Chapter 8 - DAVID’S REAL SECRET
David Bennett disappeared from police protection twelve minutes before federal agents reached his safe location.
A bathroom window was open.
An officer was unconscious in the hallway.
David’s phone remained on the bed.
Nora stared at Claire.
“He ran.”
“Looks that way.”
“Why?”
“We’re finding out.”
Nora paced.
The betrayal felt different this time.
David signing papers in panic was one thing.
David keeping a birthday card secret was worse.
But employment?
Had the grieving husband beside her hospital bed eventually joined the organization that stole their daughter?
Margaret was brought back for another interview.
“When?” Nora demanded.
“When did they recruit him?”
“About four months after Amelia disappeared.”
“Why?”
“He needed money.”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“We had money.”
“Not after the malpractice settlement fell apart.”
Nora remembered.
David’s small construction company had nearly failed that year.
Medical bills.
Funeral expenses.
Months away from work.
“But what did they hire him to do?”
“Nothing at first.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Margaret sighed.
“Vale paid him to identify families.”
Nora went still.
“What families?”
“Couples desperate to adopt.”
“David found buyers?”
“He referred prospective parents to New Beginnings.”
Nora covered her mouth.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“Seven.”
Nora stared.
Seven families.
Seven babies perhaps taken through lies similar to hers.
“Did David know?”
“Not at first.”
“And later?”
Margaret looked away.
Nora’s voice dropped.
“Later?”
“Yes.”
Rage flooded her.
“He knew children were being stolen?”
“He suspected.”
“And continued?”
“For a while.”
Nora wanted to destroy something.
Instead, she stood perfectly still.
“What made him stop?”
Margaret’s answer was quiet.
“He recognized one of the mothers.”
“Who?”
“A woman from his office.”
Nora’s breath caught.
“Her baby?”
“Declared dead.”
Just like Amelia.
“David realized what New Beginnings really was.”
“What did he do?”
“He confronted Vale.”
“And?”
“They threatened you.”
Nora blinked.
“Me?”
“Vale said if David talked, you would be next.”
Nora felt anger and confusion collide.
David had betrayed her.
Then perhaps stayed silent to protect her.
Human beings were inconvenient that way.
Nobody fit neatly inside villain or victim.
“Where would David go?” Claire asked.
Margaret thought.
“He kept insurance.”
“What?”
“Everyone did.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Nora suddenly remembered something from their marriage.
A lake cabin.
David’s father had left it to him.
They sold it after the divorce.
Except David once told Nora he kept a storage shed nearby because nobody wanted to transport old tools.
“Lake Mason.”
Agents searched the location.
David was there.
So was Jonathan Vale.
When Nora arrived with Claire, both men were alive.
Vale sat handcuffed beside a pickup truck.
David had a split lip.
In his hands was a metal lockbox.
“I was coming back,” David said.
Nora slapped him again.
Claire sighed.
“That appears to be becoming a tradition.”
David accepted it.
“I deserved that.”
“What’s in the box?”
He handed it to Claire.
“Copies.”
“Of?”
“Financial records. Referrals. Payments. Vale’s messages.”
Nora stared.
“You had evidence?”
“I collected it after I realized what they were doing.”
“For how long?”
“Five years.”
“Then why didn’t you expose them?”
David looked at her.
“Because the last man who tried died.”
“Ortiz?”
David nodded.
“You told me he disappeared.”
“He did. Then I found out he was dead.”
Nora felt chilled.
“How?”
“A photograph.”
“From Vale?”
“Yes.”
David’s voice cracked.
“They threatened to kill you.”
Nora shook her head.
“So you protected me by letting me believe my daughter was dead.”
“I thought Amelia was dead by then.”
“Until the birthday card.”
“Yes.”
“And then you still didn’t tell me.”
“I started searching.”
“Alone.”
“I didn’t know who I could trust.”
“You could have trusted me.”
David’s face crumpled.
“I was ashamed.”
Nora’s anger softened by one degree.
Not enough for forgiveness.
Enough for understanding.
Claire opened the lockbox.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
USB drives.
Then she found a sealed envelope addressed:
NORA.
David looked at her.
“I wrote that two years ago.”
“Why didn’t you send it?”
“Cowardice.”
Nora opened it.
The letter was four pages.
She read only the first paragraph.
Nora,
If you are reading this, then either I finally became brave enough to tell you the truth, or something happened before I could.
I failed you in ways I cannot repair.
But there is one thing you need to know.
The night Amelia was born, I did not agree to let them tell you she died.
Nora looked up.
“Then who did?”
David stared at Vale.
Vale smiled faintly.
Nora turned.
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
“Who ordered the death story?”
Vale remained silent.
Claire stepped closer.
“Mr. Vale, I’d recommend you start thinking about cooperation.”
Vale laughed.
“You think Evelyn Pierce lets people cooperate?”
“You’re in federal custody.”
“For now.”
Claire’s expression did not change.
Vale looked at Nora.
“You want to know why they chose your daughter?”
Nora froze.
“Chose?”
Vale leaned back against the vehicle.
“You still think this was random.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Pike handled hundreds of births.”
“Why Amelia?”
Vale’s eyes became almost pitying.
“Ask your mother.”
Nora’s pulse stopped.
“My mother has been dead for twelve years.”
“Exactly.”
Nora stared.
Her mother, Katherine Bennett, had died when Nora was twenty-one.
Cancer.
Before Nora married David.
Before Amelia.
“What does she have to do with this?”
Vale smiled.
“She worked at St. Catherine’s.”
Nora knew that.
Her mother had been an accountant.
“She found something, didn’t she?” Nora whispered.
Vale’s smile disappeared.
“She found everything.”
Claire stepped closer.
“What did Katherine Bennett find?”
“Payments.”
“From New Beginnings?”
“From Evelyn Pierce.”
Nora felt dizzy.
Her mother had died twelve years ago.
The illegal adoptions had been happening longer than anyone realized.
“How did my mother die?”
Nobody answered.
Nora looked at Vale.
“How did she die?”
Vale finally said:
“Cancer.”
She almost believed him.
Then he added:
“The second time.”
Nora went cold.
“What does that mean?”
Vale looked toward David.
“Tell her.”
David whispered, “Nora…”
“Tell me.”
“Your mother survived her first diagnosis.”
“I know.”
“She went into remission.”
“I know.”
David’s face went white.
“Then she was admitted to St. Catherine’s for complications.”
“Yes.”
“And according to these records…”
He looked at the documents Claire held.
“She was given medication she was never prescribed.”
Nora stopped breathing.
Vale closed his eyes.
David continued.
“Medication that weakened her immune system.”
Nora staggered backward.
“No.”
“Nora—”
“No.”
Her mother’s rapid decline.
The unexpected infections.
Doctors saying her cancer had returned aggressively.
She had never questioned it.
Why would she?
Hospitals were where people went to be saved.
Not erased.
Claire’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
“What hospital?”
Nora immediately knew something was wrong.
Claire hung up.
“Theresa Cole was found.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Emergency room in Arizona.”
Nora exhaled.
Claire did not.
“She was conscious for three minutes.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Sarah is still alive.”
Nora looked toward the half-heart photograph.
“And Pike?”
“She said Pike is taking Sarah to Evelyn Pierce.”
“Where?”
Claire’s eyes hardened.
“Pierce Children’s Foundation annual gala.”
Nora stared.
The biggest charity event of the year was happening that night.
Hundreds of guests.
Politicians.
Doctors.
Donors.
News crews.
Evelyn Pierce planned to stand beneath chandeliers and raise money for vulnerable children while one stolen child was hidden somewhere nearby.
Nora looked at Claire.
“We’re going.”
“Yes.”
Vale laughed softly.
They turned.
“You still don’t understand Evelyn.”
Nora walked toward him.
“Then explain.”
Vale’s smile vanished.
“The gala isn’t where she’s hiding Sarah.”
“What is it?”
“A goodbye party.”
“To who?”
Vale looked directly at Nora.
“To the entire operation.”
May you like
Then he added:
“By midnight, every record you need will be gone.”
