Chapter 4: The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
For several seconds after Marcus hung up, Thomas stood with the phone pressed against his ear.
Then he slowly lowered it.
Ryan was the first to speak.
“What did he mean, the woman who found her is dead?””
Thomas looked at Jasmine, then at Denise.
“I don't know.””
Denise's face had turned ashen.
“Yes, you do,” she whispered.
Thomas turned sharply.
“What?””
Denise stood beside the sofa, clutching the straps of her handbag so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
“The woman who brought Jasmine to me. The woman who left her outside St. Matthew's Church. I knew her name.””
Thomas took a step toward her.
“You told me you never learned her name.””
“I lied about that, too.””
Jasmine stared at her mother.
“How many more things are you going to tell us one at a time?””
Denise flinched.
“I'm sorry, baby.””
“Don't call me that right now. Just tell me.””
Denise looked toward the window. Sunlight spilled across the living room carpet, bright and ordinary, making the fear on her face seem even more unnatural.
“Her name was Patricia Bell,” she said.
“She worked as a nurse at a private clinic outside Atlanta. She was the one who brought you to me.””
Thomas frowned.
“Patricia Bell?””
The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't immediately place it.
Denise nodded.
“She told me she had been caring for a little girl who wasn't supposed to exist on any hospital record. She said someone had paid to have the child's identity erased.””
Ryan stared at her.
“That's not possible. You can't just erase a child.””
“You can hide a birth certificate,” Denise replied.
“You can change a name. You can make people believe a child was abandoned. And if the people involved have enough money, you can make it difficult for anyone to ask questions.””
Thomas felt his stomach tighten.
“Why didn't Patricia go to the police?””
“Because she was afraid.””
“Of Marcus?””
Denise nodded slowly.
“She told me he had threatened her. She said if she spoke publicly, her family would be in danger.””
Jasmine sank onto the sofa.
“Was she the woman who found me, or the woman who took me?””
“I don't know,” Denise whispered.
“She never explained exactly how she got you. She only said that she'd been ordered to keep you somewhere safe until she could get you away from the people who wanted you hidden.””
Thomas pressed both hands against his hips.
“And you believed her?””
“I believed the terror in her eyes. I believed the way she held you like she was afraid someone would snatch you away.””
Denise's voice broke.
“You were barely a year old. You had a fever. You kept reaching for the necklace around your neck, and Patricia kept telling you that your mother loved you.””
Thomas turned away.
The words struck somewhere deep inside him.
Evelyn had spent the last years of her life wondering whether Amelia remembered her.
Whether she cried for her father.
Whether she had grown up believing she had been unwanted.
And now a stranger was telling him that someone had held his daughter and promised her that her mother loved her.
He gripped the edge of the sideboard.
“Where is Patricia now?””
Denise wiped her face.
“I don't know. She disappeared a few years after I took Jasmine in.””
“Disappeared how?””
“One day, she called me and said she had found something that could prove what happened. She wanted to meet me. When I arrived at the address she gave me, the place was empty.””
Thomas looked at his phone.
“And Marcus says she's dead.””
“He might know more than I do.””
Ryan pulled his car keys from his pocket.
“Then we find her.””
Thomas shook his head.
“We don't know if she's dead, alive, or using another name. We start with the evidence we have.””
He turned toward Denise.
“Do you still have the number she used to call you?””
Denise nodded.
“It's in an old address book at home.””
“Then we'll get it.””
Jasmine rose.
“I'm coming.””
Thomas looked at her carefully.
“You don't have to do this today.””
“Yes, I do.””
Her voice trembled, but she didn't look away.
“If someone took me from my family, I deserve to know why. If my mother knows something, I deserve to hear it. And if your brother knows where Patricia is, I want to know what he's hiding.””
Thomas gave a small nod.
“Then we'll do it together.””
Before they could leave, Ryan's phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number appeared on the screen.
*STOP ASKING ABOUT AMELIA. SOME QUESTIONS HAVE ALREADY COST ONE WOMAN HER LIFE.*
Ryan showed it to his father.
Thomas read it twice.
Then he looked at Jasmine.
“Don't answer it.””
Ryan's expression hardened.
“Dad, somebody is threatening us.””
“I know.””
“Then we should call the police.””
“We will. But first, we need to know what we're telling them. Right now, we have an old photograph, a necklace, a letter, and an accusation.””
“And a threat,” Jasmine said.
Thomas nodded.
“And a threat.””
He photographed the message and saved it.
Then he took the yellowed envelope, the bank deposit slip, and the brass key.
“Let's go.””
They drove to Denise's house in separate cars.
Ryan insisted Jasmine ride with him. Thomas followed behind them, checking his mirrors more often than he wanted to admit.
At a red light on Peachtree Road, Jasmine stared out the passenger window.
“Ryan?””
“Yeah?””
“Do you think your father really believes I'm his daughter?””
Ryan kept his eyes on the road.
“I think he's terrified of believing it.””
She rubbed the silver pendant between her fingers.
“And what about you?””
He didn't answer immediately.
“I remember having a sister,” he finally said.
“Not much. Mostly little things. Her yellow blanket. The way my mother used to keep a night-light on in the hallway because she said Amelia hated the dark.””
Jasmine looked down.
“Did you miss her?””
“I was three. I didn't understand what missing someone meant.””
He swallowed.
“But I grew up watching my parents miss her. Every birthday, my mother made an extra place at the table. My father never let anyone pack away Amelia's toys.””
Jasmine's eyes filled.
“I'm sorry.””
“Don't apologize for something that happened to you.””
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
At Denise's house, they found the address book inside a kitchen drawer beneath old takeout menus and a stack of bills.
Denise turned the pages with trembling fingers.
“There.””
She pointed to a faded entry.
*Patricia Bell — Private Clinic — Atlanta.*
Beneath the name was a telephone number and an address.
Thomas photographed both.
Ryan searched the clinic's name on his phone, but nothing useful appeared. The building had changed owners years ago.
“It's been closed since 2011,” he said.
Thomas examined the address.
“That's not far from the old Carter property.””
Denise looked up.
“What Carter property?””
“The house my parents owned before my father sold it. Marcus used to take business clients there.””
Ryan frowned.
“Why would Patricia work near that house?””
Thomas didn't answer.
He had just noticed something else.
The number beside Patricia's name had been crossed out in blue ink. Underneath, in smaller handwriting, someone had written a different number.
And next to it were three words.
*Call only after midnight.*
Denise covered her mouth.
“I never wrote that.””
Thomas looked at her.
“Are you sure?””
“I haven't opened this book in years.””
Jasmine leaned over the table.
“Then who wrote it?””
Before anyone could answer, a car horn sounded outside.
Ryan looked through the kitchen window.
A black SUV sat across the street.
Its engine was running.
The driver's window was dark.
Thomas moved toward the front door, but Ryan caught his arm.
“Dad, don't.””
They watched from behind the curtain.
After nearly a minute, the SUV pulled away.
Jasmine's hands began to shake.
“Someone followed us.””
Thomas reached for his phone.
This time, he didn't hesitate.
He called the police.
But as he gave the dispatcher the details of the threatening message and the vehicle, Denise suddenly turned back to the address book.
She was staring at the handwritten number.
Her lips parted.
“Oh, God.””
Thomas lowered the phone.
“What is it?””
Denise looked up, her face filled with a fear so complete that Jasmine immediately reached for her.
“I remember that number,” Denise whispered.
“Whose is it?”” Ryan asked.
Denise shook her head.
“It wasn't Patricia's.””
She turned the address book toward Thomas.
“It's the number Marcus gave me the day he told me never to contact him again.””
Thomas stared at the page.
And for the first time, he realized that his brother might not have been the only person controlling the search for Amelia.
May you like
Someone had been watching Denise for years.
And that person had just learned Jasmine was no longer hidden.