Chapter 13 - FILE ZERO
Victoria was telling the truth.
There was a file zero.
It had been encrypted.
Federal technicians opened it eighteen hours later.
Everyone expected another list of criminals.
It wasn't.
It was a list of children.
The first children.
Those moved by Victoria's father decades earlier.
Some had grown up never knowing their real identities.
Some had become parents.
Some had become grandparents.
Thousands of people had family histories built on falsified records.
Exposing everything carelessly would destroy innocent lives.
Victoria had relied on that.
She believed the truth was too dangerous to release.
Agent Brooks disagreed.
“The victims decide what happens to their identities.”
Investigators began contacting families privately.
Arrests followed.
Eleven in the first week.
Twenty-seven within a month.
Doctors.
Former administrators.
Two retired police officers.
A judge.
Three executives.
Daniel Mercer pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction, falsifying records, and child endangerment.
He didn't ask for leniency.
At sentencing, he looked at Caleb.
“I should have protected you sooner.”
Caleb didn't answer.
Daniel lowered his head.
“I was afraid.”
Caleb finally spoke.
“So was I.”
Daniel looked up.
Caleb's eyes filled with tears.
“But I was twelve.”
Daniel had no answer.
Emma Mercer moved in with Rebecca.
She and Caleb didn't instantly become brother and sister.
Real life wasn't that simple.
They were strangers who shared a birthday.
A face.
A history stolen from both of them.
The first week, they barely spoke.
Then one evening, Caleb placed an old photograph on the kitchen table.
Their mother holding two newborns.
Emma stared at it.
“That's me?”
Caleb nodded.
“And me.”
Emma sat beside him.
For almost an hour, neither child said anything.
They didn't need to.
Michael survived surgery.
When I walked into his hospital room, I didn't hug him.
I slapped his arm.
“Ow.”
“You deserved that.”
“I know.”
Then I hugged him so hard the monitor alarm started beeping.
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
He smiled.
“I missed you too.”
Melissa entered later.
Caleb saw her.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then he ran.
Melissa fell to her knees.
They collided in the middle of the room.
Caleb sobbed against her shoulder.
“You left me.”
“I know.”
“You left me.”
“I know.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
She held him tighter.
“I'm sorry.”
Emma stood near the doorway.
Melissa looked up.
Thirteen years separated a mother from the daughter she had been told was dead.
Neither knew what to say.
Emma finally whispered.
“Are you my mom?”
Melissa broke.
“Yes.”
Emma took one step.
Then another.
And Melissa opened her arms.
But the newborn Emma still had no permanent home.
Her identity remained uncertain.
DNA testing was underway.
Three days later, Agent Brooks came to my house.
She carried an envelope.
“What is it?”
“DNA results.”
I opened it.
The baby was Victoria Crane's biological granddaughter.
That part was confirmed.
But there was another match.
I stared at the paper.
“This can't be right.”
Brooks nodded.
“It is.”
The baby's deceased mother had been Victoria's daughter.
Her father was listed as unknown.
But DNA had found a close paternal relative.
Michael.
I looked at my husband.
He looked equally shocked.
Then Brooks explained.
“The baby's father was Michael's younger brother.”
My heart stopped.
“Evan?”
Michael whispered.
Evan Hayes had disappeared eight years earlier.
Everyone believed he had died from an overdose somewhere out west.
May you like
Apparently, he hadn't.
And according to the DNA database, he might still be alive.
