Chapter 13 - The Price of Silence
Nora met Charles at the assisted living center with Cho and Alvarez present. She refused to let him turn the conversation into a reunion.
"Start with Leah," she said.
Charles stared at his shoes. "She saw a boy brought to our house. The county said he needed temporary care. I was being paid to transport supplies. I didn't know what those papers meant until she read them."
"And you let them take her?"
"Harlan said they'd charge me with kidnapping and ruin both my daughters. They took Leah to a program across state lines. I signed the paperwork."
"You signed away my sister."
"Yes."
He didn't ask forgiveness. That was the first honest thing Nora could remember him doing.
Charles described a warehouse called Briar Depot where records and temporary placement logs had been stored. He could not say which missing children had gone there. He offered an old notebook listing dates and truck numbers.
"Why now?" Alvarez asked.
"Because Harlan called me yesterday. She said they'd use Eli if Nora didn't stop. I heard what I sounded like twenty years ago, making excuses."
Nora took the notebook without touching his hand.
"You could have come for us," she said.
"I know."
Outside, Cho asked whether Nora wanted to tell Eli about Charles. Nora shook her head. "Not all at once. He deserves truth he can carry."
That evening Ben visited his mother, Evelyn, accompanied by Ruth. Evelyn recognized him only briefly, then studied the old photograph of Samuel.
"He liked yellow trucks," she whispered. "I told them he needed a doctor, not a new mother."
Ben pressed his palm against the table. "I know you were trying to help him."
"They made me say he drowned."
For the first time, she looked directly into his face.
May you like
"Sam didn't drown, Benny. He learned another name. I wrote it down."
She reached beneath the edge of her wheelchair cushion and pulled out a brittle folded slip.
