Chapter 8 - the man outside
Robert opened the door only after Ryan turned on his phone flashlight.
A tall man stood outside.
Late fifties.
Dark raincoat.
Silver hair.
He looked exhausted.
His eyes moved past Robert and stopped on Margaret.
"Of course you're here."
Margaret stood.
"Daniel."
Ryan stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at him.
"You must be Ryan."
"Everybody knows who I am tonight."
Daniel almost smiled.
"I'm Daniel Mercer."
The name meant nothing.
Robert closed the door.
"Why are you here?"
"Claire called me."
Ryan stared.
"Everyone gets calls from Claire except me for seventeen years."
Daniel removed his wet coat.
"She was trying to protect you."
"People keep using that word."
Daniel nodded.
"Fair."
The electricity returned.
The chandelier flickered back to life.
Daniel noticed the dining room.
The cranberry stain.
The overturned chair.
"What happened?"
Robert explained briefly.
Daniel's face hardened when he heard Noah's age.
"Diane hurt a child."
Ryan said, "You sound surprised."
"I'm surprised she lost control in front of witnesses."
That sentence made everyone quiet.
"You know my mother well?"
Daniel looked at Claire's old photograph on the table.
"I knew her well enough."
Ryan remembered Claire's words.
The father was someone Diane wanted erased.
He looked at Daniel.
"Are you Sophie's father?"
No one spoke.
Daniel's eyes changed.
"Claire told you."
"Yes."
"Then yes."
Ryan's heart beat faster.
"Did you know she was pregnant?"
"Not until after Sophie was born."
"Why?"
Daniel looked at Robert.
"Because Diane told Claire I'd left the country."
Ryan turned to his father.
Robert looked genuinely shocked.
"I didn't know that."
Daniel continued.
"Then Diane told me Claire had terminated the pregnancy and wanted nothing to do with me."
Ryan closed his eyes.
Different people.
Same method.
Divide them.
Tell each one the other had chosen to leave.
Then become the only source of truth.
"When did you learn Sophie existed?"
"Six years later."
"From Claire?"
"No."
"Who?"
Daniel looked toward Margaret.
She stiffened.
"Margaret."
Ryan turned.
Margaret's face lost color.
Claire's warning returned.
I don't know who gave Diane my address in 2009.
"Why did you know where Sophie was?"
Margaret whispered, "I helped arrange the guardianship."
"You also told Daniel?"
"Eventually."
"And Diane?"
"No."
Daniel gave her a look.
Margaret stood.
"I did not tell Diane."
"Then how did she find out?" Ryan demanded.
"I don't know."
Daniel stepped toward the table.
"The guardians were the Carsons. Thomas and Rebecca Carson. They lived outside Baltimore."
Ryan repeated the names mentally.
"Where are they now?"
"Thomas died twelve years ago. Rebecca moved."
"And Sophie?"
Daniel's expression tightened.
"We thought she stayed with Rebecca."
"Thought?"
"Until three months ago."
Ryan stared.
"What happened three months ago?"
Daniel reached into his coat pocket.
He removed a folded piece of paper.
A photocopy of a driver's license application.
The name was Sophia Carson.
Age twenty.
Ryan studied the photograph.
Young woman.
Brown hair.
Light eyes.
Something about her expression felt familiar.
"Is that her?"
"We don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"Because the date of birth matches. The county matches. But the records around her adoption are sealed."
"Adoption?"
"Temporary guardianship became adoption."
"Without Claire?"
Daniel shook his head.
"That's the problem."
Ryan looked at Margaret.
"Can they do that?"
"Not legally without notice."
"Did Claire receive notice?"
"No."
Daniel added, "The court file says she did."
Ryan felt another wave of nausea.
"What does Diane have to do with it?"
Daniel unfolded another paper.
A copy of a notarized affidavit.
It stated Claire voluntarily relinquished all parental rights.
At the bottom was Claire Holloway's signature.
Ryan had spent enough time reading Claire's old letters to recognize it.
Except something looked wrong.
The final stroke.
Too careful.
"Claire says she never signed this?"
"Correct."
"Forgery?"
"Possibly."
"By Mom?"
"Possibly."
Robert sat down.
"This can't be happening."
Margaret looked at him.
"It's been happening for twenty years."
Ryan examined the notary stamp.
"Who notarized it?"
Daniel pointed.
Linda Carver.
Robert went completely still.
Ryan noticed.
"You know that name."
Robert didn't answer.
"Dad."
"Linda was Diane's cousin."
Silence.
Daniel slowly looked at him.
"You never told us that."
"I didn't know she was involved."
Ryan laughed bitterly.
Of course.
Always another connection.
Always another secret.
"Where is Linda now?"
"She died in 2018."
"Convenient."
Robert looked hurt.
"I didn't kill her."
"I didn't say you did."
Ryan's phone rang.
Emily.
He answered immediately.
"Hey."
Her voice was strained.
"Ryan, where are you?"
"At my parents' house."
"Is Diane there?"
"No. Why?"
"Someone came to Lauren's."
Ryan stood.
"Who?"
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"She didn't give her name."
His chest tightened.
"What did she want?"
"She said she needed to see Noah."
Ryan stopped breathing.
"Is she still there?"
"No. Lauren wouldn't let her in."
"Did you call police?"
"Yes."
"What did she look like?"
"Maybe late twenties. Brown hair. Tall. She was crying."
Ryan looked down at the driver's license photograph.
"Emily, I'm going to send you a picture."
He sent Sophia Carson's photograph.
Ten seconds passed.
Then Emily whispered:
"That's her."
Everyone in the dining room stared at Ryan.
"What did she say?"
Emily was silent for a moment.
"Ryan, she said something that didn't make sense."
"What?"
"She said to tell Robert that Diane didn't take all the papers."
Robert slowly stood.
Emily continued.
"Then she said Noah wasn't the first child Diane hurt."
The line went quiet.
Ryan looked at the photograph in his hand.
May you like
Sophie wasn't missing anymore.
She had found them.
