Chapter 6 - The Call I Never Got
I remembered the day because Vanessa had told me it was a telemarketer.
I had been in the garage when the house phone rang. By the time I came inside, she was hanging up.
"Wrong number," she said.
A woman asked for me by name.
Then she asked Oliver how old he was.
When he said nine, the woman started crying.
"She said, 'My son was born the same day as you.'"
Vanessa entered, took the phone, and ordered Oliver upstairs.
He listened from the landing.
"She told the lady never to call again," he said. "Then she said, 'You accepted the money. Live with your choice.'"
Mara called a Vermont investigator while I searched every contact list, bill, and old email I had.
Vanessa had made sure of that.
By noon, Mara received an answer.
Anne Brooks existed.
She was a physical therapist. Married to Thomas Brooks. One son: Elijah Brooks, age nine.
Born at St. Matthew's Medical Center.
"I want a DNA test."
Mara nodded. "First we talk to the family. Carefully. They may be victims too."
If Elijah was the second baby, Anne and Thomas had raised him for nine years. They were not strangers who had stolen my child simply because paperwork said something different.
The phone on Mara's desk rang.
She answered, listened, and looked at me.
"Mr. Brooks just reported his wife missing."
"What?"
"Anne left work yesterday afternoon. Her car was found at a rest area twenty miles from home. Purse inside. Phone gone."
Oliver had been quiet until then.
Now he whispered, "Vanessa knows we found the videos."
It showed Anne Brooks sitting in a chair in a room I didn't recognize.
May you like
She looked frightened but alive.
SIGN THE TRUST TRANSFER, AND EVERYONE GOES HOME.
