The name on the list belonged to a baby named Clara Reed.
Dana searched the hospital database.
Nothing.
No living record.
No death record.
No adoption record.
It was as though Clara had never existed.
Sofia sat beside her.
“That was the point.”
“What?”
“They erased her.”
I looked at Lily.
“Do you remember Clara?”
She nodded slowly.
“She was crying.”
“Where?”
“The nursery.”
“What happened?”
“Daddy told someone to take her.”
Sofia covered her mouth.
Daniel stood behind us.
“Who took her?”
Lily shook her head.
“She wore a green uniform.”
Dana searched the hospital employee records.
One name stood out.
Marianne Cole.
A nurse who had resigned nine years earlier.
“She disappeared after the investigation began,” Dana said.
“Where is she now?”
Dana searched again.
Then stopped.
“She works at the wedding venue.”
My stomach dropped.
“The wedding venue?”
“Yes.”
Marcus had chosen the place.
Of course he had.
Everything suddenly seemed deliberate.
The ceremony.
The guest list.
Lily's speech.
The forged guardianship document.
The witnesses.
He hadn't planned a wedding.
He had planned a public story.
Dana called the police.
Then she called the venue.
No answer.
We drove there.
The parking lot was already full.
White chairs had been arranged beneath a canopy.
Flowers lined the aisle.
Workers moved between tables.
Everything looked beautiful.
That made it worse.
Marcus stood near the entrance.
He saw us.
His face changed.
Then he smiled.
“Annie.”
I kept walking.
“Where's Elise?”
“She'll be here soon.”
“You know Sofia is alive.”
His smile disappeared.
“I know.”
“You knew all along.”
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
He looked at Lily.
“Come with me.”
She stepped behind me.
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don't understand.”
“She understands enough.”
Sofia moved beside me.
Marcus stared at her.
“You should have stayed gone.”
“I tried.”
“You destroyed everything.”
“No.”
She held up the memory card.
“You did.”
Marcus went pale.
Dana stepped forward.
“The police are on their way.”
He laughed.
“You think that proves anything?”
“It proves enough.”
He looked toward the ceremony area.
“Not if the evidence disappears.”
Then he walked away.
Dana immediately followed.
We found Marianne Cole in a service corridor.
She was older now, her hair silver.
When she saw Lily, she stopped breathing.
“I know you.”
Lily stared.
“You took Clara.”
Marianne's face collapsed.
“I didn't.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You wore green.”
Marianne looked at Sofia.
Then at me.
“Marcus told me she was dead.”
“Clara?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Marianne began crying.
“I was told to move the baby.”
“Where?”
“A private clinic.”
“Who ordered it?”
“Dr. Vale.”
“Where is Clara now?”
“I don't know.”
“You must know something.”
Marianne looked at Lily.
“She wasn't sold.”
Dana froze.
“What?”
Marianne whispered, “She was hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because someone discovered the network.”
“Who?”
“Sofia.”
Sofia stared at her.
“You knew?”
“I helped you.”
“You helped me?”
Marianne nodded.
“I copied the records.”
“Where are they?”
“Marcus took them.”
“Then what's left?”
Marianne reached into her pocket.
A key.
“Locker 27.”
Dana took it.
“Where?”
“The old hospital.”
Before we could move, music began outside.
The wedding was starting.
Marcus had chosen the exact moment to make his move.
A voice came over the speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the bride.”
Elise walked into view.
She wasn't smiling.
She reached the front.
Marcus joined her.
Then he looked directly at me.
He had a microphone in his hand.
“Before we begin,” he said, “there is something everyone deserves to know.”
My heart sank.
Dana whispered, “He's going public.”
Marcus continued.
“Some people have accused me of taking a child who wasn't mine.”
Murmurs spread through the guests.
He held up the forged document.
“This woman has repeatedly violated our custody agreement.”
I heard someone gasp.
Lily squeezed my hand.
Marcus looked at her.
“Lily belongs with her family.”
I stepped forward.
“She is with her family.”
Marcus smiled.
Then the venue doors opened.
Police officers entered.
Marcus's expression changed.
Dana had called them before we arrived.
One officer approached.
“Marcus Hale?”
“Yes.”
“You are being detained pending investigation.”
He looked at me.
“This isn't over.”
“No,” I said.
“It isn't.”
As officers took him aside, Elise removed her engagement ring.
She placed it on the table.
“I won't marry you.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You need me.”
“No.”
She looked at Lily.
“She needs the truth.”
The police searched Marcus's office at the venue.
Inside they found boxes of documents.
Birth records.
Payment receipts.
Photographs.
And a file labeled CLARA REED.
Dana opened it.
The first page contained a photograph of a little girl.
Eight years old.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
Standing beside a woman I recognized.
Marianne Cole.
I looked at Sofia.
She began crying.
“She's alive.”
The second page contained an address.
A house in another town.
Dana called immediately.
A woman answered.
“Hello?”
Dana asked for Clara.
There was silence.
Then a child's voice.
“Who's calling?”
I closed my eyes.
For nine years, two families had been living with different versions of the same lie.
Now one of those lies was beginning to collapse.
But Marcus had one final advantage.
He knew where Dr. Vale was.
And according to the files, Vale had left the country that morning.
Dana looked at the evidence.
“He's running.”
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He isn't running.”
She pointed to the wedding documents.
“Look at the date.”
Dana did.
The final transfer document had been prepared for that afternoon.
It wasn't an old record.
It was current.
Someone was still planning to move Clara.
And the person authorized to do it was not Marcus.
It was Elise.
My sister looked at the paper.
Her face went white.
“I never signed this.”
Dana looked at the signature.
Then at me.
Another signature had been forged.
This time, however, we knew exactly who was responsible.
And we finally knew where Marcus had intended to send the second child.
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: The Address in Marcus’s File Led Us to a Quiet House Where a Child Had Been Living Under a Name Nobody Recognized
The Morning My Daughter Asked Me Why Her Father Needed Her To Keep One Thing From Me
Part 8 of 20
