Chapter 8 - The Mother Who Changed the Records
Charles replayed the message three times.
Each time, Robert Blackwood’s final sentence remained unchanged.
Noah Blackwood is not Charles’s son.
Noah stood near the hotel window.
He did not cry.
That frightened Evelyn more than tears would have.
Charles approached him.
“Noah, listen to me.”
“Was my mother lying too?”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Amelia loved you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Charles stopped.
Detective Cross took the recorder.
“This could be manipulated.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It’s Robert’s voice.”
“Voices can be copied.”
“Not when that recording was made.”
“How do you know when it was made?”
Marcus pointed to the model of recorder.
“Production stopped sixteen years ago.”
Charles looked at him.
“You seem to know a great deal about this.”
“My father collected recording equipment. He distrusted digital files.”
“He wasn’t your father.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“He was the man who raised me.”
Evelyn opened the black envelope taken from the green room.
Inside were two birth certificates.
The first belonged to Noah Charles Blackwood.
Father: Charles Edward Blackwood.
Mother: Amelia Rose Blackwood.
The second listed the same date, hospital, and mother.
But the father’s name was different.
Adrian Elias Vale.
Charles sat down.
“No.”
Evelyn examined the documents.
“The second certificate has no government seal.”
“It may be a draft,” Detective Cross said.
Marcus looked at the signature at the bottom.
“The attending physician was Dr. Simon Vale.”
“Margaret Vale’s brother,” Evelyn said.
Noah finally turned from the window.
“Who is Adrian Vale?”
No one answered.
The possibility was too terrible.
Adrian, Eleanor’s hidden second son, would have been Charles’s younger brother.
If he fathered Noah, then Noah was still a Blackwood descendant.
But he was not Charles’s child.
Charles crossed the room and took Noah by the shoulders.
“I was there when you were born.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see me?”
Charles opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
Amelia had suffered severe complications. Noah had been taken immediately to neonatal care. Charles had first held him two days later.
Noah saw the hesitation.
He pulled away.
“You don’t know.”
“You are my son.”
“Because you say so?”
“Because I raised you.”
“That didn’t make Robert Marcus’s father.”
The room fell silent.
Marcus looked away.
Noah walked into the bedroom and locked the door.
Charles moved to follow.
Evelyn stopped him.
“Give him a moment.”
“He thinks I’m not his father.”
“He thinks everyone has lied to him.”
Charles turned on her.
“And you believe the certificate?”
“I believe someone created it for a reason.”
Detective Cross’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, then moved away from the table.
Her expression changed.
“What is it?” Evelyn asked.
“The unidentified body from the fire has been matched.”
Charles looked toward her.
“Victoria?”
“No.”
“Margaret Vale?”
Cross shook her head.
“The dental records belong to Amelia Blackwood.”
Charles stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
Amelia had died six years earlier after her car went off a cliff along the northern coast. The wreck had burned. Her remains were identified by personal jewelry and fragments recovered from the vehicle.
Detective Cross continued.
“The body from the manor had older surgical pins in the left ankle. Serial numbers match hospital records belonging to Amelia.”
Charles backed into a chair.
“No.”
“The body appears to have been dead before the fire.”
“How long?”
“The examiner cannot say yet. Possibly years.”
Evelyn felt the room grow colder.
“Someone kept Amelia’s body.”
Cross nodded.
“And placed it in the east wing before setting the fire.”
Marcus looked toward the locked bedroom door.
“To make sure it was found.”
“Why?” Charles whispered.
Evelyn stared at the second birth certificate.
“To force us to question everything about Noah’s birth.”
Detective Cross’s phone rang again.
This time she activated the speaker.
A forensic officer spoke from the estate.
“We found a sealed chamber beneath the old chapel. There are medical files inside.”
“What kind of files?” Cross asked.
“Obstetric records. Genetic reports. Photographs of newborns.”
Charles closed his eyes.
The officer continued.
“There’s also a video archive labeled Amelia.”
“Secure it,” Cross said. “No one watches anything until I arrive.”
A different voice sounded in the background.
An officer shouting.
Then glass breaking.
The phone connection filled with static.
“Report,” Cross ordered.
A gunshot echoed through the speaker.
The line went dead.
Everyone froze.
Detective Cross grabbed her coat and weapon.
Before she reached the door, the hotel lights went out.
Emergency lights came on.
From inside the locked bedroom, Noah screamed.
Charles struck the door with his shoulder.
It opened on the second hit.
The room was empty.
The window stood open.
A rope hung down the side of the building.
On the bed lay Noah’s silver Blackwood crest.
May you like
Beneath it was a handwritten note.
He belongs to his real father now.
