The address was less than an hour away.
Dana drove while I sat in the passenger seat with the file on my lap. Sofia and Elise were in the back with Lily, and Daniel followed in another car with two officers.
Nobody spoke much.
The forged document had been signed in Elise's name, but she had never seen it before. More troubling was the destination listed beneath the signature.
A private residence.
No agency.
No clinic.
No court.
Just a street address and a woman's name.
“Who is Helen Voss?” I asked.
Dana shook her head.
“I don't know yet.”
Elise leaned forward.
“I've never heard that name.”
Sofia stared through the window.
“I have.”
Everyone turned.
“Who is she?”
“Sofia hesitated. “A friend of Dr. Vale.”
The house stood at the end of a narrow road lined with old trees. Nothing about it looked suspicious. There was a child's bicycle near the porch and a row of flowerpots beneath the windows.
An ordinary home.
That almost made me more afraid.
The officers approached first.
Dana followed.
I stayed with Lily until one officer waved us forward.
A woman opened the door.
She was perhaps fifty, with short gray hair and a cardigan buttoned to the throat.
“Can I help you?”
Dana showed her identification.
“We're looking for Clara Reed.”
The woman's face changed.
Just slightly.
Then she said, “There is no Clara here.”
A child's voice came from somewhere inside.
“Mom?”
The woman turned.
The officers moved.
“Please,” she said. “Don't frighten her.”
A little girl appeared at the hallway entrance.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
Eight years old.
She looked at us.
Then she looked at Marianne, who had come with the second group of officers.
“Mrs. Cole?”
Marianne began crying.
“Clara.”
The girl stepped backward.
“You said you'd never come back.”
Marianne covered her mouth.
“I was wrong.”
Clara looked at Sofia.
Sofia couldn't speak.
Then Clara looked at Lily.
For several seconds, the two girls simply stared at each other.
Lily stepped forward.
“I'm Lily.”
Clara nodded.
“I know.”
My heart tightened.
“How?”
“Your picture.”
She pointed at the purple notebook.
“I saw you in it.”
Lily looked confused.
“Where?”
“Mrs. Cole kept pictures.”
Marianne lowered her head.
Clara continued.
“She said you were my sister.”
Nobody moved.
Sofia whispered, “They're not sisters.”
Clara frowned.
“She said we were.”
Dana looked at Marianne.
“Explain.”
Marianne wiped her face.
“Not here.”
The officers secured the house while we moved into the living room.
Helen Voss sat at the table.
She looked exhausted.
“I didn't sell Clara,” she said.
Dana replied, “Then tell us why she's here.”
Helen looked at Clara.
“Because her mother asked me to protect her.”
“Sofia?”
“No.”
Helen's eyes moved toward Daniel.
“Her other mother.”
Daniel stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
Helen took a breath.
“Clara's biological mother was not Sofia.”
The room became silent.
Sofia looked genuinely shocked.
“Then who?”
Helen looked at me.
“Annie.”
I felt cold.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Because your baby was Clara.”
I couldn't understand.
“My baby died.”
Helen shook her head.
“No.”
Sofia stepped toward her.
“Explain.”
Helen reached for a folder.
Inside were two hospital photographs.
One showed a newborn with a bracelet marked LILY CARTER.
The other showed a newborn marked CLARA REED.
“They were born on the same night.”
Dana examined the photographs.
“Then why was Annie told she lost her baby?”
Helen looked down.
“Because someone switched the records.”
My hands began to shake.
The story I had been told about my miscarriage had never made sense.
I had been unconscious.
I had never seen the paperwork myself.
Marcus had handled everything.
My mother had accepted his explanation.
And then Lily had appeared.
Not as a replacement.
As part of a secret.
Helen continued.
“Your daughter was born alive.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Where is she?”
Helen looked at Lily.
“You already know.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She is standing beside you.”
My knees weakened.
Lily wasn't mine biologically.
Clara wasn't Sofia's.
And somehow the two girls had been tied together from the beginning.
Dana spoke carefully.
“Are you saying Annie gave birth to Clara?”
“Yes.”
“And Sofia gave birth to Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Then why were the babies moved?”
Helen's face hardened.
“Because Dr. Vale had buyers.”
My stomach turned.
“But Marcus stopped the sale?”
“Eventually.”
“Eventually?”
“He changed his mind when he saw Lily.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“He wanted her.”
Helen nodded.
“And Annie?”
“She was told her baby had died.”
I looked at Lily.
The child I had raised.
The child who called me Mom.
The child who had slept beside me through fevers and nightmares.
I had never needed biology to make her my daughter.
But now there was another child who had been stolen from me before I even knew she existed.
Clara watched me.
“Are you my mother?”
I couldn't answer immediately.
I knelt.
“I don't know what everything means yet.”
She nodded.
“But I want to find out.”
She looked at me.
Then she reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a tiny folded photograph.
“I was told to give you this if someone came looking.”
I opened it.
It showed Marcus holding two newborn babies.
On the back was a date.
And one sentence:
One child stays. One child disappears.
Dana took the photograph.
“Who gave you this?”
Clara looked toward Helen.
“Helen.”
Helen shook her head.
“No.”
Clara frowned.
“You told me.”
“I told you to keep it.”
“Who gave it to you?”
Clara pointed toward the kitchen.
“Dr. Vale.”
My blood ran cold.
“He was here?”
Helen nodded.
“Three days ago.”
“Where did he go?”
“He said he was leaving.”
“Where?”
Helen looked at the floor.
“He said he was going to the hospital.”
The old hospital.
Locker 27.
Dana immediately called the officers.
“We need to move.”
But Sofia stopped her.
“Wait.”
She took the photograph.
Her hands trembled.
“I know this picture.”
“From where?”
“Marcus showed it to me nine years ago.”
“What did he say?”
“He said one baby was an accident.”
I looked at Clara.
“Which one?”
Sofia stared at her.
“Clara.”
The room went silent.
Then Elise whispered, “Why would he keep Lily?”
Sofia looked at me.
“Because Lily was the baby he believed could be passed off as yours.”
My heart broke in a completely different way.
Marcus hadn't simply stolen a child.
He had built a replacement.
He had taken Sofia's daughter and placed her into the life of a grieving mother.
Then he had hidden my biological daughter somewhere else.
Dana stood.
“We're going to the hospital.”
I took Lily's hand.
Clara took Sofia's.
For the first time, neither child was being moved in secret.
And somewhere inside the old hospital, the final records were waiting.
Click here to continue reading: PART 10: The Old Hospital Held the Missing Record, but Opening Locker 27 Exposed a Decision Marcus Had Kept Hidden for Nine Years
The Morning My Daughter Asked Me Why Her Father Needed Her To Keep One Thing From Me
Part 9 of 20
