Chapter 6: The Child in Room 214
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Dad looked at Patricia as if he hadn't understood her words.
"Another patient?"" he asked.
Patricia shook her head.
"No.""
"Then what are you saying?""
She glanced toward the nurses' station.
"Not here.""
Dad held up the note.
"My wife wrote this. She specifically asked me to find a little girl. I need you to tell me who she was.""
Patricia took a shaky breath.
"Your wife arrived with a child.""
I stared at her.
"What child?""
"A little girl. Maybe five or six years old.""
Dad shook his head.
"Evelyn didn't have another child.""
"I know.""
"Then where did the girl come from?""
Patricia looked at me.
"Your mother said the child was in danger.""
I felt my chest tighten.
"Was she related to Mom?""
Patricia hesitated.
"I believe so.""
Dad stepped closer.
"Where is she now?""
"I don't know.""
"What do you mean you don't know?""
"The child was moved before I finished my shift.""
"Who moved her?""
Patricia lowered her voice.
"Dr. Caldwell and a woman named Vanessa.""
Dad looked as if the floor had disappeared beneath him.
"Vanessa took a child from this hospital?""
"I didn't say that.""
"You just told us she was involved.""
Patricia looked down.
"I saw her leave with the child. I didn't know what to do.""
Dad's voice became sharper.
"Why didn't you report it?""
"I did.""
"To whom?""
"Hospital administration.""
"And?""
"They told me the child had been released to an authorized family member.""
Dad shook his head.
"Which family member?""
Patricia didn't answer.
I stared at her.
"Did you ever see the girl again?""
Her eyes moved toward mine.
"No.""
I thought about the sentence in Mom's note.
Find the little girl before Vanessa does.
Why would Mom write that if Vanessa had already taken her?
Unless she was warning someone about what would happen next.
Dad ran a hand through his hair.
"Patricia, I need you to help us.""
She looked exhausted.
"I've carried this for eight years. I don't want to spend another night wondering whether I should have done something.""
She gave us a time and an address.
"Tomorrow. Eight in the morning. There's a storage box I kept after I left the hospital. I think it may explain who the girl was.""
Dad nodded.
"We'll be there.""
Before she walked away, Patricia turned toward me.
"One more thing, Maya.""
"Yes?""
"Your mother asked me to remember something.""
"What?""
Patricia's voice became barely audible.
"She said the little girl had the same eyes as you.""
I couldn't move.
Dad stared at her.
Then his phone rang.
It was Richard.
He answered immediately.
"Tell me you've found something.""
Richard spoke for nearly a minute.
Dad's expression darkened.
"How can that be possible?""
He listened.
"You're certain?""
Another pause.
"Send it to me.""
He ended the call.
"What happened?"" I asked.
Dad looked at me.
"Richard found Marcus Hale's death certificate.""
"And?""
"It was issued eleven years ago.""
I frowned.
"Lauren already told us that.""
Dad shook his head.
"There's a problem with it.""
"What problem?""
"The man who died wasn't Marcus Hale.""
I felt a chill move down my back.
Richard had apparently checked the official record and discovered that the body identified as Marcus had never been positively identified.
The death certificate had been issued using a witness statement and an insurance claim.
But the witness statement was signed by someone named Stephen Caldwell.
The same doctor who had handled Mom's hospital admission.
Dad sat down on a nearby bench.
"So Marcus was alive.""
"Apparently.""
"And Vanessa knew.""
He nodded.
"Richard also found something else.""
He opened an email on his phone.
A photograph appeared.
It showed a bank transfer authorization dated three months after Mom's death.
The amount was $480,000.
The receiving account belonged to a company called Hale Consulting.
I stared at the screen.
"That's the money from Mom's trust?""
Dad nodded.
"The account was closed shortly afterward.""
"Who authorized the transfer?""
He zoomed in.
The signature was Vanessa's.
But the authorization included a second signature.
My father's.
I looked at him.
"Did you sign this?""
Dad shook his head.
"No.""
I could barely breathe.
"Then someone forged your signature.""
He stared at the screen.
"Again.""
We returned home shortly before midnight.
Vanessa's car was parked outside.
The lights in the living room were on.
Dad unlocked the door.
She was sitting on the sofa, dressed in a silk robe, with a glass of water on the table.
Her expression was almost peaceful.
"You're late," she said.
Dad didn't respond.
He placed the hospital visitor log on the coffee table.
Then he put down the transfer authorization.
Vanessa looked at the documents.
Her fingers stopped moving.
"Where did you get these?""
"Does it matter?""
"Of course it matters.""
"Did you take a little girl from St. Catherine's Hospital eight years ago?""
Vanessa stared at him.
Then she laughed.
A short, dismissive sound.
"Is that what Maya told you?""
"Patricia told us.""
The color drained from Vanessa's face.
For the first time, she seemed genuinely unable to control her expression.
"Patricia should have kept her mouth shut.""
Dad stepped closer.
"Who was the child?""
Vanessa stood.
"You're exhausted. You're upset. You're letting strangers fill your head with nonsense.""
"Answer me.""
She looked toward me.
Then she said, "That child has nothing to do with you.""
I took a step forward.
"Why did my mother write that I needed to find her?""
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
"Your mother was confused near the end.""
"She was conscious.""
"She was sick.""
"She knew you.""
Vanessa raised her voice.
"Enough!""
Dad slammed his hand onto the coffee table.
"Do not shout at my daughter.""
Vanessa's breathing became uneven.
For a moment, I thought she might finally tell us the truth.
Instead, she walked toward the staircase.
"I'm going to bed.""
Dad blocked her path.
"You're not going anywhere until you explain what happened to Evelyn's money.""
Vanessa looked at him coldly.
"You want the truth?""
"Yes.""
"Fine.""
She took a deep breath.
"Your wife was not the innocent woman you remember.""
Dad stared at her.
"Careful.""
"She had secrets, Daniel. More than you could imagine.""
"What secrets?""
Vanessa glanced at me.
Then she said, "Ask your daughter why Evelyn kept another child's birth certificate hidden in her bedroom.""
I felt my blood turn cold.
"My mother's bedroom?""
Vanessa nodded.
"Under the floorboards.""
Dad looked confused.
"What are you talking about?""
Vanessa smiled faintly.
"Go upstairs. Lift the loose board beneath the old dresser.""
I looked toward the staircase.
The bedroom had been empty for years.
Nobody had mentioned any loose floorboard.
Dad stared at Vanessa.
"How do you know about that?""
Her smile disappeared.
"Because I was the one who found it.""
I ran upstairs.
Dad followed.
We entered the bedroom that had once belonged to my parents.
The old dresser still stood against the wall. Its wooden handles were worn from years of use.
I dropped to my knees and examined the floor.
There.
A narrow board beneath the dresser was slightly raised.
Dad fetched a screwdriver from his study.
Together, we lifted it.
Beneath the floorboards was a small metal box wrapped in an old blue scarf.
Dad pulled it out.
My hands trembled as he opened the lid.
Inside were several photographs, a hospital bracelet, and a birth certificate.
The bracelet carried a date from eight years earlier.
The same date Mom died.
The birth certificate belonged to a little girl named Lily.
Mother: Evelyn Whitmore.
Father: Unknown.
But the most disturbing detail was the child's date of birth.
She had been born six years before my mother died.
I looked at Dad.
"Did Mom ever tell you she had another child?""
He shook his head slowly.
"No.""
I picked up the photograph.
A little girl stood beside my mother in a garden.
She had dark brown hair.
A small dimple in her left cheek.
And the same eyes Patricia had mentioned.
My eyes.
On the back of the photograph, Mom had written:
My two girls. My greatest reason to keep fighting.
I felt tears spill down my face.
"Two girls," I whispered.
Dad took the photograph from me.
He stared at it for a long time.
Then he turned the birth certificate over.
There was another document attached to the back.
A handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, Maya must know that Lily is her sister.
Dad covered his mouth.
I could barely speak.
"Mom had another daughter?""
He nodded slowly.
But before either of us could process what we had found, footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Vanessa appeared at the open doorway.
She looked at the photograph in Dad's hands.
Then at the birth certificate.
Her expression turned frighteningly calm.
"So," she whispered.
"You found her.""
Dad stood.
"Where is Lily?""
Vanessa didn't answer.
"Where is my wife's daughter?""
She looked directly at me.
Then she said something that made my entire body go numb.
"Lily is not missing, Maya.""
She took a small step into the room.
"She's been living in this house for the past eight years.""
I stared at her.
"What?""
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears, but her voice remained cold.
"You've seen her almost every day.""
Dad looked at her in disbelief.
"Who are you talking about?""
Vanessa glanced toward the hallway.
Then she whispered a name.
May you like
"Lauren.""
And suddenly, the little girl in the photograph had my stepsister's face.
