Chapter 5: The Photograph in the Locked Drawer
James pulled onto the shoulder of the highway and called the number back.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then a mechanical voice announced that the number was no longer in service.
He called again.
Nothing.
He tried to trace the call through his phone carrier, but the representative explained that the information couldn't be released without legal authorization.
James wanted to scream.
Instead, he called Frank.
“Lily just contacted me.””
Frank went quiet.
“You're certain it was her?””
“She knew my name. She knew about the lies they told her. She said Patricia knew what happened to her real mother.””
“James, slow down. Did she give you a location?””
“No. The call was cut off.””
Frank exhaled.
“I'm checking the school records now. But if she's sixteen and has been living under a false name, this is bigger than a missing-person investigation.””
“I know.””
“Do you? Because whoever changed her identity may have access to people inside the system.””
James stared at the traffic rushing past.
“Then we find someone outside it.””
Frank agreed to meet him at a small diner off the highway, where they could discuss the case without attracting attention.
Twenty minutes later, James slid into a booth across from his old investigator.
Frank looked older than he had on the phone. His hair had thinned, and his reading glasses rested low on his nose. A stack of printed documents sat between two coffee cups.
“You look terrible,” Frank said.
“Good to see you too.””
Frank pushed the first page across the table.
“I found the academy. Pine Hollow was operated by a private education company owned by three investors. One of them was Martin Hale.””
“Was?””
“The company dissolved two years ago. The school officially closed last month.””
James leaned forward.
“Where did the students go?””
“Some transferred to other schools. Others were placed with guardians. But there are gaps in the records.””
“Lily's name?””
“Lillian Morgan appears in the enrollment database, but the original birth certificate was replaced by a court order.””
Frank tapped the document.
“The order was signed by a family court judge who retired eight years ago. The case file is sealed.””
James rubbed his face.
“Can we get it unsealed?””
“Possibly, if we establish that fraud occurred. But first, we need evidence.””
James took the school photograph from his jacket and laid it on the table.
Frank studied the girl's face.
“She looks like you.””
“She sounds like Rebecca.””
“Then we have something to work with.””
Frank opened another folder.
“There's a second problem. Patricia Hale wasn't simply reported missing. Six years ago, she was declared legally deceased after a fire at a property she owned.””
James looked up.
“Was a body found?””
“No.””
“Then how did they declare her dead?””
Frank pushed forward a newspaper clipping.
The headline read: *WOMAN PRESUMED DEAD AFTER RURAL HOUSE FIRE.*
The article included a photograph of a burned building and a statement from Martin Hale identifying Patricia as the likely victim.
James stared at the photograph.
“That house belonged to Patricia?””
“According to the property records.””
“Was she living there?””
“Not according to the neighbors. One said she hadn't been seen in months.””
James looked at Frank.
“What if Patricia is alive?””
“Then she's either hiding from someone or helping someone hide.””
James thought about the woman at the gas station, the scar across her wrist, and Daniel's frightened reaction to the message.
“Frank, I saw a woman driving a gray sedan. She had a scar on her wrist. I think it was Patricia.””
Frank wrote that down.
“Did you get the license plate?””
“No.””
“Face?””
“Not clearly.””
Frank sighed.
“Then we need another lead.””
James looked at the photograph of Lily.
“She said Patricia knew what happened to her real mother.””
Frank stopped writing.
“What exactly did she say?””
James repeated the conversation word for word.
Frank's expression changed.
“James, what if Rebecca isn't Lily's biological mother?””
James stared at him.
“Don't.””
“I'm not saying she isn't. I'm saying we should verify it.””
“Rebecca raised her.””
“For eighteen months, according to the records. Then she disappeared with her. If the people around them changed Lily's identity, they could have changed the records too.””
James looked down at his coffee.
The thought made him sick.
He remembered Rebecca holding Lily in the hospital after the birth. He remembered the way she cried when Lily first opened her eyes.
He had never questioned that Lily was his daughter.
But if the entire case had been built on fabricated documents, even the truth he remembered might have been manipulated.
“Find the original hospital records,” James said.
Frank nodded.
Then he pulled another sheet from the folder.
“There is one more thing.””
The document was an old insurance policy, dated three months before Lily disappeared. It listed James as the policyholder and Rebecca as the beneficiary.
The payout amount was substantial.
James frowned.
“I never bought this.””
Frank pointed to the signature.
It looked almost exactly like James's handwriting.
Almost.
“The policy was canceled before the disappearance,” Frank said.
“But someone used your personal information to open it.””
“Who?””
“The agent was Patricia Hale.””
James leaned back.
“Why would she take out an insurance policy in my name?””
Frank's voice lowered.
“Because she may have needed a reason to make you look dangerous, or because someone was trying to create a financial motive for the disappearance.””
James stared at the signature.
Then he noticed something at the bottom of the page.
A second name.
*Witness: Daniel Morgan.*
He sat up.
“Daniel?””
Frank looked at him.
“The boy from the gas station?””
James nodded slowly.
“That's impossible. He was born years after Lily disappeared.””
“Then perhaps it's another Daniel Morgan.””
James turned the paper over.
There was an address written in faded blue ink.
A small apartment building in a neighboring town.
“Can you check this address?””
Frank was already typing.
“It's a residential property. The owner sold it eight years ago.””
“To whom?””
Frank looked at the screen.
“Patricia Hale.””
James stood so quickly that his coffee spilled across the table.
“I'm going there.””
“James, wait. We need to be careful.””
“Every minute we wait, Lily gets farther away.””
Frank grabbed his jacket.
“Then I'm coming with you.””
They drove separately to the address, a narrow brick building tucked behind a closed laundromat. The windows were boarded up, and weeds had grown through cracks in the parking lot.
James approached the entrance and tried the handle.
Locked.
Frank examined the mailbox.
“Apartment four. Morgan.””
James knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
A voice came from inside.
“Go away.””
“I'm looking for Patricia Hale.””
Silence.
Then the door opened a few inches.
An elderly woman peered through the gap. Her hair was white, and a pair of thick glasses sat crookedly on her nose.
“Who wants to know?””
“My name is James Carter.””
The woman's face went pale.
She began to close the door.
James stopped it gently with his hand.
“Please. I need to know what happened fifteen years ago.””
The woman stared at him.
Then she whispered, “You shouldn't be alive.””
James felt the floor shift beneath him.
“What?””
She opened the door wider, revealing a cramped apartment filled with boxes, old newspapers, and framed photographs turned face down.
“My name is Evelyn Morgan,” she said.
“And I've been waiting fifteen years for someone to ask the right question.””
James stepped inside.
Evelyn locked the door behind them.
Then she walked to a desk, opened a drawer, and removed a faded photograph.
It showed a young woman holding a newborn baby.
James recognized Rebecca immediately.
But the baby wasn't Lily.
Evelyn pointed at the photograph.
“That child was Rebecca's biological daughter.””
James's throat tightened.
“Then who is Lily?””
Evelyn turned the photograph over.
On the back, someone had written a date and a name.
*Baby Girl Carter. Adopted at birth.*
James stared at the words.
He had never known Lily was adopted.
Evelyn's voice trembled.
“Rebecca wasn't the woman who gave birth to your daughter, James.””
May you like
She looked directly into his eyes.
“She was the woman who stole her.””
