Chapter 5: The Second Baby
The police arrived twelve minutes later.
By then, Daniel was gone.
Two officers searched the ballroom while another questioned Evelyn near the grand staircase.
Sarah refused to sit down.
Maya sat beside her, wrapped in a cream-colored tablecloth someone had given her.
Evelyn stood across the room.
She hadn't taken her eyes off the photograph.
The officer approached.
“Mrs. Whitmore, did you know the man who entered?””
“Yes.””
“Who was he?””
“Daniel Cross.””
The officer looked at his notes.
“Do you know where he lives?””
“No.””
“When was the last time you saw him?””
“Tonight.””
“Before tonight?””
Evelyn hesitated.
“Twenty-nine years ago.””
The officer frowned.
Sarah looked away.
The second officer returned from the hallway.
“Nothing.””
Evelyn finally spoke.
“Officer.””
“Yes?””
“If I give you a name, can you find out whether he's alive?””
“Who?””
“Daniel Cross.””
“We'll run the name.””
Evelyn nodded.
The officer left.
Maya tugged Sarah's sleeve.
“Mom.””
Sarah looked down.
“What?””
“What's a birth mother?””
Sarah's eyes closed briefly.
Evelyn heard her.
She walked over.
“It means the woman who gave birth to you.””
Maya looked at Evelyn.
“So you're mine?””
Evelyn crouched in front of her.
“I think so.””
“You think?””
Evelyn swallowed.
“I've spent twenty-nine years believing my baby was dead.””
Maya looked down at her hands.
“Did you want me?””
The question broke something inside Evelyn.
“Yes.””
Her answer came instantly.
“Yes. More than anything.””
Maya studied her face.
“Then why didn't you come get me?””
Evelyn looked at Sarah.
“I didn't know where you were.””
Sarah whispered, “Exactly.””
Evelyn stood.
“You knew.””
“I knew you were alive.””
“You knew?””
“I found out years later.””
“And you never told me.””
“I tried.””
“When?””
“Three times.””
Evelyn's expression hardened.
“Liar.””
Sarah flinched.
“I went to your house.””
“When?””
“After my first job.””
“Why didn't I see you?””
“Because security turned me away.””
Evelyn stared.
Sarah reached into her coat.
She pulled out three folded envelopes.
Each was yellowed with age.
“I sent these.””
Evelyn took them.
The first had her old Manhattan address.
The second had a different address.
The third had no return address.
Evelyn opened the first.
Inside was a photograph of a baby.
Her fingers began shaking.
“I never received this.””
“I know.””
“Who intercepted them?””
Sarah looked at the ballroom entrance.
“I don't know.””
Maya watched silently.
Evelyn opened the second envelope.
A handwritten note fell onto the marble.
She picked it up.
Her eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
“What?””
Sarah didn't answer.
Evelyn looked up.
“This says you were afraid of someone inside my family.””
Sarah's voice dropped.
“Yes.””
“Who?””
“Your husband.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“That's impossible.””
“You loved him.””
“Yes.””
“And he knew how much you wanted that baby.””
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“You're saying he helped Daniel?””
“I don't know if he ordered it.””
“But?””
“I know he knew.””
Evelyn stared at her.
“Then why would he do that?””
Sarah looked at Maya.
“Because the baby wasn't supposed to inherit anything.””
Evelyn went still.
Maya's voice was tiny.
“Inherit what?””
Sarah's face tightened.
“Nothing you need to worry about.””
Evelyn looked at her.
“Everything.””
Sarah sighed.
“Your husband had changed the will.””
Evelyn's eyes widened.
“What?””
“He told Daniel that if your daughter survived, she would inherit everything.””
“But that was my child.””
“Exactly.””
Evelyn looked down at Maya.
Then at the photograph.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
“Someone wanted her gone.””
Sarah nodded.
“But Daniel said there were people who paid for it.””
“Yes.””
“Who?””
Sarah hesitated.
“I don't know.””
“You're still hiding something.””
Sarah looked at Maya.
“I was trying to protect her.””
Evelyn stepped closer.
“From what?””
Sarah whispered, “From the other baby.””
The room went silent.
Evelyn stared.
“You said there was another baby.””
“Yes.””
“Whose baby?””
Sarah didn't answer.
Maya looked between them.
“Was she my sister?””
Sarah's eyes filled.
“I don't know.””
Evelyn's voice became urgent.
“Then why did Daniel say she wasn't the only baby?””
Sarah looked at the old photograph.
“Because that night, two babies were born.””
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“Mine?””
“One was yours.””
“And the other?””
Sarah shook her head.
“I never learned who she belonged to.””
Evelyn stared.
“You were in that hospital room.””
“Yes.””
“You saw both babies.””
“Yes.””
“Then how can you not know?””
Sarah's lips trembled.
“Because they switched the bracelets.””
Evelyn's face went white.
Maya whispered, “Switched?””
Sarah nodded.
“The nurses were ordered to move them.””
“By Daniel?””
“I thought so.””
“You thought?””
Sarah looked toward the officers.
Then lowered her voice.
“Because Daniel wasn't the one giving the orders.””
Evelyn's stomach dropped.
“Who was?””
Sarah reached inside her coat again.
This time she pulled out a tiny plastic hospital bracelet.
It was cracked with age.
Evelyn took it.
The faded writing was barely visible.
But one detail could still be read.
*BABY GIRL — WHITMORE.*
Evelyn stared at it.
“That was mine.””
Sarah shook her head.
“No.””
Evelyn looked up.
“What?””
Sarah's voice broke.
“That bracelet was on the other baby.””
Evelyn dropped it.
Maya stared at the bracelet on the floor.
Then a police officer hurried toward them.
“Mrs. Whitmore?””
Evelyn turned.
“We ran the name.””
“And?””
The officer looked uncomfortable.
“Daniel Cross is alive.””
Evelyn's face tightened.
“Where?””
“He's registered under another name.””
“What name?””
The officer glanced at his phone.
Then looked directly at Maya.
“Dr. Marcus Bell.””
Sarah suddenly grabbed Evelyn's arm.
“No.””
The officer continued.
“He's listed as the medical director of a private children's foundation.””
Sarah's face drained of color.
May you like
Because she knew that foundation.
And she knew exactly where it was.
