Chapter 6: The Daughter Who Knew Too Much
The police arrived twelve minutes later.
By then, the man who had taken the records was gone, and the rear exit stood open to the rain.
Damon gave the officers a description, showed them the remaining documents, and explained that the warehouse contained records connected to a possible identity fraud investigation. He did not conceal the fact that his family might be involved.
Serena sat on an overturned crate, her hands clasped tightly together.
Calvin stood several feet away, staring at the transfer form Evelyn had given them.
He looked older than he had that morning.
When one of the officers asked whether anyone had threatened them, Calvin hesitated before answering.
“Yes,” he said.
“For eighteen years.””
The officer wrote it down.
Damon watched his father sign the preliminary statement. His hand shook, and he had to pause twice to collect himself.
Damon wanted to help him, but he couldn't stop thinking about the infant who had been transferred under a false identity. If the records were genuine, Calvin might have signed papers that had helped conceal his own daughter.
He could not yet decide whether his father had been deceived or had chosen not to ask questions.
Both possibilities frightened him.
When the officers finished taking statements, they advised the family not to investigate the break-in themselves. They would preserve the warehouse as a crime scene and pursue the identity of the man who had escaped.
Damon agreed.
He had learned enough that day to understand how easily a personal investigation could become dangerous.
But he had one question that couldn't wait.
He approached Evelyn.
“Where is Rebecca?””
She stared at the floor.
“I told you. I don't know.””
“You raised her. You must know where she'd go.””
“She's twenty years old, Damon. She has her own life.””
“Does she know who I am?””
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“She knows your name.””
“Has she seen photographs of me?””
“Yes.””
“Has she seen photographs of my mother?””
Evelyn nodded.
“Rebecca found a picture of your mother in the hospital records. She recognized the dimple in her cheek. She has the same one.””
Damon remembered the photograph from the warehouse.
He remembered the little girl holding Evelyn's hand.
He had seen that dimple.
“Why didn't you tell me she was looking for us?””
“Because I didn't know whether she wanted to meet you. She was angry, confused, and frightened. She believed everyone had lied to her.””
“Everyone had lied to her.””
Evelyn looked up.
“Yes.””
The admission silenced him.
For eighteen years, Rebecca had grown up without knowing her father, her biological family, or the truth about her birth. She had been given a false certificate and a carefully constructed story. Even the woman who loved her had withheld the truth.
Damon couldn't imagine what that felt like.
“Did she ever say what she wanted from us?”” he asked.
Evelyn considered the question.
“She wanted to know why her mother had given her away.””
Damon's throat tightened.
“Your mother didn't give her away,” he said.
“Someone took her from us.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“You don't know that.””
“Then tell me what you know.””
She drew a long breath.
“Your mother was conscious after the delivery. She held Rebecca for almost an hour. She asked me to bring the baby back the next morning.””
“Why didn't you?””
“Because Richard arrived before sunrise. He said your mother had suffered another medical emergency and that the doctors needed to transfer the baby immediately.””
“Did you see my mother?””
“No.””
“Did you speak to her?””
“No.””
“Then why did you believe him?””
Evelyn's face twisted with regret.
“Because he showed me a document signed by your father. It said the family had agreed to place the baby with another guardian.””
Calvin closed his eyes.
“I never agreed to that.””
Evelyn looked at him.
“I believe you now.””
The words were simple, but they carried eighteen years of pain.
Damon turned toward his father.
“Dad, did you ever see the original guardianship agreement?””
“No. Richard told me the hospital had handled everything. He brought me a packet of papers and said I needed to sign them before the estate could be settled.””
“Did you read them?””
Calvin's silence answered the question.
Damon stepped back.
His father looked devastated.
“I know what you're thinking,” Calvin said.
“I should have read every page. I should have questioned the hospital. I should have demanded to see the child. But I was grieving your mother, and Richard was the person I trusted to handle the legal details.””
“You trusted him more than you trusted your own judgment.””
“Yes.””
Calvin's voice broke.
“And it may have cost me eighteen years with my daughter.””
Damon felt the words settle into him.
His daughter.
The possibility no longer seemed abstract. If Rebecca was his sister, she was Calvin's child too. The family had not simply lost a baby. They might have been robbed of an entire life together.
Serena approached them.
“There's something I need to tell you.””
Damon turned slowly.
“Please don't say you've been hiding another document.””
“I haven't.””
“Then what?””
Serena looked at Evelyn.
“Rebecca contacted me three days ago.””
Evelyn went rigid.
“What?””
“She sent me an email from an anonymous account. She said she had found evidence of her identity and wanted to meet someone who could tell her about her biological mother.””
Damon stared at Serena.
“You knew Rebecca was contacting you?””
“I suspected it was her. She didn't give her name, but she mentioned the hospital bracelet and the birth certificate.””
“Why didn't you tell us?””
“Because I didn't know whether the email was genuine. I replied asking for proof. She sent the photograph of the bracelet.””
Evelyn reached for Serena's arm.
“Did you answer her?””
“Yes.””
“What did you say?””
“That I believed I could help her find the truth.””
Evelyn looked terrified.
“Did you tell her where you lived?””
“No.””
“Did you tell her about the warehouse?””
Serena hesitated.
“I told her I had found records that might identify her biological family.””
Evelyn released her arm.
“You should never have done that.””
“I was trying to help.””
“You don't understand. Rebecca has been followed for months.””
Damon stepped forward.
“By whom?””
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know. She noticed the same car outside her workplace three times. Someone left an envelope at her apartment with copies of her false birth certificate. Another time, a man approached her and told her to stop asking questions about her mother.””
Damon felt his pulse accelerate.
“Did she report any of this?””
“She tried. But when the police checked the vehicle, the registration led to a company that had dissolved years earlier. The man who approached her was never identified.””
Serena pulled out her phone.
“I still have the email.””
She opened the message and handed it to Damon.
The subject line read: *I THINK I KNOW WHO MY FATHER IS.*
The email was brief.
Rebecca wrote that she had discovered inconsistencies in her birth records and believed her biological mother had been connected to the Whitmore family. She had found Serena's name through a public charity announcement and asked whether they could meet privately.
At the bottom was a phone number.
Damon immediately called it.
The call rang four times before a recorded message announced that the number was no longer in service.
He tried again.
Nothing.
“Do you have her address?”” he asked Serena.
“No.””
“Her workplace?””
“She mentioned working at a legal aid office, but she didn't provide the location.””
Martin Hale had been the person who contacted Rebecca, according to Evelyn. The attorney might know where she was, but he had refused to explain himself on the phone.
Damon looked at Calvin.
“We're going to his office.””
Calvin shook his head.
“Not without a plan. We don't know whether Martin is protecting Rebecca or protecting himself.””
“Then we ask him.””
“And if he refuses?””
“Then we find another way.””
Evelyn stepped between them.
“You must understand something about Martin. He was the only person who helped Rebecca obtain copies of the original hospital records. He told her that if she wanted the truth, she needed to find the person who signed the second birth certificate.””
Damon looked at the photograph again.
The message on its back had said exactly that.
“Who signed it?”” he asked.
Evelyn's face crumpled.
“I don't know. Rebecca thought she had found the answer.””
“Who?””
“Your wife.””
Damon turned toward Serena.
She looked stunned.
“No,” she whispered.
“I never saw the second certificate.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“Rebecca told me she had a copy. She said the name on it belonged to someone close to your family. Someone who had been dead for years.””
Calvin gripped the edge of the crate.
“Richard.””
Evelyn nodded.
“That was her suspicion.””
Damon looked at his father.
“Could Richard have signed the certificate?””
“He could have forged my signature. He could have arranged for someone else to sign. But he was not Rebecca's father.””
“How do you know?””
“Because your mother told me who the father was.””
Everyone fell silent.
Calvin looked as though he had been struck.
“What did you just say?””
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother told me the truth before she died. She said Rebecca's father was someone she had trusted. Someone who had promised to protect them both.””
Damon felt a cold sensation crawl up his spine.
“Who?””
Evelyn opened her mouth, then closed it again.
“I can't tell you.””
“Why not?””
“Because I promised your mother that I would let Rebecca decide when the truth should be revealed.””
Damon stepped back.
“She's missing. The person who took those records may be hunting her. And you're still protecting a promise made eighteen years ago?””
“I'm protecting her right to know her own story.””
“Then help us find her!””
Evelyn looked at him for a long moment.
Finally, she reached into the lining of her coat and removed a small folded piece of paper.
“Rebecca gave me this before she left.””
Damon took it.
The paper contained a handwritten address and a date.
The address was for a modest apartment building in downtown Baltimore. The date was three days earlier.
At the bottom, Rebecca had written a short message:
*If I don't come back, look for the blue door.*
Damon looked up.
“What's behind the blue door?””
Evelyn's hands trembled.
“I don't know.””
Serena stared at the address.
“I recognize this street.””
“From where?”” Damon asked.
“From the photograph Martin sent.””
Damon took out his phone and compared the image to the address.
The courthouse stood two blocks away.
Rebecca had been photographed there recently.
Someone had known where she was.
Someone had known that she was searching for her family.
And someone had removed the archive records just as they were about to identify her.
Damon folded the paper and placed it in his pocket.
“We're going to the apartment,” he said.
Calvin nodded.
This time, he did not argue.
The apartment building was quiet when they arrived.
The lobby smelled of old carpet and lemon cleaner. A handwritten notice near the mailboxes warned residents to keep the front door locked. The elevator was out of service, so Damon climbed three flights of stairs with Calvin and Serena behind him.
Apartment 3B had a blue door.
Damon knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
“Rebecca? My name is Damon Whitmore. I'm trying to help you.””
Silence.
He pressed his ear to the door.
Nothing.
Calvin examined the frame.
“There's no sign of forced entry.””
Serena pointed toward the floor.
A thin strip of paper protruded from beneath the door.
Damon pulled it free.
It was a photograph.
The image showed a young woman standing beside a hospital bed, holding the hand of an older woman with silver-streaked hair.
The young woman was Rebecca.
The older woman was his mother.
Damon stared at the picture.
His mother looked pale, but she was smiling. Rebecca was wrapped in a white blanket, her tiny hand curled around a finger.
On the back, someone had written:
*The daughter you were told had died is alive. But the man who signed her second birth certificate is not the man you think.*
Damon's fingers began to shake.
He knocked on the door again.
“Rebecca!””
A sound came from inside.
A soft scrape.
Then a woman's voice whispered through the wood.
“Who sent you?””
Damon leaned closer.
“No one sent us. We're here because we want to find you.””
“That's what they all say.””
“Please. My name is Damon. I'm your brother.””
Silence.
Then the lock clicked.
The door opened two inches.
A young woman with dark hair and a faint dimple in her left cheek stared at him through the gap.
Her eyes moved to Calvin.
She went completely still.
Then she whispered, “Grandfather?””
Calvin's face crumpled.
“Rebecca.””
She opened the door wider.
But before anyone could step inside, she looked over her shoulder and shouted:
“Get away from the window! They're here again!””
A shadow moved across the wall behind her.
Damon pushed the door open.
Inside the apartment, a man stood beside the kitchen table with a gun pointed at Rebecca.
May you like
And the man's face was one Damon recognized from the photograph Martin had sent.
It was Martin Hale.
