Chapter 15 - Richard’s Confession
Arthur walked back upstairs without speaking.
His face told me enough.
Hannah looked at him.
“What happened?”
Arthur stared at Richard.
“You were in the car.”
Richard’s face changed instantly.
Daniel stood.
“In what car?”
Arthur continued.
“The night Emily died.”
Hannah went pale.
Richard closed his eyes.
That was confession enough.
Hannah stepped backward.
“No.”
Richard whispered, “Hannah.”
“No.”
“I can explain.”
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
Hannah slapped him.
Hard.
Nobody stopped her.
Richard turned his face back.
“You killed my mother?”
“No.”
“You were in the car!”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to get her out.”
Arthur stared.
“Out of what?”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“My father’s control.”
“He was supposedly dead?”
“Not yet.”
Emily died seventeen years earlier.
Richard’s staged death came two years afterward.
He continued.
“Emily had found evidence. She wanted to go to federal authorities.”
“So?”
“My father learned.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“William.”
“Yes.”
“He ordered Gerald Sloan to stop her.”
Hannah stared.
“And you?”
“I heard them.”
Richard’s voice shook.
“I took a second car and followed.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“Were you driving?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hit Emily’s car?”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“Did you touch it?”
“No.”
“Then why did she name you?”
Richard whispered,
“Because I caused her to panic.”
Hannah’s face twisted.
“What happened?”
Richard sat.
“Emily was driving toward a state police station. Gerald followed her.”
His voice weakened.
“I pulled alongside and shouted for her to take the next exit.”
“Why?”
“I knew a road Gerald wouldn’t expect.”
Arthur stared.
“She listened?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Gerald followed.”
Snow had been falling.
Emily took the ramp too fast.
Richard took a breath.
“She lost control.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
Richard continued.
“Her car struck the barrier.”
Arthur’s voice was cold.
“You caused the accident.”
“Yes.”
“But Gerald was chasing her.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“Because Gerald arrived before I could reach her.”
Richard stared into the past.
“He pulled me out of my car.”
“What did he do?”
“He told me if I spoke, Hannah would be next.”
Hannah shook her head.
“So you left me with him?”
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“I got you away.”
“For two years.”
“Yes.”
“Then foster care.”
“Yes.”
Hannah cried.
“You always stop halfway through doing the right thing.”
Richard looked destroyed.
“That may be the truest thing anyone has ever said about me.”
Arthur turned away.
The anger in the room changed.
Richard had not murdered Emily.
But his fear had helped create the conditions that killed her.
His silence afterward had created decades of suffering.
Thomas was brought upstairs under police supervision.
The moment Richard saw him, he stood.
“You.”
Thomas stared.
“Richard.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“Fantastic. Another reunion.”
Thomas looked toward Hannah.
“Your mother was brave.”
Hannah’s expression hardened.
“Everybody tells me that after explaining how they failed her.”
Thomas had no response.
Detective Cole entered.
“Pierce is cooperating.”
Nobody believed that.
“Define cooperating,” Daniel said.
“He’s blaming his father, Richard’s father, Gerald Sloan, and Rebecca.”
Arthur nodded.
“So everyone dead or already arrested.”
“Pretty much.”
Cole looked toward Richard.
“He also named you.”
Richard nodded.
“I expected that.”
“He says you helped conceal illegal adoptions.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“I signed corporate documents.”
“Knowing what they were?”
“No.”
Cole stared.
Richard sighed.
“I suspected.”
Arthur laughed without humor.
“There it is again.”
Richard lowered his head.
Cole continued.
“Federal investigators are coming.”
Daniel asked, “The trust?”
“Frozen.”
Richard looked surprised.
“All assets?”
“Yes.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Daniel stared at him.
“That money belongs to us.”
“It belongs to whoever it was stolen from.”
Daniel’s expression tightened.
“We don’t know how much was stolen.”
“Then they can figure it out.”
“You don’t care about four hundred million dollars?”
Arthur looked through the glass at Sophie.
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I do.”
Arthur shrugged.
“You’re allowed.”
That surprised Daniel.
Arthur continued.
“If what’s legitimately ours survives after restitution, take your share.”
“Our share.”
“I don’t need it.”
“You could.”
Arthur smiled.
“I have a pension.”
Daniel laughed for the first time.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“So I hear.”
Hannah looked at both men.
“Maybe don’t divide four hundred million dollars beside a premature baby.”
Fair.
Arthur sat beside her.
“What did your mother tell you after the crash?”
Hannah’s expression changed.
“I barely remember.”
“You named Richard?”
“She did.”
Hannah looked at him.
“Mom was bleeding.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“She kept saying, ‘Richard caused this.’”
Arthur nodded.
“That’s why Thomas thought you knew.”
“She also said another thing.”
Everyone looked at Hannah.
“What?”
“She said, ‘Don’t let them take you back to St. Jude.’”
I froze.
“Back?”
Hannah looked at me.
“I always thought she meant the hospital.”
Thomas’s face changed.
“No.”
Arthur noticed.
“What?”
Thomas looked toward Richard.
“Tell them.”
Richard whispered, “I can’t.”
Arthur stood.
“Enough.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“When Hannah was born…”
Hannah stared.
“What?”
“You were born at St. Jude.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“You were not born to Emily.”
The room went silent.
Arthur stared.
“What did you say?”
Richard looked toward Hannah.
“Emily carried a pregnancy.”
Hannah’s face went blank.
“But the baby died during delivery.”
Arthur stopped breathing.
Richard continued.
“My father arranged for another newborn to be given to her.”
Hannah backed away.
“No.”
Arthur’s voice shook.
“You’re saying Hannah isn’t biologically mine?”
Richard looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
“HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW?”
“Because Emily refused the baby my father selected.”
Everyone froze.
Richard continued.
“She demanded to know where the infant came from.”
His voice weakened.
“She threatened to expose the entire adoption system.”
Thomas whispered, “So Margaret helped her.”
Richard nodded.
“My mother found another baby.”
Arthur stared.
“Whose?”
Richard looked toward him.
“A baby born that same night to a woman who had used no real name.”
Hannah looked sick.
“Then who am I?”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“Emily performed a private DNA test when you were four.”
Arthur stopped.
“And?”
Richard looked at him.
“You were yours.”
Arthur collapsed into the chair.
Hannah covered her mouth.
“She found Arthur’s stored military sample,” Richard continued.
“That’s why my father became terrified.”
Arthur looked up.
“How could Hannah be mine if Emily’s pregnancy failed?”
Thomas answered.
“Because Emily’s baby didn’t die.”
Everyone turned.
Thomas’s face was pale.
“The doctor lied.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
Thomas continued.
“Emily gave birth to a healthy girl.”
Arthur’s pulse roared in his ears.
“Then why give her another baby?”
“They didn’t.”
Thomas looked at Hannah.
“You were the original baby.”
Hannah shook her head.
“This makes no sense.”
“It does if someone wanted Emily to believe her daughter died.”
Arthur understood.
“Pierce Family Services.”
Thomas nodded.
“They planned to sell Hannah into a private adoption.”
Hannah sat down hard.
Richard whispered, “My father recovered her?”
“Margaret did.”
Thomas looked toward Hannah.
“She stole you back from the nursery.”
I felt physically sick.
“How many babies?” I asked.
Thomas looked at me.
“What?”
“How many infants were taken through this hospital?”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“More than anyone knows.”
The story had grown beyond Arthur.
Beyond Hannah.
Beyond Sophie.
It was no longer a family scandal.
It was potentially hundreds of families.
Cole’s phone began ringing.
Then mine.
Then the nurses’ station.
Hospital administration had received a federal warrant.
Agents were entering medical records.
Pierce Family Services archives had been located in a sealed warehouse.
And a local news helicopter was circling outside.
Arthur looked at Sophie.
“I wanted one answer.”
Hannah leaned against him.
“You got about fifty.”
Arthur smiled sadly.
Then Sophie’s monitor alarmed.
I turned.
Her oxygen saturation dropped.
Heart rate fell.
I ran inside.
“Hannah, stay back.”
Arthur stood outside the glass.
“What’s happening?”
I checked the infant.
Her skin looked gray.
Respiratory effort weak.
“Call neonatology!”
The alarms intensified.
Arthur pressed his hand against the glass.
“Sophie.”
Her heart rate dropped again.
Seventy.
Sixty.
Hannah screamed.
I began stimulation.
“Come on, baby.”
Fifty.
Arthur’s face crumpled.
May you like
“Sophie!”
Then the monitor showed a flat line.
