Dr. Malcolm Voss was still pounding on the bank\u2019s glass doors when the security lights turned red.
\nPatricia Long hurried toward the alarm panel.
\n\u201cDo not open that door,\u201d Mr. Cole ordered.
\n\u201cThere is a woman in his car,\u201d I said.
\n\u201cAnd we do not know whether either of them is dangerous.\u201d
\n\u201cThat woman may be my daughter.\u201d
\nThe words sounded impossible even after I said them.
\nMy daughter.
\nAlive.
\nSitting less than thirty feet away from me.
\nRosalind moved beside the security monitor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The woman in the passenger seat had not moved. <\/p>\n Her face lifted. <\/p>\n \u201cThe medication from Bridget\u2019s trunk.\u201d <\/p>\n The woman stopped walking.<\/p>\n Her lips parted.<\/p>\n \u201cEleanor?\u201d<\/p>\n My knees weakened.<\/p>\n Rosalind caught my elbow.<\/p>\n I gripped my walker.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know me?\u201d<\/p>\n The woman looked as if she had forgotten how to breathe.<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen your photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn my mother\u2019s things.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart twisted at the word mother.<\/p>\n \u201cLillian Vale?\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother told me you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Nobody in the bank moved.<\/p>\n I stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cShe told you I was dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe said you died after giving birth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI did not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman pressed one hand against her temple.<\/p>\n Her balance shifted.<\/p>\n An officer guided her into a chair.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss tried to stand.<\/p>\n \u201cNaomi needs medical attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole pushed him back down.<\/p>\n \u201cYou will remain where you are until you explain the blood on your clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt belongs to Curtis.\u201d<\/p>\n That brought every face toward him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou encountered Curtis after the crash?\u201d Mr. Cole asked.<\/p>\n \u201cHe came to our house.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi closed her eyes.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss continued.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was waiting inside when we returned from dinner. He had a key.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere did he get it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know.\u201d<\/p>\n I did.<\/p>\n Bridget\u2019s car contained keys to six widows\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n Curtis and his wife had probably collected more keys than most locksmiths.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did Curtis want?\u201d Mr. Cole asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original birth certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi opened her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me it had been destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss lowered his head.<\/p>\n \u201cI lied.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stared at her husband.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said there was no original.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was trying to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo not use that word.\u201d<\/p>\n Her voice was weak, but it cut through the room.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone who has lied to me says it was protection.\u201d<\/p>\n I almost laughed.<\/p>\n Not because anything was funny.<\/p>\n Because she sounded exactly like me.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked toward Naomi.<\/p>\n \u201cCurtis knew where I kept it. He opened the safe before we arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you have my birth certificate?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not only yours.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss did not answer.<\/p>\n Naomi struggled to stand.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat else was in the safe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSit down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do not get to tell me what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n She stood.<\/p>\n Her knees nearly failed, but she held the back of the chair.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did Curtis take?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe certificate, your adoption record and a list of payments made to Lillian.\u201d<\/p>\n My fingers tightened around my walker.<\/p>\n \u201cPayments from whom?\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies who received children from the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReceived?\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind\u2019s voice sharpened.<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean bought.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss closed his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n The word filled the bank like smoke.<\/p>\n Naomi looked at me.<\/p>\n For the first time, there was no confusion in her face.<\/p>\n Only horror.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother sold babies?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLillian did not work alone,\u201d Dr. Voss said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot when we met.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut you learned.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEleven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stepped away from the chair.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have known for eleven years?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI found records after Lillian disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe died.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi froze.<\/p>\n I felt Rosalind\u2019s hand close around mine.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you say?\u201d Naomi whispered.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss finally looked at his wife.<\/p>\n \u201cLillian Vale is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi\u2019s hand slipped from the chair.<\/p>\n The officer caught her before she fell.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe did not die in that boating accident.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was an empty coffin.\u201d<\/p>\n The words struck me with terrible familiarity.<\/p>\n My daughter and I had both mourned empty coffins.<\/p>\n \u201cShe left because investigators were getting close to the hospital records,\u201d Dr. Voss said. \u201cShe transferred her property, emptied several accounts and disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is she?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi slapped him.<\/p>\n The sound echoed across the marble floor.<\/p>\n The officers moved forward, but Mr. Cole raised one hand.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss did not react.<\/p>\n He remained on his knees.<\/p>\n \u201cYou let me bury her,\u201d Naomi said.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought knowing she was alive would put you in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is that word again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI loved you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou loved me enough to lie every morning for eleven years.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n Naomi turned away from him.<\/p>\n Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n She studied my face slowly, as though searching for something she had been missing all her life.<\/p>\n \u201cMy name is not Naomi, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n My throat closed.<\/p>\n \u201cWalter called you Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes filled.<\/p>\n \u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n I nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cWe named you after my grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n She repeated it quietly.<\/p>\n \u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n I had imagined saying my daughter\u2019s name again thousands of times.<\/p>\n At the cemetery.<\/p>\n In dreams.<\/p>\n During sleepless nights when grief made strange bargains with hope.<\/p>\n But I had never imagined she would be standing in front of me, older than I had been when I lost her.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not expect you to call me Mother,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Naomi looked down.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know what to call you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEleanor will do.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked at me again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you call me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n My breath caught.<\/p>\n I had been weak from blood loss.<\/p>\n A nurse had held a blanket near my face for only a few seconds.<\/p>\n I had seen one tiny cheek.<\/p>\n A closed fist.<\/p>\n A dark curl above her ear.<\/p>\n \u201cBecca,\u201d I whispered. \u201cI called you Becca.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi covered her mouth.<\/p>\n A small sound escaped her.<\/p>\n Then she crossed the distance between us.<\/p>\n She did not embrace me.<\/p>\n Not yet.<\/p>\n She touched my face with two fingers.<\/p>\n I stayed completely still.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are real,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo are you.\u201d<\/p>\n Her hand trembled.<\/p>\n Then she stepped back.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss remained on the floor behind her.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole crouched in front of him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou will now explain Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss glanced at Naomi.<\/p>\n \u201cFairview began as a private recovery home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor whom?\u201d Rosalind asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen who had difficult pregnancies, nervous exhaustion or what doctors used to call emotional instability.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn other words,\u201d I said, \u201cwomen nobody believed.\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original building was owned by St. Agnes Hospital. When the maternity wing closed, several administrators purchased it through a private company.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIncluding Lillian?\u201d Mr. Cole asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did they use it for?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, record storage. Later, elder care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd stolen infants?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss hesitated.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole leaned closer.<\/p>\n \u201cAnswer her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome mothers were transferred there after giving birth. They were heavily medicated. They were told their babies had died or been placed temporarily with foster families.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the babies?\u201d Naomi asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were given new identities.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi turned away.<\/p>\n Her shoulders shook.<\/p>\n \u201cLillian raised me in that house.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cYou spent your first three years in the eastern residential wing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI remember a long hallway.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe wing was closed after an electrical fire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI remember red doors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere were red doors.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi looked sick.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned toward him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said Fairview was only where my mother worked.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is what Lillian instructed me to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you obeyed her after she disappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was afraid of what the truth would do to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth does not destroy people.\u201d<\/p>\n I understood exactly what she meant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people hiding it do,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole opened Walter\u2019s ledger.<\/p>\n \u201cHow did Fairview become connected to the property scheme?\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss took a long breath.<\/p>\n \u201cThe facility was losing money. Insurance reimbursements decreased. The private owners had debts. Lillian developed a transition program.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHearthstone,\u201d Mr. Cole said.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHearthstone Transition Services identified elderly homeowners,\u201d Rosalind said. \u201cThen Fairview declared them incompetent and took their property.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, Hearthstone was legitimate,\u201d Dr. Voss said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is what criminals always say about the first year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt helped families sell homes, arrange care and pay facility bills.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen did it change?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Denise Martin became director of admissions.\u201d<\/p>\n Bridget\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n The woman they were both afraid of.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere did Denise come from?\u201d Mr. Cole asked.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked toward Naomi.<\/p>\n Naomi shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cDo not protect me again.\u201d<\/p>\n He swallowed.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise is Lillian Vale\u2019s biological daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stared at him.<\/p>\n \u201cMy sister?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHalf sister.\u201d<\/p>\n The room became silent.<\/p>\n \u201cLillian had another child?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBefore you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd she kept Denise.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss did not answer.<\/p>\n Naomi laughed softly.<\/p>\n There was no humor in it.<\/p>\n \u201cShe stole me from my mother, but she kept her own daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDenise was raised by Lillian\u2019s sister. She did not learn who her biological mother was until she was an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen did I meet her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou knew her as Denise Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stepped backward.<\/p>\n \u201cShe worked in our house.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was Lillian\u2019s assistant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe called herself my cousin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe is your half sister.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi pressed both hands against the sides of her head.<\/p>\n Rosalind guided her back to the chair.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole continued questioning Dr. Voss.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise revived Hearthstone?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. She recruited Bridget. Bridget approached families through churches, community groups and medical screenings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Curtis?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was in debt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNearly three hundred thousand dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at him.<\/p>\n Curtis repaired swimming pools.<\/p>\n How could he owe that much?<\/p>\n Dr. Voss answered before I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cGambling, business loans and money he had taken from his father\u2019s company.\u201d<\/p>\n Walter\u2019s stolen one hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars had not been enough.<\/p>\n Nothing had ever been enough for Curtis.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise knew about Walter\u2019s recording,\u201d Dr. Voss continued. \u201cShe knew Curtis had searched for it. She offered to protect him from exposure if he helped identify homeowners.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo my son sold women to Fairview to hide what he did to his father,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, he only provided information.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind laughed sharply.<\/p>\n \u201cThen he graduated to kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked toward her bruised wrist.<\/p>\n \u201cI am sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou signed the order.\u201d<\/p>\n His face changed.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDenise threatened Naomi.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi\u2019s head lifted.<\/p>\n \u201cDo not blame me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe had the original birth records. She said she would destroy them and report you for inheritance fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat inheritance?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stood again.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not own Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, you do.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss\u2019s voice was barely above a whisper.<\/p>\n \u201cLillian transferred her controlling shares to you before she disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stared at him.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe documents were placed in a trust.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me the foundation owned Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe foundation is controlled by your trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi looked around the bank as if the walls had moved.<\/p>\n \u201cI own the place where they imprisoned Rosalind?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou did not know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid I profit from it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe distributions went into accounts I managed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid I profit from it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi closed her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cApproximately four million dollars over eleven years.\u201d<\/p>\n I watched my daughter absorb the knowledge that the life she had lived had been financed by stolen homes.<\/p>\n She did not cry.<\/p>\n She looked at Dr. Voss.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is the money?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInvested.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFreeze it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNaomi\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFreeze every account. Sell everything that can legally be sold. Repay every family.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt never is when the money belongs to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, she sounded like me.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole stood.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can obtain orders freezing the assets. But first, I need evidence connecting Denise, Bridget and Curtis to the recent guardianship petitions.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss nodded toward the recorder.<\/p>\n \u201cWalter\u2019s tape proves Curtis had contact with Lillian.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFourteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are newer recordings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFairview.\u201d<\/p>\n The red security lights reflected across his face.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise records every intake meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLeverage. She keeps videos of families lying about relatives\u2019 medical conditions. She records doctors approving petitions. She records guardians discussing property sales.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are the recordings stored?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn a room beneath the old chapel.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi looked at him.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no room beneath the chapel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI played there as a child.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe entrance is behind the altar.\u201d<\/p>\n She closed her eyes again.<\/p>\n \u201cThe red door.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cThe red door leads to a stairway.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi had remembered it all her life.<\/p>\n Not a dream.<\/p>\n A hidden room.<\/p>\n A place beneath Fairview where records of stolen children and stolen homes had been kept for decades.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole called his unit.<\/p>\n He ordered officers to secure every entrance to Fairview and prevent staff from removing documents.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss lifted his head.<\/p>\n \u201cThat may already be too late.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCurtis took Naomi\u2019s birth certificate for Denise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought you said Curtis escaped.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo Denise arranged the crash?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere would they go?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe chapel.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole turned toward the officers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe leave now.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi moved toward the door.<\/p>\n \u201cI am coming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Dr. Voss said.<\/p>\n She did not even look at him.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole blocked her path.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have been drugged and assaulted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI own the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat does not make it safe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes you a witness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me the only person here who remembers that building before it became Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole looked at me.<\/p>\n I do not know why.<\/p>\n Perhaps he expected me to tell her to remain behind.<\/p>\n \u201cI am coming too,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cMrs. Hale\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter was hidden in that building. My friend was drugged there. My son may have murdered my husband to protect what is inside it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot enter an active crime scene.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen arrest me at the door.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind picked up her purse.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou need a hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will go after I help send the people responsible there.\u201d<\/p>\n Ronnie raised one hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI assume telling all three of them no will not work.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are not entering until officers clear the building.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a sentence I can accept,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Patricia approached from the conference-room telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Cole, central records returned your request.\u201d<\/p>\n She held several printed photographs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bank still had the security images from the day Walter Hale\u2019s box was accessed.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole took them.<\/p>\n I moved beside him.<\/p>\n The first image showed the bank lobby fourteen years earlier.<\/p>\n Curtis stood near the vault entrance.<\/p>\n He was younger and thinner, but there was no doubt it was him.<\/p>\n A woman stood beside him.<\/p>\n She wore dark glasses and a scarf over her hair.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise?\u201d Rosalind asked.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked terrified.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is Lillian.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi grabbed the photograph.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother was with Curtis the day before Walter died?\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss stared at the image.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not know.\u201d<\/p>\n The second photograph showed Curtis and Lillian leaving the vault corridor.<\/p>\n Curtis carried nothing.<\/p>\n Lillian held a brown envelope.<\/p>\n The third photograph was taken near the side exit.<\/p>\n Lillian\u2019s scarf had slipped.<\/p>\n Naomi touched the image.<\/p>\n \u201cShe looks younger than I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was younger,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Naomi shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. This was fourteen years ago. She looked older than this when I was a child.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole examined the date.<\/p>\n \u201cThe timestamp is correct.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss took the photograph.<\/p>\n His face turned white.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not Lillian.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou just said it was,\u201d Rosalind replied.<\/p>\n \u201cI was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked at Naomi.<\/p>\n \u201cThat woman is Denise.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stared at the picture.<\/p>\n Her half sister had dressed as their mother to enter Walter\u2019s safe-deposit box.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked toward Walter\u2019s recorder.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the bank employee knew Lillian. Denise used her identity to access accounts and records.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow could she access Walter\u2019s box?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe had his key.\u201d<\/p>\n I remembered the recording.<\/p>\n Walter confronting Curtis.<\/p>\n Curtis telling someone on the telephone that Walter knew.<\/p>\n The woman he called Lillian might not have been Lillian at all.<\/p>\n It could have been Denise pretending to be her own mother.<\/p>\n \u201cHow long has Denise controlled Curtis?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi studied the photograph.<\/p>\n \u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n She placed it beside the leather ledger.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise was at Walter\u2019s funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at her.<\/p>\n \u201cWere you there?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. But she was.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow would you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Lillian\u2019s supposed death, I found a box of Denise\u2019s photographs. One showed her standing outside a church.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi pointed at the image.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was wearing that coat.\u201d<\/p>\n I remembered a woman at Walter\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n She had stood beneath the oak tree at the edge of the cemetery.<\/p>\n Dark glasses.<\/p>\n Black coat.<\/p>\n I thought she was one of Walter\u2019s former employees.<\/p>\n She left before I could speak to her.<\/p>\n Denise had watched us bury Walter.<\/p>\n She had known exactly what Curtis had done.<\/p>\n Patricia\u2019s telephone rang again.<\/p>\n She answered.<\/p>\n Her face tightened as she listened.<\/p>\n Then she held the receiver toward Mr. Cole.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole put the call on speaker.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Adrian Cole with the State Elder Protection Unit. Identify yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n For several seconds, nobody answered.<\/p>\n Then a woman laughed.<\/p>\n Naomi grabbed the edge of the table.<\/p>\n I recognized that laugh.<\/p>\n Not because I had heard it before.<\/p>\n Because it sounded like Bridget\u2019s laugh without the false sweetness.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise,\u201d Dr. Voss whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Malcolm,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Curtis?\u201d Mr. Cole asked.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are surrounded.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. Fairview is surrounded. I am not at Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole signaled an officer to trace the call.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe ledger and the cassette.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stepped closer to the telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cYou will get nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman became silent.<\/p>\n Then she said, \u201cHello, Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n \u201cMy name is Naomi.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not what Walter called you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are not my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe share a mother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou helped her steal me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was four years old.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n Denise continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up watching Lillian mourn the daughter she kept pretending was hers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe loved you more than she ever loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe bought me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe chose you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe stole me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe saved you from a mother who could not care for you.\u201d<\/p>\n I moved toward the telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cPut Lillian on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n Denise laughed again.<\/p>\n \u201cEleanor Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have known who you are since I was a child.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Lillian?\u201d<\/p>\n A pause.<\/p>\n Then Denise said, \u201cWould you like to ask her yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n There was movement on the line.<\/p>\n A chair scraped.<\/p>\n Someone breathed near the receiver.<\/p>\n Then an old woman spoke.<\/p>\n \u201cEleanor?\u201d<\/p>\n My body became rigid.<\/p>\n Walter\u2019s recording had captured only a faint version of her voice.<\/p>\n But it was the same voice.<\/p>\n The woman Curtis called after poisoning his father.<\/p>\n Lillian Vale.<\/p>\n Alive.<\/p>\n \u201cYou stole my daughter,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cI saved her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom you.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi reached for the telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cMother?\u201d<\/p>\n Lillian began to cry.<\/p>\n \u201cMy little girl.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi\u2019s fingers trembled.<\/p>\n \u201cYou let me believe you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou let me bury an empty coffin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the only way to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStop saying protect.\u201d<\/p>\n Lillian became quiet.<\/p>\n Naomi looked at me.<\/p>\n Neither of us had planned the words.<\/p>\n We had spoken them exactly the same way.<\/p>\n Lillian heard it too.<\/p>\n \u201cYou sound like her,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cI should,\u201d Naomi said. \u201cShe is my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n The line went silent.<\/p>\n Then Lillian\u2019s crying stopped.<\/p>\n When she spoke again, her voice was colder.<\/p>\n \u201cBlood is not motherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cBut neither is kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou were unstable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had nearly died giving birth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou screamed that the doctors were trying to take your baby.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause they were.\u201d<\/p>\n Lillian did not answer.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole leaned toward the telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cMs. Vale, surrender yourself and release Curtis.\u201d<\/p>\n Lillian laughed softly.<\/p>\n \u201cCurtis does not need releasing.\u201d<\/p>\n The bank became still.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cHe came willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course he had.<\/p>\n The crash.<\/p>\n The escape.<\/p>\n The attack at Dr. Voss\u2019s home.<\/p>\n Curtis had not been running from Denise.<\/p>\n He had been running back to her.<\/p>\n Lillian continued.<\/p>\n \u201cBring Walter\u2019s ledger and recording to the old St. Agnes maternity ward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFairview?\u201d Mr. Cole asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. The original hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSt. Agnes was demolished,\u201d Patricia said.<\/p>\n \u201cNot all of it,\u201d Lillian replied.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked toward Naomi.<\/p>\n \u201cThe underground passage.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi closed her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tunnel from Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Lillian heard her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou remember.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI remember red doors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou were never supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is in the tunnel?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe beginning of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole shook his head at the officers.<\/p>\n Nobody was to agree to anything.<\/p>\n I stepped closer to the speaker.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy should we bring you the ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Curtis has the original certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe also has Walter\u2019s remaining evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWalter said the evidence was in Samuel Green\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd who do you think emptied that office after Samuel died?\u201d<\/p>\n Denise\u2019s voice returned.<\/p>\n \u201cBring the ledger before midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happens at midnight?\u201d Rosalind asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe maternity records burn.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole signaled for the trace.<\/p>\n The officer shook his head.<\/p>\n Not enough time.<\/p>\n Naomi leaned over the telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you destroy those records, you destroy the identities of every child you stole.\u201d<\/p>\n Lillian spoke gently.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Rebecca. I destroy the evidence that their mothers ever existed.\u201d<\/p>\n The telephone disconnected.<\/p>\n Mr. Cole immediately began issuing orders.<\/p>\n Officers moved toward the entrance.<\/p>\n Patricia pulled up maps of the old St. Agnes property.<\/p>\n Dr. Voss tried to stand.<\/p>\n \u201cFairview was built beside the original hospital site. The basement levels connect.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you not disclose that before?\u201d Mr. Cole demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I believed the tunnel had been sealed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have believed many convenient things.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stared at the dead telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how to enter it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked at her.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a room behind the chapel altar. Lillian took me there when I was little.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou were three.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI remember the smell.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat smell?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n Naomi turned toward me.<\/p>\n \u201cSmoke.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind opened Walter\u2019s ledger.<\/p>\n \u201cLillian said the records will burn at midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has burned them before.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss closed his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe electrical fire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not an electrical fire,\u201d Naomi said. \u201cI remember Lillian carrying boxes. I remember Denise crying. I remember a woman beating on a red door.\u201d<\/p>\n My blood turned cold.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat woman?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was she saying?\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi pressed both hands against her temples.<\/p>\n The drugs were making her memories come in fragments.<\/p>\n \u201cShe kept shouting a name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhose name?\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi looked directly at me.<\/p>\n \u201cEleanor.\u201d<\/p>\n Nobody moved.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is impossible,\u201d I said. \u201cI was never inside Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Naomi whispered. \u201cShe was not calling for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Her face changed as the memory returned.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was calling to someone named Eleanor who was locked in the room with her.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind slowly turned a page in Walter\u2019s ledger.<\/p>\n \u201cEleanor is not an uncommon name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Naomi said. \u201cBut I remember the other name too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat other name?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe woman behind the door shouted, \u2018Eleanor Hale, wake up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n My heart seemed to stop.<\/p>\n \u201cI was home with Walter.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi looked frightened.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole took the ledger from Rosalind and searched the oldest entries.<\/p>\n Near the back, several pages were stuck together.<\/p>\n He carefully separated them.<\/p>\n A photograph fell onto the table.<\/p>\n It showed two young women in hospital gowns standing behind a barred window.<\/p>\n One was Lillian Vale.<\/p>\n The other woman had my face.<\/p>\n Not similar.<\/p>\n Not close.<\/p>\n My exact face.<\/p>\n On the back, Walter had written a date from three months after Naomi\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n Beneath it were six words.<\/p>\n Eleanor\u2019s twin survived. They took her too.<\/strong><\/p>\n I stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n My mother had always told me I was born alone.<\/p>\n My birth certificate listed one child.<\/p>\n Walter had never mentioned a sister.<\/p>\n But the woman in the photograph could have been me.<\/p>\n Naomi picked it up with shaking hands.<\/p>\n \u201cIf she was your twin\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe would be my age.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd she may still be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Cole turned the photograph over again.<\/p>\n A second sentence was written beneath the first.<\/p>\n The ink had faded, but it was still readable.<\/p>\n Her name is Evelyn. She works for Lillian.<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Voss made a sound behind us.<\/p>\n I turned.<\/p>\n He was staring at the photograph as if he had seen a ghost.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know her,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n He did not answer.<\/p>\n Naomi moved toward him.<\/p>\n \u201cMalcolm.\u201d<\/p>\n His face collapsed.<\/p>\n \u201cEvelyn is not working for Lillian.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is she?\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked toward the bank doors.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is the director of Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosalind shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cDenise is the admissions director.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot Denise.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss swallowed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe woman everyone believes owns Fairview.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi stared at him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said I owned it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn paper.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho actually controls it?\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Voss looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cYour sister.\u201d<\/p>\n The lights inside the bank suddenly went out.<\/p>\n Red emergency lamps flashed once.<\/p>\n Then darkness swallowed the room.<\/p>\n Someone screamed.<\/p>\n Glass shattered near the side entrance.<\/p>\n An officer shouted for everyone to get down.<\/p>\n I felt Rosalind grab my arm.<\/p>\n Then a hand closed around my mouth.<\/p>\n A woman\u2019s voice whispered beside my ear.<\/p>\n The voice sounded almost exactly like mine.<\/p>\n \u201cDo not fight me, Eleanor.\u201d<\/p>\n Something sharp pressed against my neck.<\/p>\n \u201cI have waited seventy-eight years to meet my sister.\u201d\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n
\nHer head remained against the window, her dark hair covering part of her face.
\nDr. Voss struck the glass again.
\nThen he pointed toward the car and mouthed one word.
\nPlease.
\n<\/strong>Mr. Cole spoke into his phone.
\nTwo officers stationed outside approached Dr. Voss with their weapons drawn.
\nHe immediately raised his hands.
\nThe blood on his shirt had dried almost black.
\nOne officer searched him while the other opened the passenger door.
\nThe woman inside stirred.<\/p>\n
\nEven through the monitor, I saw the shape of her eyes.
\nMy eyes.
\nThe same slight downward turn at the outer corners.
\nThe same eyes Walter had spent fifty-one years telling me could make a person confess before I asked a question.
\nThe officer helped her from the car.
\nShe stood unsteadily.
\nDr. Voss tried to move toward her.
\nThe police forced him against the wall.
\n\u201cShe has been drugged,\u201d he shouted through the glass. \u201cCurtis injected her!\u201d
\nRosalind looked at me.<\/p>\n
\nMr. Cole ordered Patricia to unlock the entrance.
\nThe officers brought Dr. Voss inside first.
\nHe was placed on his knees with his hands behind his head.
\nThen the woman entered.
\nShe wore black trousers, one torn stocking and a cream-colored sweater stained at the shoulder.
\nShe was not young.
\nShe was fifty-seven years old if Walter\u2019s ledger was correct.
\nBut when she looked at me, I saw the baby I had never held.
\nI saw the little girl Walter had watched riding a bicycle from across the street.
\nI saw every birthday I had mourned beside an empty grave.<\/p>\n