Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Took Grace)
Federal agents traced the photograph paper to a pharmacy three counties away.
The security footage showed a woman buying prints.
Her name was Diane Foster.
Fifty-eight.
Former neonatal nurse.
Employed at Caroline’s hospital during Grace’s birth.
Dr. Carter recognized her immediately.
“She assisted in the operating room.”
Caroline stared at the photograph.
“Where is she?”
“Agents are going to her house.”
“Take me.”
“No.”
Caroline glared at Agent Reed.
“That’s my daughter.”
“You are thirty-two weeks pregnant, hospitalized, and at risk for premature labor.”
“My daughter is somewhere with a stranger.”
“We don’t know that Diane has her.”
“She sent this.”
“We believe so.”
Caroline swung her legs toward the edge of the bed.
Sarah immediately stepped forward.
“Caroline.”
“I’m going.”
Dr. Carter blocked her.
“You might deliver if you leave this hospital.”
“I have already had one child stolen from me.”
“And I am trying to prevent something happening to another.”
Caroline froze.
The words struck harder than shouting could.
She looked down at her abdomen.
Her son moved beneath her palm.
Two children.
One missing.
One still inside her.
Caroline slowly returned to the bed.
“Call me the second you find Diane.”
Reed nodded.
The call came forty-seven minutes later.
Diane’s house was empty.
But it had not been abandoned.
Coffee in the refrigerator.
Fresh vegetables.
A child’s toothbrush beside the bathroom sink.
A small bedroom with stuffed animals.
A blue sweater draped over a chair.
Caroline knew before Reed spoke.
“Grace lived there.”
“We believe a child lived there.”
“My child.”
Reed did not argue.
Agents found drawings taped to a wall.
Most were simple.
Houses.
Trees.
Cats.
One drawing showed three people.
A little girl.
An older woman.
And a tall man colored entirely black.
Above the black figure, the child had drawn a red circle.
Caroline stared.
“Who is he?”
“We don’t know.”
Another drawing showed a woman lying on a bed.
A baby beside her.
A little girl standing outside a window.
Dr. Carter’s eyes filled with tears.
“Children draw from stories they’ve heard.”
Caroline touched the screen.
“Diane told her about me.”
“She may have.”
Then Reed displayed what agents found hidden beneath Diane’s mattress.
A letter.
Written two years earlier.
To Caroline.
Dear Caroline,
If you ever receive this, I failed to protect you the way I should have.
Grace survived.
I know because I carried her out.
Your husband ordered the death certificate changed.
Arthur ordered the child transferred.
I was told she would be placed with a family.
I believed them.
I should not have.
When I discovered what Brightwell was doing, I took her.
I have kept her hidden ever since.
She knows her mother loves her.
She knows you did not abandon her.
I am sorry I could not tell you sooner.
They watched you constantly.
They still do.
Caroline could not see the final lines through her tears.
Sarah read them aloud.
“If Luke has another son, Arthur will come back. He believes the boy belongs to him. And if Luke discovers Grace survived, he will kill us both.”
Caroline whispered, “Where did she go?”
Agents searched the house.
No answer.
But they found a hidden basement compartment containing cash, passports, and an emergency phone.
The phone had made one call that morning.
To a number registered under a false name.
Federal investigators traced it.
A motel outside Madison.
Police surrounded the building.
Room 214 was empty.
May you like
On the bed lay a little girl’s blue sweater.
Beside it was blood.
