Chapter 4 - The Dead Doctor’s Confession)
Nobody slept that night.
Emma woke twice from nightmares.
The second time, Claire climbed into bed beside her.
“Is Grandpa mad at me?” Emma whispered.
Claire’s chest tightened.
“No.”
“Then why did he hurt me?”
Claire brushed her daughter’s hair away from her forehead.
“I don’t know.”
Emma touched her cheek carefully.
“Daddy said Grandpa might be sick.”
Claire stared toward the bedroom door.
“Your dad wants to understand why people do bad things.”
“Do we have to understand?”
Claire looked back at Emma.
“No.”
Emma seemed relieved.
“We just have to keep you safe.”
Downstairs, Daniel sat alone with a copy of Dr. Keene’s suicide report.
The official finding had been straightforward.
Keene suffered severe depression after losing his medical license.
He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
But Detective Bennett had found something strange.
The handwriting on the alleged suicide note had never been independently verified.
Seven years ago, nobody saw a reason.
Now there was one.
At 6:30 a.m., Bennett returned.
“I have someone coming.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Keene’s sister.”
At 7:15, a silver sedan stopped outside.
A woman in her early sixties entered wearing a navy coat and carrying a worn leather bag.
Her name was Helen Keene.
She looked at Daniel for a long time.
Then she said, “You have Richard’s eyes.”
Daniel felt instantly uncomfortable.
“You knew my father?”
Helen sat down.
“I knew what he was capable of.”
Claire joined them.
Emma remained upstairs.
Bennett started recording.
Helen opened her bag and removed a sealed envelope.
“My brother gave me this six months before he died.”
Inside was a letter.
Helen explained that Samuel had become increasingly paranoid during his final year.
He believed someone was watching him.
He would not explain why.
“He told me if anything happened to him, I should open the envelope.”
“Did you?” Bennett asked.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you take it to police?”
Helen looked ashamed.
“Because it sounded impossible.”
She placed the letter on the table.
Daniel read the first page.
Samuel described an incident at St. Anne’s nine years earlier.
Two newborn girls.
Born within twenty minutes of each other.
One to Claire Pierce.
The other to a woman named Margaret Hale.
The tracking system failed.
Samuel claimed Richard Pierce approached him during the outage.
He offered money.
Then threats.
Then something worse.
Daniel stopped reading.
“What did he want?”
Helen answered.
“He wanted one baby moved.”
Claire’s face drained of color.
Daniel stood so quickly his chair tipped over.
“No.”
Bennett raised a hand.
“We don’t know whether the letter is accurate.”
Claire looked at Helen.
“Why?”
Helen’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because Richard believed Margaret’s baby was his granddaughter.”
Daniel stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Helen continued.
“Your father believed Margaret’s daughter had been fathered by your brother.”
Daniel went still.
“My brother died before Emma was born.”
“I know.”
Daniel’s older brother, Michael, had died in a construction accident ten months before Emma’s birth.
He had been thirty-one.
Unmarried.
Reckless.
Richard’s favorite son.
Helen pointed toward the letter.
“According to Samuel, Margaret told Richard that Michael had gotten her pregnant shortly before he died.”
Daniel’s knees weakened.
Claire grabbed the table.
“And Richard wanted her baby?”
“He believed it was Michael’s last living child.”
Daniel looked at Emma’s photograph.
“No.”
Helen’s voice broke.
“Samuel wrote that Richard wanted the babies switched.”
Claire stopped breathing.
May you like
Daniel whispered, “Which baby came home with us?”
Nobody answered.
