Mara stepped away from her mother.
For several seconds she could not make sense of the words. She had expected another secret, another piece of the past hidden beneath years of silence. She had not expected the ground beneath her entire identity to move. “You said I was Elena,” she whispered. Helen shook her head. “I said your grandfather wanted you to become Elena.” Mara frowned. “Then who was the baby?” Helen looked toward Rose. “We need the second ledger.”
Rose walked to the shelves.
“It's here.”
She pulled down a narrow wooden box.
Dust fell across her coat.
Inside were several notebooks, a bundle of birth records, and an envelope sealed with black wax. Mara recognized the handwriting immediately. Her grandfather had written her name across the front.
MARA VALE.
She stared at it.
“How long has that been here?”
Rose answered, “Since the night I escaped.”
Mara opened the envelope.
Inside was a single document.
Her birth certificate.
Except the name on it was Elena Vale.
Mara's hands shook.
The date was wrong by eleven months.
The mother's name was listed as Helen Vale.
The father's name was blank.
Mara looked at Helen.
“Why?”
Helen's eyes filled.
“Because your grandfather wanted the authorities to believe you were the baby born in that room.”
“What happened to the real Elena?”
Helen sat on the iron bed.
“I don't know.”
Rose opened one of the notebooks.
“This is the second ledger.”
She placed it on the table.
The pages were filled with names and dates. Some had been crossed out. Others had small notes beside them. Mara recognized several names from the first ledger, but there were new columns.
CHILD.
TRANSFERRED.
NEW NAME.
DESTINATION.
Mara's stomach tightened.
“What did he do with them?”
Rose turned a page.
“Some children were placed with families who paid him.”
Helen covered her mouth.
“Some were sent away without records.”
Mara stared at the entries.
“How many?”
Rose counted silently.
“Eight.”
Daniel's voice came from the doorway.
“Seven.”
They turned.
He had followed them.
Mara glared.
“You weren't supposed to come.”
“I know.”
Rose pointed at the ledger.
“There's one more.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. The last entry was a mistake.”
Mara looked at him.
“What mistake?”
Daniel's face was pale.
“The child listed as Elena wasn't transferred.”
Helen stood.
“What?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She was never sent anywhere.”
Rose stepped closer.
“Then where is she?”
Daniel looked at Mara.
His expression frightened her.
“She died.”
Helen staggered backward.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“I found the record.”
“Where?”
“In your grandfather's desk.”
Mara's voice was barely audible.
“When?”
“After the house burned.”
Rose shook her head.
“The house didn't burn.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You don't know that.”
“I was there.”
“So was I.”
Mara looked between them.
“What are you saying?”
Daniel answered.
“The fire was staged.”
Helen stared.
“Why?”
“To destroy the records.”
Rose's face changed.
“Did you see Elena?”
Daniel looked down.
“No.”
“Then you don't know she died.”
“I saw the death certificate.”
Rose shook her head.
“Your grandfather forged documents.”
“I know.”
“Then why believe this one?”
Daniel had no answer.
Mara turned toward the shelves.
“If Elena died, why was she still listed?”
Rose answered.
“Because someone wanted people to believe she was dead.”
Mara felt a cold certainty settle inside her.
“Who?”
Rose looked at Helen.
Helen whispered, “My father.”
Mara opened the second notebook.
A page near the back had been folded.
She unfolded it.
There was a handwritten note.
The ink was faded, but the words were clear.
THE FIRST CHILD MUST DISAPPEAR.
Mara's throat tightened.
Below it was another line.
THE SECOND CHILD MUST CARRY HER NAME.
Helen began to cry.
Mara looked at her.
“Second child.”
Helen nodded.
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather wanted to erase the first child from the family.”
Mara looked at Rose.
“And you?”
“I was supposed to disappear too.”
Mara stared.
“Then why did he let you live?”
Rose closed the ledger.
“He didn't.”
“What?”
“I was the first person who escaped him.”
Mara suddenly remembered the photograph of Rose as a child.
“You were never found.”
“No.”
“Then how did you survive?”
Rose looked at Helen.
“Your mother helped me.”
Helen shook her head.
“I thought you were dead.”
“You thought I was dead because I needed you to.”
Mara understood.
Rose had disappeared deliberately.
She had spent decades hiding.
“But you sent the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Rose took a long breath.
“Because someone found me.”
Mara's heart tightened.
“Who?”
Rose looked at Daniel.
“Someone who had been looking for the second ledger.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Who?”
“I don't know his name.”
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“The ledger.”
Mara looked at the notebook.
“Why?”
Rose's answer was quiet.
“Because your grandfather wasn't the only person who used those records.”
Silence.
Helen sat down.
“My father had partners.”
Rose nodded.
“Three.”
“Who?”
“One is dead.”
“The second?”
“Prison.”
“And the third?”
Rose looked toward the hidden doorway.
“Alive.”
Mara felt the same coldness she had felt when she first saw the photograph.
“Where?”
Rose looked at her.
“Closer than you think.”
Daniel suddenly moved toward the passage.
“Everyone out.”
Mara blocked him.
“No.”
“I heard something.”
They listened.
Nothing.
Then a soft scrape came from behind the shelves.
Rose turned.
“That wasn't there before.”
Mara stepped closer.
A narrow section of shelving had shifted.
Behind it was another opening.
Daniel whispered, “There is another room.”
Helen stared.
“My father never showed me that.”
Rose pushed the shelf aside.
A narrow stairway descended.
Mara looked down.
“Where does it go?”
Daniel's face had gone pale.
“Under the house.”
They descended slowly.
The stairs ended beneath the kitchen.
There was another room.
This one contained filing cabinets.
Not old wooden boxes.
Metal cabinets.
Newer.
Much newer.
Mara opened the first drawer.
Inside were photocopies.
Names.
Addresses.
Dates.
Photographs.
The newest document was dated only six months earlier.
Rose looked over her shoulder.
“No.”
Mara pulled it free.
It was a photograph of Helen.
Taken outside the house.
Six months earlier.
Helen stared at it.
“I didn't know anyone was watching me.”
Mara turned the page.
The next photograph showed Rose.
Taken two months earlier.
The final photograph showed Mara.
Taken three weeks earlier.
Mara felt sick.
“Someone has been watching all of us.”
Daniel whispered, “I told you.”
Mara looked at him.
“No. You told me there was danger. You never told me how close it was.”
A sound came from upstairs.
The front door opened.
Everyone froze.
Then a man's voice called from the kitchen.
“Daniel?”
Daniel's face drained of color.
Rose whispered, “Who is that?”
Daniel stared at the ceiling.
“I know that voice.”
“Who?”
He answered without looking at them.
“Your grandfather's last partner.”
Mara's heart pounded.
“He's alive?”
Daniel nodded.
The man upstairs called again.
“I know you're here.”
Helen grabbed Mara's hand.
The voice continued.
“And I came for the ledger.”
Rose closed the cabinet.
Mara looked at the stairs.
“What do we do?”
Daniel whispered, “We don't let him find out the truth.”
Mara looked at the photographs.
Then at the ledger.
Then at her mother.
“No.”
She picked up the second ledger.
“We make him tell us why he wants it.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: When the Man Behind the Records Finally Entered the Hidden Room, Mara Used the One Secret He Thought She Would Never Discover
By the Time the Last Gray Hair Fell, Mara Knew Her Mother Was Hiding Something More Painful Than Fear
Part 6 of 16
