Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO CALLED HERSELF AUNT DIANE
Thomas backed into Julia so hard she nearly fell.
“That’s her.”
“Emily, behind me.”
Emily obeyed immediately.
The woman crossed the street.
“Thomas.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
The woman stopped ten feet away.
“You know what happens when you run.”
Julia stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The woman’s eyes moved to her.
For the first time, her calm cracked.
“You’re Julia.”
It was not a question.
Julia felt cold.
“And you’re the woman who stole my son.”
The woman’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t steal anybody.”
Thomas shouted, “You told me she didn’t want me!”
The woman lowered her voice.
“Thomas, get in the car.”
“No.”
Julia pulled out her phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
The woman looked at the screen.
Then at Thomas.
Then she did something Julia didn’t expect.
She ran.
Not toward Thomas.
Away from him.
Julia shouted for someone to stop her.
Thomas was shaking so hard Julia could feel it through his coat.
“What is her name?”
“Aunt Diane.”
“Is she your aunt?”
He shook his head.
“She said names didn’t matter.”
Thomas refused to let go of Julia.
Thomas said Diane had moved him between apartments for years.
“Did she ever tell you where you came from?” Ortiz asked.
“She said my mother was rich and mean.”
Julia flinched.
Thomas looked at her quickly.
“I didn’t believe her after a while.”
“Why not?”
“Because she got mad whenever I asked for pictures.”
Ortiz examined the bracelet.
“This could be real.”
“It is real,” Julia said.
“My son was declared dead eleven years ago at St. Catherine’s Medical Center.”
Ortiz looked up.
“Declared dead?”
Julia nodded.
“I held a closed casket.”
“Closed?”
“They said there had been complications.”
Ortiz wrote something down.
“Who handled the arrangements?”
Julia answered without thinking.
“My husband’s brother.”
Her voice stopped.
Because Daniel’s brother still handled almost everything for the family.
Their insurance.
Their trust accounts.
Even Emily’s school paperwork.
Grant Mercer.
Ortiz watched Julia carefully.
“Mrs. Mercer, who told you your baby was dead?”
“Three people.”
That night, Ortiz called from St. Catherine’s records office.
“Julia, we found the birth file.”
Julia gripped the phone.
“And?”
“The death certificate is there.”
Julia closed her eyes.
May you like
Then Ortiz continued.
“But the signature belongs to a doctor who died six months before Thomas was born.”
