The room seemed to shrink around us.
I couldn't hear anything except my own breathing.
“Which clinic?”
Valerie didn't answer.
Elena did.
“St. Anne's.”
Caroline looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew where they took her.”
“Then why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I was never allowed inside.”
I looked at Valerie.
“You were.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
She sat down on the bottom step.
Her face had lost all color.
“After you were born, Martin told me the hospital wasn't safe.”
“Because of Richard.”
“Yes.”
“He took me to St. Anne's.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I took you.”
That distinction mattered.
“Why?”
“Because Elena was supposed to meet us there.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“She never came.”
“I did.”
Valerie looked at her.
“You came the next morning.”
“I came that night.”
Valerie shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
The two women stared at each other.
Dad stepped between them.
“Stop.”
He looked at Valerie.
“Tell us what happened.”
She nodded.
“I was at St. Catherine when Maya was born.”
Dad looked confused.
“But you said I couldn't see her.”
“I was afraid Richard's people were watching.”
“So the baby was there.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you say she was transferred?”
“Because she was.”
“To St. Anne's?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Valerie swallowed.
“Because the doctor at St. Catherine had been paid.”
Silence.
“Paid by who?”
“Richard.”
Elena whispered, “I knew it.”
Valerie looked at her.
“I didn't.”
“You knew enough.”
“I knew someone was threatening the doctor.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
Daniel looked shocked.
“I never paid anyone.”
“You were the messenger.”
“I delivered Richard's envelopes.”
“You knew what they were for.”
“I didn't know.”
The argument stopped when Collins raised his hand.
“Continue.”
Valerie nodded.
“The doctor told me Maya needed observation.”
“Was that true?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did the records say Riverside?”
“Because St. Anne's was private.”
“Private enough to hide me.”
“Yes.”
Dad's voice cracked.
“How long?”
“Three days.”
“The same three days before you brought her home.”
“Yes.”
“So the three days were real.”
“Yes.”
“But the hospital was wrong.”
“Yes.”
I thought of the photograph.
The bracelet.
Baby Voss.
The date.
The official certificate.
Everything finally connected.
But one question remained.
“Why did you tell me Riverside?”
Valerie looked at me.
“Because Riverside was the hospital listed in the transfer paperwork.”
“Who created that paperwork?”
“Martin.”
Martin closed his eyes.
Dad turned toward him.
“You lied too.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep Maya alive.”
Dad shook his head.
“You all used that excuse.”
Martin looked at him.
“Because it was true.”
“No.”
Dad stepped closer.
“It may have started as protection.”
His voice hardened.
“But eventually you protected yourselves.”
Martin didn't argue.
That was the truth none of them could escape.
I looked at Elena.
“What happened when you arrived?”
“I was told you had already been taken.”
“By who?”
“Martin.”
Martin shook his head.
“I never saw Elena that night.”
She stared at him.
“You did.”
“No.”
“You came to the clinic.”
“I came the next morning.”
Caroline suddenly spoke.
“Then the person Elena saw wasn't Martin.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
Caroline pointed toward the ledger.
“There were two men.”
She turned a page.
“Martin was recorded at St. Anne's at 7:10 a.m.”
Elena whispered:
“I saw him at 2:00 a.m.”
Caroline froze.
“Then someone used Martin's identity.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Derek.”
Everyone turned.
Daniel's voice was quiet.
“My father's dead brother.”
Caroline shook her head.
“Derek died before Maya was born.”
“Exactly.”
I looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
“Someone used Derek's name.”
“For what?”
“To move Maya.”
A deputy interrupted.
“We found another document.”
He handed Collins a sealed envelope.
Collins opened it.
Inside was a visitor log from St. Anne's.
Date: the night of my birth.
Three names.
Valerie Reed.
Martin Hale.
Derek Voss.
But Derek had supposedly been dead for nearly a year.
I stared at the page.
“Then who signed this?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Caroline whispered:
“Richard.”
I looked at her.
“You think Richard forged the signature?”
“No.”
She pointed to the handwriting.
“That isn't Richard's.”
“Then who?”
She looked at Valerie.
Valerie's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
Valerie spoke slowly.
“It was a man named Gregory Bell.”
The attorney.
The dead attorney.
“How could he sign it?”
“He didn't.”
Valerie looked at me.
“Someone used his name too.”
“What?”
“The man who came to St. Anne's that night introduced himself as Gregory Bell.”
Caroline whispered, “But Gregory was already dead.”
Valerie nodded.
“That's when I knew something was wrong.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because he showed me a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“You.”
“As a baby?”
“Yes.”
“What did it show?”
Valerie's voice shook.
“You were lying in a bassinet.”
“Where?”
“At a different hospital.”
My heart stopped.
“Which one?”
“Riverside.”
I stared.
The official story had somehow contained a fragment of truth.
I had been photographed at Riverside.
But I hadn't been born there.
Someone had moved my records between hospitals.
The reason wasn't merely to hide me from Richard.
It was to hide the sequence of events.
Collins took the photograph from Valerie.
“Where did he get it?”
“I don't know.”
“What happened next?”
“He told me I had to take Maya home.”
“Why?”
“Because if I didn't, someone else would.”
“Who?”
Valerie looked at Daniel.
“I thought it was him.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It wasn't.”
“Then who?”
Valerie looked at Elena.
“I don't know.”
Elena started crying.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at her.
She wiped her face.
“The person who wanted Maya wasn't Richard.”
Dad stared.
“Who?”
Elena whispered:
“Derek.”
Daniel stepped back.
“That’s impossible.”
“He wasn't dead.”
Caroline shook her head.
“We saw the death certificate.”
“Forged.”
“By whom?”
“Richard.”
Daniel looked sick.
“Why?”
“Because Derek had turned against him.”
I stared at the ledger.
The initials.
The duplicate vehicle.
The messages.
The false signatures.
The storage facility.
Everything suddenly pointed toward someone who had been presumed dead.
“Where is he?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know he's alive?”
“Because he contacted me.”
“When?”
“After you were born.”
“Why?”
“To tell me that Richard would never stop looking for you.”
“Then why didn't he take me?”
Elena looked toward Valerie.
“Because he wanted you hidden.”
“From Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Then why was he using Richard's system?”
“Because he knew how it worked.”
I looked at the phone.
The messages had come from someone with access to old records.
Someone who knew the original hospital.
Someone who knew Caroline.
Someone who knew about the ledger.
Someone who knew exactly where we were.
The phone vibrated again.
One message.
You are asking the right questions now.
Another followed.
But you are still asking the wrong person.
I looked at Daniel.
Then Martin.
Then Valerie.
Then Elena.
The phone vibrated again.
Ask your father about the night he thought he lost you.
Dad stared at the screen.
“I know that night.”
“What happened?”
He swallowed.
“I was at St. Catherine.”
“You said you didn't see Maya.”
“I didn't.”
“Then what did you see?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“A nurse came out.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me the baby had been moved.”
“To Riverside.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the nurse?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember her?”
Dad's eyes opened.
“I remember her face.”
“Who was she?”
He stared at me.
“I thought she was a nurse.”
“But?”
“She wasn't.”
Caroline leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
Dad reached into his wallet.
He pulled out an old photograph.
I had never seen it.
A nurse stood outside the hospital.
Dad had taken it years ago.
“I kept this because something about her bothered me.”
He pointed.
The woman wore a hospital badge.
But the name was visible.
Elena Voss.
My biological mother.
Elena covered her mouth.
“I wasn't there.”
Dad looked at her.
“I know.”
Caroline took the photograph.
Then she turned it over.
A date was written on the back.
The night Maya was born.
And beneath it:
She was never the nurse.
She was the witness.
I looked at Elena.
“What does that mean?”
She whispered:
“It means someone wanted your father to believe I had been at the hospital.”
“Why?”
“So he would follow the wrong trail.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“Derek.”
Then the phone rang.
This time, it wasn't a message.
It was an incoming call.
The screen showed:
UNKNOWN.
I answered.
Nobody stopped me.
A man's voice spoke.
“You finally found the room.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Derek?”
Silence.
Then:
“You shouldn't have.”
The line went dead.
Dad grabbed my hand.
Collins immediately began tracing the call.
Then the phone displayed one final message.
Come to the old hospital alone.
And beneath it was an address.
St. Anne's.
Click here to continue reading: PART 20: I Went Back to the Hospital Where My Story Began, and the Truth Was Waiting in the One Room Nobody Had Searched
She Said I Was Staying With Friends, But By the Third Night I Realized I Was Completely Alone
Part 19 of 20
