Chapter 13 - THE CHILD IN MARGARET’S ARMS
Margaret refused to explain the photograph.
When Claire placed it on the interrogation table, the older woman’s expression finally broke.
Her eyes filled with something deeper than fear.
Recognition.
“You held me,” Claire said.
Margaret pushed the photograph away.
“I held hundreds of children at foundation clinics.”
“This was taken on the day I was born.”
“You cannot prove that.”
“The date is printed on the back.”
“Dates can be changed.”
“So can birth certificates.”
Margaret looked toward the mirrored wall.
Claire sat across from her.
“Am I your daughter?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“Am I Richard’s?”
Margaret said nothing.
“Was Evelyn my mother?”
A muscle moved in Margaret’s jaw.
Claire understood.
“Evelyn was Richard’s lover.”
“She was a criminal.”
“She exposed your foundation.”
“She stole records and blackmailed families.”
“Did she give birth to Adrian?”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
“Adrian was my son.”
“Then why did he say Evelyn was his mother?”
“Because Richard filled his head with lies.”
“Why was he hidden?”
“He was sick.”
“Samuel’s recording says you removed him because Richard planned to make him heir.”
“Samuel recorded whatever helped him demand more money.”
Claire reached into her bag and removed a copy of the foundation ledger.
“Did you arrange my father’s death?”
“I did not kill Samuel Reed.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Margaret leaned back.
“You believe life is divided into innocent people and monsters. It is not. It is divided into people who act and people who allow themselves to be destroyed.”
“You attacked a pregnant woman.”
“I told you I lost control.”
“You keep describing choices as accidents.”
Margaret’s gaze fell to Claire’s belly.
“Your daughters will teach you what fear can make a mother do.”
“No. They’ll teach me what a mother must never become.”
For the first time, Margaret looked wounded.
Claire stood.
“You are going to prison. Whether Adrian is caught or not, whether my identity is proven or not, you will answer for what you did.”
Margaret smiled faintly.
“You still believe the attack is the worst crime connected to your children.”
Claire stopped at the door.
“What does that mean?”
“The guardianship papers were not created to control the trust.”
“Then why?”
“To stop the hospital from taking the twins.”
Claire turned back.
“What are you talking about?”
Margaret looked toward the ceiling camera.
“Ask Nora why your prenatal genetic test was flagged by a federal database.”
Claire left the room and found Nora waiting outside.
The detective did not deny it.
“The test found a rare genetic marker connected to an unidentified group of children from the Hale clinics,” Nora said.
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
“What does that have to do with my babies?”
“They share the marker.”
“Because they are mine.”
“Yes.”
Claire waited.
Nora continued carefully.
“One of the twenty-three children was listed as deceased thirty-one years ago.”
“Who?”
“A baby registered under the name Evelyn Crowe.”
Claire felt the corridor narrow around her.
“That was my mother?”
“We don’t know.”
Nora handed her a sealed report.
“The person who signed the death certificate was Richard Hale.”
The report contained another name beneath his.
Witness: Samuel Reed.
At the bottom of the page was a handwritten note.
Infant transferred alive.
New identity approved.
Claire looked up.
“Who received the baby?”
May you like
Nora hesitated.
“The adoption file names Margaret Hale.”
