
Age nineteen.
Claire searched photographs.
Anna had blonde hair and brown eyes.
She was studying at Georgetown.
According to Ward's biographies, Anna had been born prematurely after a difficult pregnancy.
Claire searched birth announcements.
Nothing.
No hospital photographs.
No pregnancy coverage.
Ward had been a wealthy district attorney at the time but not yet nationally prominent.
His late wife, Caroline Ward, had rarely appeared publicly during the year before Anna's birth.
Reed warned Claire not to make assumptions.
She agreed.
Then Thomas provided a bank record.
Nineteen years earlier, Elias Ward had transferred two hundred thousand dollars to a foundation controlled by Samuel Voss.
Three weeks later, Anna Ward's birth was announced.
Claire looked at Reed.
Still a coincidence?
He did not answer.
Instead he showed her something else.
Investigators had examined Victor Sloane's death.
Originally ruled a heart attack.
A second review found an injection mark between his toes.
Toxicology had been ordered.
Then Reed showed Claire the missing person's report for Voss.
His home security system had been wiped.
Except one cloud backup.
A single frame remained.
A man entering through the garage at 2:03 a.m.
Only part of his face was visible.
Claire did not know him.
Reed did.
Who's that?
Federal investigator Marcus Dane.
Why would a federal investigator visit Voss secretly?
Reed's mouth tightened.
That's what worries me.
Because Dane isn't investigating Voss.
What does he investigate?
Reed turned the photograph over.
May you like
Public corruption.
And his supervisor is a political appointee recommended by Senator Elias Ward.
