Chapter 8 - The Red File
Nathan wanted to drive to the house immediately. Vega stopped him at the hospital elevator.
"If they're removing possible evidence, call the officers already on scene. Don't give them another confrontation to use against you."
Nathan listened. That surprised me. Five years ago, he would have charged through any door his father told him to open.
At two in the morning, the detective returned with a plastic evidence sleeve. Mrs. Alvarez was safe. Officers had stopped Pierce from carrying away two cartons, and the cook had handed them a red folder wrapped in a kitchen towel.
Inside were copies of letters I had mailed Nathan while I was pregnant. Every envelope had been opened. None had reached him.
"I wrote you about the first ultrasound," I said. "I told you I heard her heartbeat."
Nathan touched the edge of a letter without taking it from the sleeve. "I was in Chicago that week. My father called and told me you were engaged to someone else."
"There was no one else."
Under the letters was an internal memo from Wallace's office: ALL CORRESPONDENCE FROM G. BENNETT TO BE ROUTED THROUGH PIERCE. And below that, in a different handwriting: V. HALE TO MAINTAIN CONTACT LOG.
"Victoria?" Nathan whispered. "She didn't work for us back then."
"She worked at Pierce's firm," I said. I remembered a young woman silently typing while Wallace threatened me. Blond hair pulled tight, no engagement ring, eyes fixed on a computer screen.
Nathan swore quietly.
The last page was a receipt for photographs, including a baby picture I'd mailed when Lily was six weeks old. There was a note in Victoria's handwriting: CHILD MATCHES N.C. FAMILY FEATURES. HOLD FOR REVIEW.
"She knew," Nathan said. "Before I ever asked her out."
May you like
Vega turned the page. Attached was a photograph of Lily in the blue sweater.
On the back, in Wallace's writing, were four words: Tell Nathan before Wednesday.
