Chapter 6: Two Names on One Record
Jasmine returned to the living room with her phone in one hand and her face drained of color.
"Who sent this?"" she asked.
Ryan read the message again.
Ask your father about the hospital records from October 2004. He knows what happened to the other child.
Eleanor looked from the phone to David.
"What other child?""
David sat down slowly.
"I don't know.""
Jasmine let out a short, bitter laugh.
"That seems to be the only thing anyone in this family knows how to say.""
"Jasmine," Eleanor began.
"No."" Jasmine held up a hand.
"I'm done listening to people tell me they're sorry. I'm done listening to people say they don't know. My whole life has been built around a story that wasn't true, and every time I ask a question, another secret appears.""
She turned toward David.
"You said Marcus threatened your family. Did he threaten me, too?""
David swallowed.
"I don't know what he intended to do to you.""
"That's convenient.""
"I know it is.""
"Did you ever see him with another child?""
David's gaze drifted toward the rain-streaked window.
Then he looked back at Jasmine.
"Yes.""
The answer silenced the room.
Eleanor stepped closer.
"When?""
"At the hospital. A few days before Amelia disappeared.""
"Why were you at the hospital?""
David rubbed his palms against his trousers.
"My father had been dead for almost a year. Marcus told me he needed help with a financial matter involving one of the companies that managed the family property. He asked me to meet him at a medical center downtown.""
"What medical center?""
"St. Anne's.""
Denise made a small, startled sound.
Eleanor turned toward her.
"What is it?""
Denise pressed a hand to her mouth.
"That was where my son was being treated.""
Jasmine stared at her.
"Your son?""
Denise nodded, tears gathering in her eyes.
"My older boy. Daniel.""
"Your brother," Jasmine whispered.
"Yes.""
For a moment, Jasmine looked as though she had forgotten how to breathe.
She had grown up believing she was an only child. Denise had told her that her brother had died shortly after birth, before Jasmine was old enough to remember him.
Now even that story seemed uncertain.
"Mom," Jasmine said, "you told me Daniel died when I was a baby.""
"He did die.""
"But you said he died in 2005.""
Denise looked down.
"I changed the dates.""
Jasmine closed her eyes.
"Why?""
"Because I was afraid Marcus would find out I had spoken to the police. He knew Daniel was the one person who could connect me to the hospital. After Daniel died, I thought I could protect you by keeping the past buried.""
Jasmine shook her head.
"You didn't protect me. You made me believe I had no family.""
Denise began to cry again, but Jasmine turned away.
Eleanor felt a fresh wave of horror.
If Denise's son had been hospitalized at St. Anne's, and Marcus had been there shortly before Amelia vanished, then the hospital records might reveal more than a financial scheme.
They might explain why a man with no children of his own had arranged to remove a five-year-old girl from her family.
"David," she said, "tell us exactly what you saw.""
He rubbed his face.
"When I arrived at St. Anne's, Marcus was in a consultation room with a woman I'd never met. She had a baby in her arms. There was another child sitting beside her, a little girl about Amelia's age.""
"Did you speak to them?"" Ryan asked.
"No. Marcus introduced the woman as someone who worked for a private adoption agency. He said she was helping him arrange a temporary placement for a child whose parents were in trouble.""
"Did you believe him?""
David hesitated.
"At the time, yes.""
"And the other child?"" Eleanor asked.
"She was crying. She kept asking for her mother. Marcus told me not to worry about it. He said the girl had been through a difficult situation and needed a fresh start.""
Eleanor's stomach twisted.
"Was it Amelia?""
"I don't know. I never got close enough to see her face clearly.""
Jasmine stared at him.
"You saw a little girl crying for her mother in a hospital, and you walked away?""
David lowered his head.
"I did.""
"Why?""
"Because Marcus told me the situation was legal. Because I wanted to believe him. Because I thought I was helping a family in trouble.""
Jasmine's voice trembled with fury.
"You wanted to believe him more than you wanted to ask questions.""
David accepted the accusation without defending himself.
"Yes.""
The admission hung between them.
Then Eleanor reached for the contract Denise had brought.
"Where are the original hospital records?""
David looked at the signature on the last page.
"Marcus told me that the records had been sealed because of a confidentiality agreement. He said the hospital couldn't release them without authorization.""
"Whose authorization?""
"Mine and his.""
Eleanor stared at him.
"Why yours?""
David's mouth tightened.
"Because the company paying for the arrangement was connected to the family trust.""
Ryan moved closer to the table.
"What family trust?""
David looked at Eleanor.
"The trust your father created before he died. It held the property and several investments. Marcus was the administrator. I was the secondary trustee.""
Eleanor felt the room grow cold.
Their father had been a proud man, strict about money and obsessed with keeping the family business intact. He had created the trust to prevent his sons from squandering the inheritance.
But Eleanor had never been told that it could be used to pay someone to take a child.
"How much money did Marcus give Denise?"" she asked.
Denise answered quietly.
"Thirty thousand dollars at first. He promised another twenty thousand after I settled somewhere else.""
Eleanor recoiled.
"Fifty thousand dollars to take my daughter?""
"I didn't know she was your daughter," Denise said.
"I swear to you, I didn't know her real name. Marcus told me her parents had agreed to the arrangement.""
"Did you believe that?""
Denise closed her eyes.
"I wanted to believe it.""
Jasmine turned away, tears running down her cheeks.
"That is not the same thing.""
"No," Denise whispered.
"It isn't.""
Ryan put an arm around Jasmine, but she leaned away.
"I need to understand who I am before I can let anyone tell me how to feel.""
He nodded and stepped back.
Eleanor understood that there was no easy path through this. They could not simply declare themselves a family and expect the missing years to disappear.
They needed evidence.
They needed answers.
And they needed to find out what Marcus had been so desperate to protect.
David reached into his jacket pocket and removed his wallet. From a narrow compartment, he pulled an old business card.
"There's someone who might help.""
He placed it on the table.
The card belonged to a retired hospital administrator named Lorraine Price.
"She worked at St. Anne's in 2004," David explained.
"She handled patient privacy and records requests. Marcus mentioned her when we discussed the agreement. He said she was the person who arranged the sealed files.""
"Do you know where she is now?"" Eleanor asked.
"She retired years ago. I believe she lives outside Richmond.""
Ryan picked up the card and examined the faded telephone number.
"Then we call her.""
David shook his head.
"It might not be that simple. If the records were sealed, she may not be allowed to discuss them.""
"We can ask her to preserve whatever still exists," Eleanor said.
"And we can give the police the documents Denise brought. They can investigate the rest.""
Jasmine looked at her.
"You really believe the police will help?""
"I believe they have to investigate evidence of a child being taken and a payment made to conceal it.""
Eleanor's voice was firm now.
She had spent years accepting explanations because she was too devastated to challenge them. That was over.
Ryan dialed the number on the card.
It rang six times before a woman answered.
"Hello?""
"Ms. Price? My name is Ryan Brooks.
I'm calling about St. Anne's Medical Center and some records from October 2004.""
The woman went silent.
Ryan exchanged a glance with Eleanor.
"Ms. Price?""
"Who gave you this number?""
"My father. David Brooks.""
A sharp breath came through the receiver.
"Oh, dear God.""
Ryan straightened.
"You know my father?""
"I know the name.""
"We believe there may have been an improper arrangement involving a missing child.""
Another long silence followed.
Then Lorraine spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Did you find the girl?""
Jasmine's fingers tightened around the silver heart.
Ryan looked at her.
"Yes," he said.
"We believe we did.""
Lorraine began to cry.
"I've waited twenty-two years for someone to say those words.""
Eleanor stepped toward the phone.
"Ms. Price, I'm Eleanor Brooks. That little girl was my daughter.""
"I know who you are," Lorraine whispered.
Eleanor felt her knees weaken.
"Then tell me what happened.""
"I can't explain everything over the phone. But there are records that were never supposed to exist, and I kept copies because I knew one day someone would come looking.""
"Copies of what?""
"Two admissions. Two children. Two different names entered into the system on the same day.""
Eleanor gripped the table.
"Was one of them Amelia?""
"Yes.""
Jasmine covered her mouth.
"And the other child?"" Ryan asked.
Lorraine's voice trembled.
"The second child was a newborn boy. He was listed under a temporary identity, but the financial records connected to his admission were paid through the Brooks family trust.""
Denise rose abruptly.
"No," she whispered.
Eleanor turned toward her.
"What is it?""
Denise was staring at the phone as if it had become something monstrous.
"Daniel.""
Jasmine slowly turned toward her mother.
"What about Daniel?""
Denise's face crumpled.
"Marcus told me my son had died because his condition was too severe. But he was the one who arranged Daniel's treatment at St. Anne's.""
David stood.
"Are you saying Marcus had your son, too?""
Denise shook her head helplessly.
"I don't know. I don't know what he did.""
Lorraine's voice came through the speaker again.
"Mrs. Brooks, you need to understand something. Those records weren't sealed because of an ordinary adoption dispute. They were sealed because someone used the hospital to conceal a child's identity.""
Eleanor felt the last of her certainty crumble.
"What are you saying?""
"I'm saying that the girl who disappeared from your home and the baby Denise was told she had lost may be connected to the same arrangement.""
Jasmine stared at Denise.
"Are you saying I had a brother?""
Lorraine hesitated.
"I'm saying the records suggest the children were connected. But I can't tell you how until I've examined the original files.""
"Then we'll come to Richmond," Ryan said.
"No."" Lorraine's response was immediate.
"Not yet. Someone has been calling me recently, asking whether I still have the old records.""
Eleanor's blood ran cold.
"Who?""
"I don't know. The caller never gave a name.""
"Did they threaten you?""
"Not directly. But yesterday, someone came to my house and asked whether I remembered the Brooks family.""
Ryan looked toward the front window.
"Was it Marcus?""
"I couldn't see his face clearly.""
Jasmine's voice shook.
"Why would he still care about records from twenty-two years ago?""
Lorraine answered with a sentence that changed everything.
"Because the records don't just explain what happened to Amelia. They could reveal that the child Marcus was trying to hide was never the child he claimed to be.""
The call ended shortly afterward, with Lorraine promising to contact them through a lawyer once she had secured the documents.
Nobody moved for several seconds.
Then Denise sat down and began to sob.
Jasmine stood beside her, trembling with anger and fear.
Eleanor looked at the old contract, the silver necklace, and the photograph of her little girl.
For twenty-two years, she had believed that one terrible act had torn her family apart.
Now the evidence suggested something far worse.
Marcus might not have stolen Amelia merely to silence a family dispute.
He might have used the disappearance of one child to conceal the identity of another.
And if the hospital records were genuine, then the truth about Jasmine's brother could destroy the last explanation their family had left.
Outside, a vehicle slowed in front of the house.
Its headlights swept across the living room.
David moved toward the window, but the car continued down the street.
Eleanor watched until its taillights vanished.
Then her phone buzzed.
An unknown number had sent a photograph.
It showed a hospital document dated October 17, 2004.
At the bottom were two signatures.
Marcus Brooks.
And Eleanor Brooks.
She stared at her own name, unable to understand what she was seeing.
She had never been to St. Anne's that day.
She had never signed a hospital record.
Yet there it was, in black ink, beneath a sentence that made her hands go numb.
The mother has relinquished all rights to the child.
Eleanor looked at David.
"I never signed this.""
He stepped closer to examine the photograph.
His face turned ashen.
"No," he whispered.
"You didn't.""
Jasmine looked between them.
"Then who did?""
Eleanor enlarged the image with trembling fingers.
The signature looked like hers.
The handwriting was almost perfect.
Almost.
May you like
And beneath the document, the unknown sender had written one final message:
Ask Marcus why he needed your signature before Amelia disappeared.
