Chapter 9 - The Nurse Who Vanished
The woman outside Ethan’s townhouse was Catherine Rowe.
Detective Ortiz arrived before the door was opened. Catherine surrendered immediately and agreed to be questioned.
She was sixty-two, with tired eyes and trembling hands. She carried a canvas bag containing hospital records, photographs, and a sealed letter from Anna.
“I should have come forward years ago,” Catherine said. “I was afraid.”
They met inside Ethan’s dining room while Sarah stayed upstairs with Rachel.
James placed the mismatched hospital bracelets on the table.
“What happened on the night Sarah was born?”
Catherine stared at the bracelets.
“Three baby girls were born within forty minutes.”
“To whom?”
“Melissa Walker, Laura Bennett, and a woman admitted under the name Rebecca Shaw.”
“Why does that matter?”
“The hospital’s electronic system failed during a storm. We used handwritten identification forms.”
“Were the babies mixed up?”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“One identification band came loose.”
“Sarah’s?”
“I don’t know.”
James fought to keep his voice steady.
“How can you not know?”
“Because Diane Mercer entered the nursery.”
“Grandparents weren’t allowed inside.”
“She was on the hospital board.”
“What did she do?”
“I found her standing beside the bassinets with Victor Dane.”
“Victor was there?”
“He represented the hospital’s insurance company at the time.”
Catherine took a folded page from her bag.
“I reported what I saw. The next day, my supervisor ordered me to rewrite the delivery times.”
“Why?”
“She said the original records were inconsistent.”
“Did you obey?”
“Yes.”
James’s anger rose, but Catherine looked close to collapsing.
“What happened to the other two babies?”
“Laura Bennett left the hospital with a healthy daughter. Rebecca Shaw disappeared before she was formally discharged.”
“With her baby?”
“We believed so.”
“You believed?”
“Her room was empty. The nursery records showed the infant had been released to her, but no nurse remembered completing the discharge.”
“What did Anna discover?”
“Years later, Anna contacted me. She had compared blood-type records.”
James stared at her.
“Whose blood types?”
“Yours, Melissa’s, and Sarah’s.”
“And?”
“I am not qualified to interpret the result. Anna believed it proved the hospital records had been changed.”
“Did she perform a DNA test?”
“She wanted to, but she did not want to frighten you until she had proof.”
Catherine pushed the sealed letter across the table.
“She gave me this the night before she died.”
James opened it.
Catherine,
If something happens to me, do not contact James until Diane makes a move against Sarah. The truth will place him in danger before he is prepared to protect her.
Victor is not interested in the trust alone. He believes Sarah can identify the rightful beneficiary of the Ashcroft estate.
I do not understand the entire connection yet.
The woman called Rebecca Shaw was not a patient. Her real name was Eleanor Ashcroft.
Find the third bracelet.
Anna
“Who is Eleanor Ashcroft?” James asked.
Margaret Vale, who had been listening from the doorway, stepped into the room.
“The missing daughter of Charles Ashcroft.”
James recognized the name.
Ashcroft Industries owned hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and medical laboratories across the country.
Charles Ashcroft had died six years earlier. News reports stated that his only daughter had disappeared after years of family conflict.
“The Ashcroft estate was worth more than two billion dollars,” Margaret said. “Most of it went to a charitable foundation because Eleanor could not be located.”
“What does that have to do with Sarah?”
“If Eleanor had a child, that child could have inherited a substantial portion of the estate.”
James looked at Catherine.
“Are you saying Sarah might be Eleanor’s daughter?”
“I am saying three infants were born that night, and the identification records were altered.”
“Where is Laura Bennett?”
Catherine hesitated.
“She died when her daughter was five.”
“What was her daughter’s name?”
“Emily.”
“Where is Emily now?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Ortiz began searching the name.
There were hundreds of Emily Bennetts.
Catherine removed a photograph from her bag.
It showed the St. Catherine’s nursery on the night of the storm.
Three bassinets stood side by side.
Each infant wore a bracelet.
The first was Baby Girl Bennett.
The second was Baby Girl Walker.
The third was Baby Girl Shaw.
A shadow appeared in the glass reflection behind them.
Diane was standing inside the nursery.
Victor was beside her.
And in Diane’s hands was the identification bracelet belonging to Baby Girl Walker.
James turned the photograph over.
Anna had written a sentence on the back.
Diane switched the bands, but Victor changed the babies.
Before James could ask what it meant, Detective Ortiz’s phone rang.
She listened for several seconds.
“Diane’s vehicle was found near the airport.”
“Was she inside?” James asked.
“No.”
“Where is she?”
“A private aircraft left twenty minutes before police arrived.”
“Who owned it?”
May you like
Ortiz looked toward Margaret.
“Ashcroft Medical Holdings.”
