Chapter 5 - Someone Wanted the File Closed
Alexander did not raise his voice in Dr. Shah's office.
That frightened Grace more than shouting would have.
"You're certain?" he asked.
Dr. Shah turned the screen toward them. "I checked the state licensing database because the name looked familiar. Dr. Martin Bell died last year. His license was inactive when this exam was supposedly performed."
Grace stared at the signature.
A dead doctor had diagnosed their daughter.
"Why would anyone fake this?"
"I can't answer that," Dr. Shah said. "But I can document what I found."
Outside, Alexander called Dana.
Within an hour, Dana had requested the complete birth and discharge records from Saint Matthew's Hospital.
The hospital responded before sunset.
No records available.
"That's impossible," Dana said over speakerphone. "A birth creates multiple records. Nursing notes. Medication logs. Billing. Lab work."
Alexander paced the library. "So somebody deleted them?"
"Or somebody is refusing to produce them. Either way, we go through the court."
Grace sat on the floor beside Emma's play mat.
The baby pushed both hands against a textured cloth book and made a happy sound.
"Do we tell Miss Anna?"
"Already did," Dana said. "She is pulling every document that arrived with Emma."
That evening, Alexander canceled a dinner with investors.
He sat beside Grace during bath time and let Emma grip his thumb while Grace washed shampoo from her hair.
"If she never sees," he said quietly, "we're still okay."
Grace looked at him. "Yes."
"I need you to know that."
"I do."
"I just don't want anyone making choices about her body because they thought nobody would ask questions."
Grace touched his cheek.
"Then we ask every question."
At 11:22 p.m., the security system chimed.
A camera had detected movement at the front gate.
Alexander opened the feed.
A person in a gray hoodie stood outside the iron bars.
The same woman from Bright Hope House.
Grace rose so quickly she nearly knocked over her tea.
"That's her."
Alexander pressed the intercom. "Who are you?"
The woman looked directly at the camera.
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then she pulled back her hood.
She was young. Maybe twenty-one. Her face was pale from the cold, her eyes red from crying.
"My name is Jenna Cole," she said.
Grace's breath caught.
May you like
The woman gripped the gate with both hands.
"I think the baby in your house is my daughter."
