Chapter 2: The Woman Who Raised Him
Police stopped Laura Reed at the airport forty-three minutes before boarding.
She did not resist.
She sat inside the interrogation room wearing the same pale blue dress she had chosen for her son’s wedding.
Nathan watched from behind the one-way glass.
The woman who had raised him looked smaller than he remembered.
More fragile.
But not innocent.
Detective Brooks placed the photograph on the table.
“Where did you get this?”
Laura looked at Margaret’s face.
Her hands tightened.
“I found it inside the adoption file.”
“There was no legal adoption file,” Brooks replied. “The agency listed on Nathan’s papers never existed.”
Laura closed her eyes.
Nathan entered the room before the detective could stop him.
“Did you steal me?”
Laura’s face broke.
“No.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
“I wanted a child,” she whispered. “Your father and I had tried for years. Three miscarriages. Two failed adoptions.”
Nathan stood rigid.
“Who gave me to you?”
Laura looked toward the mirrored glass, knowing Margaret was watching.
“A nurse named Evelyn Cross.”
Charles, standing beside Margaret, suddenly stiffened.
Margaret noticed.
“You know that name.”
Charles said nothing.
Inside the interrogation room, Laura continued.
“Evelyn told us your mother had died during childbirth. She said the father had disappeared. She arranged everything privately.”
“For how much?” Brooks asked.
Laura lowered her eyes.
“Forty thousand dollars.”
Nathan recoiled.
Laura began to cry.
“I believed it was legal.”
“For twenty years?”
Laura shook her head.
“Not for twenty.”
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“When did you find out?”
“On your tenth birthday.”
The room fell silent.
Laura explained that she had found a missing child article online. The photograph showed a newborn with the same crescent birthmark.
She had confronted Evelyn.
“What did she say?” Nathan asked.
“She said if I told anyone, you would be taken away. She said your real family was dangerous.”
Margaret entered the room.
“Dangerous?”
Laura looked at her with shame.
“She told me your husband paid to make the child disappear.”
Margaret’s face went white.
“My husband?”
Laura nodded.
“Thomas Hayes.”
Emily whispered from the doorway.
“Dad?”
Charles suddenly turned and walked away.
Margaret watched him leave.
Then she remembered something.
May you like
Thomas had not been at the hospital when their son vanished.
He had been with Charles.
