Chapter 17 - The Report That Disappeared
Jennifer still had a copy.
A police report from 1992.
She had reported Marlene leaving the maternity floor with forged discharge papers.
The report was marked CLOSED - INFANT DECEASED.
The signature at the bottom belonged to a detective named Raymond Price.
Gordon Price's father.
Ross reopened everything.
Old adoptions.
Birth records.
Infant deaths.
Missing children.
The basement files became evidence in a multi-agency investigation.
Marlene became the face on every screen.
None of it stopped the nightmares.
Noah found me one night sitting on the nursery floor.
"She's safe," he said.
"I know."
"Do you?"
I looked at him.
"No."
He sat beside me.
For a long time, we listened to Sofia breathe.
Then he said, "We can move."
"Where?"
"Anywhere."
The next morning, Anna called.
"My DNA found a match."
I sat down.
"Who?"
"A biological aunt."
Emily's aunt.
Her actual family had spent years believing their infant niece died in a private adoption scam.
Anna was going to meet them.
Before hanging up, Anna said, "You saved your daughter."
"I almost didn't."
"But you did."
That afternoon, Caleb Vale arrived at our lawyer's office.
Ross had warned us he might be involved.
Instead, Caleb carried two boxes.
"My father kept these hidden."
Inside were copies of hospital ledgers and a sealed statement from Thomas.
Caleb looked at me.
"He wasn't your father. But he helped create the fake record. He regretted it."
"Regret isn't the same as fixing it."
"No."
He nodded.
"That's why there's one more thing."
He slid over a photograph.
My father—the man who raised me—standing beside Jennifer outside a diner.
Dated eight months before his death.
I stared at it.
"He found my real mother."
May you like
Caleb nodded.
"And he was planning to bring you to her the week he died."
