Chapter 10 - corinne's confession
Daniel wanted to call the police.
Rebecca said no.
Ethan agreed with Rebecca.
"That's my wife."
Daniel stared at him.
"After what she did to Maisie?"
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"I haven't forgotten."
"Then why risk anything for her?"
"Because she knows where Claire is."
That was true.
But not the whole truth.
Ethan was furious with Corinne.
He did not know whether he would ever forgive her for touching Maisie.
Maybe he would not.
But he also could not knowingly abandon someone to dangerous men.
Especially when Claire's own recording suggested Corinne had been trying, however imperfectly, to help.
They returned to Daniel's townhouse.
Maisie was safe.
Ethan held her for a long time before doing anything else.
Rebecca watched the child carefully.
"She looks like Claire."
Ethan nodded.
"Do you know who brought her to the hospital?"
Rebecca's expression changed.
"I have a theory."
"Tell me."
"Corinne."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"She says no."
"Corinne says many things."
Daniel placed the ledger on the table.
"What do they want from this?"
Rebecca flipped through the coded pages.
"Names."
"Whose?"
"The original children from the fertility research."
Ethan looked at her.
"Claire was one."
"Yes."
"How many?"
"At least thirty."
"What happened to them?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"Some became ordinary adults. Some were recruited into medical studies. Others disappeared."
"Why track them?"
"Because the original program produced something unexpected."
Ethan's stomach tightened.
"What?"
Rebecca looked at Maisie.
"That part Claire never told me."
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression immediately changed.
"What?"
A pause.
"Send it."
He hung up.
"My office received an anonymous file."
Seconds later, his laptop chimed.
A video appeared.
Corinne sat in a chair inside a dark room.
Her hands were free.
No visible injuries.
A man stood behind the camera.
Only his voice could be heard.
"Tell Ethan what he needs to know."
Corinne stared directly into the lens.
"Ethan, I brought Maisie to St. Joseph's."
Ethan's breath caught.
Corinne continued.
"Claire gave birth three weeks after the crash."
Rebecca whispered, "No."
Corinne looked exhausted.
"She wasn't at Northbridge yet. I found her first."
Daniel stood.
"You said Adrian found her."
Rebecca shook her head.
"No. Adrian found Daniel."
The video continued.
"Claire called me from a motel in Tennessee. She was injured. She had gone into labor early. I drove there. Maisie was born with help from a retired midwife Claire trusted."
Ethan sat down.
His daughter had not been born in a hospital.
"Why didn't Claire call me?"
Corinne's eyes filled with tears on screen.
"Because someone was using your phone."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
"She called you. A man answered. He knew things only you should know. He told her if she came home, Maisie would disappear."
Ethan looked at Daniel.
Daniel's face was blank.
Corinne continued.
"Claire panicked. She made me promise to hide the baby until she knew who could be trusted."
Ethan whispered, "Two months."
Corinne seemed almost to answer from the recording.
"I kept Maisie for six weeks."
Ethan's chest tightened.
All those nights he had grieved a child he thought had died with Claire.
Corinne had known.
"I hated Claire for putting that responsibility on me," Corinne said. "I was terrified. Eventually I left Maisie at St. Joseph's because I knew Ethan would protect her better than I could."
Her voice broke.
"Then Claire disappeared from me too."
The video shifted.
Corinne looked toward someone off camera.
"Can I tell him the rest?"
A male voice replied, "Tell him about Boston."
Corinne closed her eyes.
"Adrian Vale was a name Claire and I both knew in Boston."
Ethan leaned closer.
"It wasn't a man. It was a project."
The video glitched.
"Adrian Vale was the internal name for a program designed to locate and monitor children connected to the original fertility research."
Rebecca whispered, "Jesus."
Corinne continued.
"Claire discovered that someone inside the program had started selling identities."
"Identities?"
"Complete lives. Medical histories. Financial profiles. Family relationships. Enough information to impersonate people or destroy them."
Ethan thought of his forged signature.
His insurance.
His name.
His life.
Corinne looked into the camera.
"Someone bought yours."
The screen went black.
A message appeared.
THE LEDGER FOR CORINNE.
MIDNIGHT.
LOCATION TO FOLLOW.
Daniel slammed the laptop shut.
"It's a trap."
Ethan looked down at the black ledger.
"No."
Rebecca frowned.
"What?"
Ethan opened Claire's letter again.
Do not trust Daniel with the original ledger.
He looked at his brother.
Then he looked at the ledger.
Claire had anticipated this exact moment.
Which meant the book might contain something nobody had noticed.
Something more valuable than names.
Ethan began examining the spine.
There was a slight gap beneath the binding.
He inserted a butter knife.
May you like
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
