Chapter 11 - What Rebecca Found)
Eleanor left the hospital under police escort.
Daniel brought her home only after officers searched every room.
For the first time since the attic opened, the house was quiet.
Not peaceful.
Quiet.
There was a difference.
Winnie sat at the kitchen island beside Eleanor.
Daniel placed the newborn photograph on the counter.
It showed Winnie wrapped in a pale hospital blanket.
Her eyes were closed.
A small identification band circled her ankle.
Daniel remembered taking almost the same photograph himself.
But this picture was taken from the other side of the nursery glass.
By someone outside the family.
Eleanor turned it over.
She read the message again.
She was never supposed to stay with you.
Winnie frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel wanted to tell her it meant nothing.
He had made that mistake too many times.
"It means someone was watching our family when you were born."
"Why?"
"We do not know."
Winnie looked at Eleanor.
"Does Grandma?"
Eleanor slowly shook her head.
"No."
Detective Brooks entered with a folder.
"We found more information on Adrian Vale."
Daniel looked up.
"Alive?"
"We cannot confirm."
"You said he was declared dead."
"He disappeared after a private plane crashed over the Atlantic in 2020. No body was recovered."
"Convenient."
"Very."
Brooks placed a document on the table.
Vale had worked as a consultant for hospitals, charities and private family foundations.
Including the Hale Foundation.
"How far back?"
"1998."
Daniel stared.
"My grandfather was running the foundation then."
"Vale's name appears as a security contractor."
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
"Security for what?"
"That is what we are trying to determine."
Daniel opened Rebecca's old folders again.
For hours they compared foundation donations with hospital records.
A pattern appeared.
Every year, several large payments went to children's medical charities.
Nothing illegal about that.
But many recipient organizations had dissolved.
Some never existed at the addresses listed.
Then Eleanor noticed a code beside certain payments.
A letter and number.
R1.
R2.
R3.
Winnie leaned over the papers.
"Those are in Grandma's notebook."
Everyone looked at her.
"What?"
She ran upstairs.
When she returned, she carried Eleanor's appointment notebook.
Near the back were several pages of copied codes.
Eleanor stared.
"I forgot I wrote these."
Winnie opened one.
R4 0317.
R2 1109.
R1 1214.
Brooks compared the codes.
"Dates?"
Daniel pointed at the last one.
"December fourteenth."
The date from the nursery photograph.
They searched the foundation database.
R1 1214 corresponded to a payment made December 14, 2012.
Recipient.
Bright Horizons Family Placement Initiative.
Brooks searched the organization.
"No active registration."
Daniel felt a chill.
"Family placement."
Eleanor whispered, "Adoption."
They searched more codes.
Every payment connected to a child placement charity, fertility clinic, private hospital or adoption law office.
Most organizations disappeared within two years.
Rebecca had discovered it.
Not merely stolen money.
Children.
Records.
Families.
Brooks looked at Daniel.
"We need federal investigators."
Daniel nodded.
Winnie said, "Was I adopted?"
Daniel turned immediately.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
The question hurt.
"Yes."
He moved beside her.
"I was there when you were born."
"Mom too?"
"Yes."
"You saw me?"
"I held you before anyone else except the doctor."
Winnie studied his face.
"Then why am I on their list?"
Daniel had no answer.
Eleanor did.
"Maybe the list was not about children they placed."
Brooks looked at her.
"What else?"
"Children they wanted."
Silence settled over the kitchen.
Daniel remembered Sybil's recording.
Rebecca believed that was why they followed her.
Brooks received a message.
He read it.
"Martin wants to talk."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Now?"
"He says he will cooperate in exchange for protection."
"Protection from who?"
"Vale."
At the station, Martin looked older than he had the previous evening.
His suit was gone.
He wore a gray detention uniform.
Daniel sat across the interview room.
Brooks remained near the wall.
Martin stared at Daniel.
"I never wanted Rebecca dead."
Daniel's hands tightened.
"Start with what you did want."
"Money."
"Eleven million?"
"More."
Daniel almost stood.
Brooks signaled him to remain seated.
Martin continued.
"It began with small transfers. Vale approached me. He had information about gambling debts."
Eleanor had never known Martin gambled.
Daniel did.
He simply did not know the scale.
"Vale blackmailed you."
"At first."
"Then?"
Martin looked down.
"Then I realized I could profit."
Daniel felt disgust.
"What were the child records?"
Martin looked toward Brooks.
"I never touched that side."
"What side?"
"Vale called it continuity."
Daniel's skin prickled.
"Explain."
"I cannot."
"You mean you will not."
"I mean I do not know."
"Rebecca knew."
"Rebecca found a server."
"What server?"
"Private archive. Names. DNA records. Medical histories."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Why was Winnie listed?"
Martin closed his eyes.
"Because Rebecca refused them."
"Refused what?"
Martin looked directly at him.
"A deal."
"What deal?"
"After Winnie was born, Vale approached Rebecca."
Daniel felt a roaring sound in his ears.
"He offered her money."
"For Winnie?"
"No."
Martin swallowed.
"For another child."
Daniel stared.
"What other child?"
Martin shook his head.
"I told you. I never understood that part."
Daniel stood.
"Do not lie to me."
"I'm not."
Brooks stepped between them.
Martin continued quickly.
"Rebecca told Vale she would expose him. After that, she began collecting evidence."
"Why did Sybil follow her?"
"Sybil was supposed to take the evidence."
"For Vale?"
"At first."
Daniel remembered the hotel video.
"Then she changed sides."
"Yes."
"Did Sybil cause Rebecca's crash?"
Martin looked away.
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because the driver who forced Rebecca off the road was not Sybil."
Daniel's breath stopped.
Brooks moved closer.
"Who was it?"
Martin whispered.
"Vale."
"You saw him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know?"
"Because afterward he sent me a photograph."
Martin began crying.
Daniel felt no sympathy.
"What photograph?"
"Rebecca's car."
Daniel waited.
May you like
Martin looked up.
"Taken before the police arrived."
