Anna did not move.
The paper on the table was only one page, yellowed around the edges and creased where someone had folded it repeatedly. Yet the signature at the bottom seemed to occupy the entire room.
Claire.
Anna knew that handwriting.
She had seen it on birthday cards, grocery lists, notes left beside the kettle, and the little reminders Claire used to leave whenever she babysat Noah. The loops in the letters were unmistakable.
Daniel noticed her expression.
“What is it?”
Anna turned the document toward him.
He read the signature.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in the file.”
Daniel stared at the paper.
“What does Claire have to do with this?”
Anna's voice was quiet.
“That is what I'm going to find out.”
She called Claire immediately.
The phone rang four times before Claire answered.
“Anna?”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“At the police station.”
“Why?”
“They asked me to give a statement.”
Anna looked at Daniel.
“About what?”
Another pause.
“About the clinic.”
Anna sat down.
“Claire, your signature is on my original record.”
Silence.
Daniel leaned forward.
Anna waited.
Finally Claire said, “I know.”
The answer was so calm that Anna felt colder.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Anna closed her eyes.
She was beginning to hate that sentence.
“Everyone says that.”
Claire's voice trembled.
“I know.”
“No. You don't know.”
“I do.”
“Then tell me what you signed.”
Claire breathed slowly.
“I signed a transfer authorization.”
Anna looked at Daniel.
“For Elise?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you send her?”
“I didn't send her anywhere.”
“Then what did you authorize?”
Claire was silent again.
“I authorized the change in identity.”
Anna stood.
“You changed my sister's identity?”
“I helped your father do it.”
“Why?”
“Because Reed had already found the original records.”
Anna's voice sharpened.
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
“No, Claire. You don't get to say that and make it disappear.”
“I don't expect you to forgive me.”
“I'm not talking about forgiveness.”
Anna looked at Noah sleeping in his crib.
“I'm talking about what happened to my family.”
Claire began crying.
“Your father believed Reed would take both children.”
“And you believed him?”
“At the time, yes.”
“What happened to the second record?”
“I destroyed it.”
Anna's grip tightened around the phone.
“You destroyed my sister's identity.”
“I destroyed the trail Reed was following.”
“Those are not the same thing.”
“I know.”
Anna's voice fell.
“Did you know Elise was alive?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Since the night she was moved.”
“Then you knew where she was.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“I knew the family who took her.”
Anna stopped.
“What family?”
Claire swallowed.
“The Carter family.”
Anna's eyes widened.
“That was her new name.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
“Ask her about the baby.”
Anna looked at him.
“What baby?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Ask her why Noah's record was changed.”
Anna returned to the phone.
“Claire, why was my son's record altered?”
Claire went silent.
Then she said, “Because someone accessed the hospital database before he was born.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
“Claire.”
“I don't know.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
“I know the access came through the old clinic.”
Anna felt her stomach tighten.
“Reed?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I never saw him do it.”
“What about the contaminated water?”
Claire's breathing changed.
“What about it?”
“Thomas admitted he put the dirty water in the sink.”
Claire said nothing.
“He said he wanted me to find the cabinet.”
“That sounds like Thomas.”
Anna frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He has always believed frightening people was easier than telling them the truth.”
Anna remembered the fear on Thomas's face.
“He could have hurt Noah.”
“I know.”
“And you still protected him.”
“I wasn't protecting him.”
“Then what were you doing?”
Claire's voice became almost inaudible.
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you to remember.”
Anna stared at the wall.
“Remember what?”
“The night your sister disappeared.”
The call ended.
Anna remained frozen.
Daniel took the phone from her hand.
“What did she mean?”
Anna shook her head.
“I don't know.”
But something was changing inside her.
She remembered a red blanket.
A hallway.
Her mother's voice.
A baby crying.
And Claire standing beside a hospital door.
Anna whispered, “I saw her.”
“Who?”
“Elise.”
“When?”
“When we were children.”
Daniel stared.
“You remember?”
“Not clearly.”
She sat beside Noah's crib.
“Claire was there.”
Daniel crouched beside her.
“Then maybe the memory is the key.”
Anna looked at her son.
“Maybe.”
At the police station, Claire sat alone in an interview room.
She had finally stopped crying.
An investigator placed the old document in front of her.
“Mrs. Carter, we need to know why your signature appears here.”
Claire looked at it.
“Because I was there.”
“Where?”
“The clinic.”
“Twenty-two years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Who else was there?”
Claire hesitated.
“Anna's mother. Her father. Dr. Reed.”
“And the children?”
Claire looked down.
“Both.”
The investigator leaned closer.
“What happened?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Reed wanted the records.”
“Why?”
“Because one of the babies had been listed under a false identity.”
“Which baby?”
“I don't know.”
“You signed the transfer.”
“Yes.”
“Then you knew.”
“I knew we had to separate the records.”
“Why?”
Claire looked toward the one-way mirror.
“Because someone inside the hospital was giving Reed information.”
“Who?”
Claire whispered a name.
The investigator's expression changed.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you report this?”
“Because the person was protected.”
“By whom?”
Claire looked at the document.
“Daniel's father.”
Back at home, Anna found something tucked beneath the edge of the old cabinet.
A small envelope.
Her name was written on it.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Claire holding two infants.
Anna's breath caught.
On the back was a handwritten note.
SHE WAS TOLD TO CHOOSE.
Anna looked at Daniel.
“Who was Claire told to choose?”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
Then his phone rang.
The police station.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“What?”
Anna watched him.
Daniel listened.
Then he said, “We'll come.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“They found the original transfer ledger.”
“Where?”
“At the old clinic.”
Anna stood.
“What does it say?”
Daniel looked at her.
“It lists both children.”
“And?”
“One name has been crossed out.”
Anna's heart began pounding.
“Whose?”
Daniel shook his head.
“They don't know yet.”
Anna picked up the photograph.
“I do.”
She turned it over.
The name written beneath the photograph was not Elise.
It was Anna.
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: The Original Ledger Revealed a Choice Made Before Anna Could Remember, and the Answer Forced Her to Reconsider What Her Mother Had Sacrificed
The Water in the Laundry Sink Wasn’t Dirty From Clothes, and One Small Discovery Made Anna Realize Someone Had Been Hiding Something
Part 5 of 8
